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Rating: 
Summary: manna from heaven
Review: The author is a certified, award winning baker who knows that there is more than one way to braid a challah. Included in this book of oral histories, historical notes, and bread related anecdotes and folk stories, are the best discussions I have read of Jewish bread and challah histories, as well as fascinating recipes. It is manna min shama-yim.
The book opens with an intro on challah and bread, and an indexed listing of recipes by type of bread (including holiday breads, 6-hour or less breads, crusty breads, flavorful breads, etc.) This is followed by a chapter on the Genesis of Challah; and a Primer on bread preparation (fermenting, punching, kneading, dividing, proofing, glazing, etc.) There is even a chapter just for a mixed multitude of challah braids and shapes with step by step braiding photos, including instructions for a hand challah, a shlissel (key) challah, a string of pearls challah, and a ladder challah also. There are then chapters for bread recipes of the Ashkenazi, Sephardi, North African, Near Eastern, and New Tradition Jewish people.
Among the best recipes are ones for -- Ashkenazi: Czernowitzer Challah, Guatamalen Challah (with cardamon), Russian Challah, a ring challah, a Lithuanian Challah (no eggs, low sugar), bagels, a babka, rye bread, Lekach honey cake, and Hungarian Makos; Sephardic: Churak of Rhodes, Greek Rolls with Zante currants, Salonika style country bread, Pande Calabazi Pumpkin Bread, and Roscas with cloves; North African: Ethiopian Bereketei Sabbath Bread, Moroccan Purim Bread (chubzei), some Muffleta just for Mimouna, and Egyptian Rarifal Rarif; and Near Eastern: Iranian Barbari, various pitas, Azerbaijani Noon, Bukharan Nooni, Yemeni Kubana, Lachuch, and Samneh.
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