An outstanding recipe by itself. After experimenting, I tweaked it a bit for a presentation-quality crown challah with the following: 1. As others, used half milk and half water 2. Increased both sugars to 1/3 cups 3. Increased salt to 1.5 TBS 4. Added 4 yolks to the 4 whole eggs (color and taste) 5. Added 1/4 Cup honey 6. Added 1 cup golden raisins (soak and drain if dry) 7. Lastly, to ensure height for the crown, last rise and baking was in a 12" round flat bottom pan with a 1" or higher side. Also found that by stretching the braids to long ropes gave an excellent stringy texture when pulled apart for eating

Reviewed On: Oct. 5, 2009

A great bread by itself, or by tweaking in a couple ways - substitute 1/3 to 1/2 white whole wheat forthe bread flour and/or 1/4 C honey per loaf and a couple eggs yolks per loaf. Will need to add some flour if adding the honey or egg

Reviewed On: Mar. 4, 2009

Since the season is near, here's my updated tips from last year which makes them very fast to fry especially for a large group: 1. After shredding/grating, put them in salted boiling water for 3 minutes until you see the starch form on the surface 2. Drain and squeeze out all water using heavy paper towels 3. Similarly, squeeze out all water from chopped onions - you can make the cooked potatoes and raw onions a day ahead 4. Use self-rising flour to get a nice crust 5. Get mixture to right consistency by adding matzo meal until liquid not visible and they hold form when stirred 5. Flatten in fry pan with back of tablespoon to get consistent thickness

Reviewed On: Jan. 7, 2009