In Israeli wedding ceremonies all the happiness always ends up with breaking the glass to remember that in everything whole there’s something broken. To remember that everything is not perfect. Even with the bread , after you make the whole bread, you take out some from the dough (In jewish religion it is called the mitzvah of separating challah (hafrashat challah) and everyone does it)
to remember everything is never perfect and we create a new movement of taking out something and giving out something.
Here, we take a portion of bread out, keep it separate, bake it separate and offer it to the birds. Sometimes in Jewish culture this portion of bread is given to the priests. This is believed to bring blessings into life.
Reminds you of India? Well, how the world is connected. My mom always keep a portion of dough separate in India before making chapatis as an offering to the universe. A gentlemen from India said this practice dates back to even Romans on what they believe is you are never alone in the universe. Another gentlemen from India said, that one of his friend, sprinkles drinks around before drinking because the first potion is for spirits and left over is to enjoy. Even the 10th guru has said that one must donate 1/10 of their earnings to charity. So if you have read my first blogpost, you would know how similar India is and how Israelis are fond of culture too in parallel.
The women behind the initiative
Today, It’s a story of a women for who bread making is an intimate experience that gives her power and confidence to do something. Its been 6 years she’s into it after her broken marriage. She met her own independence with her passion for bread making and she sells quite a lot. She said she could do more even, but her 5 kids take time, and its a step by step process. One day they will grow up and it’ll all be more together.
A place not so far from Tel Aviv situated in Givat Yeshayahu village at Aela Valley you can learn the art of bread making as we did. Now most of the work in bread making goes into cleaning afterwards.
It doesn’t take a lot of time to make bread. Today, we were learning how to make homemade bread, not made out of white flour that we get in markets which is not healthy, but made out of whole wheat flour and spelt flour which was soft and healthy. Spelt flour also gives very nice color and we were making it fresh.. yey! Add on whole seeds , leaves and dry fruits to make it more healthy. Between have you guys tried making bread before?
The Process of Bread Making
So we add sieved flour in grape water and salt, and yeast. She said, we need very little of yeast to make sour dough. Instead of water, or in place of water, you could use orange juice, apple juice or even red wine. That adds many flavors and she said, its very interesting because people would then wonder what has gone inside it , the flavors and smell would be different. We start kneading after making the dough. The water needed is 65% of the flour usually. She said ‘the most energy that you need is by kneading the dough. Brings out all your argerness and everything.. and instead of shouting on your better half making bread calms your mind’
Just like gardening, When the hands touches the soil, it helps. Like therapy.
There is no instant recipe for making bread. Every day you can start from 300 gm of bread and start making the dough. It might take 2 weeks to make a good bread. When I started making it, after a few months it started becoming fine, so he said, preserve the 1st one for the children they would know that its not from the first time you had it perfect. Kids think their parents are perfect from the first time. But its like pottery. It needs practice.
We made our first breads and as first timers, we could make out we needed more practice ! :)
It started very small, we had some storage and some warehouse. So I just put an oven there and I started baking bread and fell in love with it. I would try all the night on it. People started coming in and I kept a coffee machine because people would have bread with coffee. And it got bigger and I got a chance to pursue my passion. She said, she doesn’t make many types of bread to confuse people, rather she makes 5 different types so that people could easily choose.
So let’s watch my short vlog on our bread making experience: How to make bread in Israel
Hope you visit them during your visit to Tel Aviv, Israel. Till then tada. Let’s talk about the dead sea/ masada/ jaffa/ night life of tel aviv/ boutique hotels/ the complete travel vlog/food,wine and cheese in the subsequent posts!
To know more about Israel: visit Israel Tourism website.
To view previous posts on Israel: click here
Here, we take a portion of bread out, keep it separate, bake it separate and offer it to the birds. Sometimes in Jewish culture this portion of bread is given to the priests. This is believed to bring blessings into life.
Reminds you of India? Well, how the world is connected. My mom always keep a portion of dough separate in India before making chapatis as an offering to the universe. A gentlemen from India said this practice dates back to even Romans on what they believe is you are never alone in the universe. Another gentlemen from India said, that one of his friend, sprinkles drinks around before drinking because the first potion is for spirits and left over is to enjoy. Even the 10th guru has said that one must donate 1/10 of their earnings to charity. So if you have read my first blogpost, you would know how similar India is and how Israelis are fond of culture too in parallel.
The women behind the initiative
Today, It’s a story of a women for who bread making is an intimate experience that gives her power and confidence to do something. Its been 6 years she’s into it after her broken marriage. She met her own independence with her passion for bread making and she sells quite a lot. She said she could do more even, but her 5 kids take time, and its a step by step process. One day they will grow up and it’ll all be more together.
A place not so far from Tel Aviv situated in Givat Yeshayahu village at Aela Valley you can learn the art of bread making as we did. Now most of the work in bread making goes into cleaning afterwards.
A mess of a different kind.
It doesn’t take a lot of time to make bread. Today, we were learning how to make homemade bread, not made out of white flour that we get in markets which is not healthy, but made out of whole wheat flour and spelt flour which was soft and healthy. Spelt flour also gives very nice color and we were making it fresh.. yey! Add on whole seeds , leaves and dry fruits to make it more healthy. Between have you guys tried making bread before?
The Process of Bread Making
So we add sieved flour in grape water and salt, and yeast. She said, we need very little of yeast to make sour dough. Instead of water, or in place of water, you could use orange juice, apple juice or even red wine. That adds many flavors and she said, its very interesting because people would then wonder what has gone inside it , the flavors and smell would be different. We start kneading after making the dough. The water needed is 65% of the flour usually. She said ‘the most energy that you need is by kneading the dough. Brings out all your argerness and everything.. and instead of shouting on your better half making bread calms your mind’
Just like gardening, When the hands touches the soil, it helps. Like therapy.
There is no instant recipe for making bread. Every day you can start from 300 gm of bread and start making the dough. It might take 2 weeks to make a good bread. When I started making it, after a few months it started becoming fine, so he said, preserve the 1st one for the children they would know that its not from the first time you had it perfect. Kids think their parents are perfect from the first time. But its like pottery. It needs practice.
Now I can make my own bread! Yey
It started very small, we had some storage and some warehouse. So I just put an oven there and I started baking bread and fell in love with it. I would try all the night on it. People started coming in and I kept a coffee machine because people would have bread with coffee. And it got bigger and I got a chance to pursue my passion. She said, she doesn’t make many types of bread to confuse people, rather she makes 5 different types so that people could easily choose.
So let’s watch my short vlog on our bread making experience: How to make bread in Israel
Hope you visit them during your visit to Tel Aviv, Israel. Till then tada. Let’s talk about the dead sea/ masada/ jaffa/ night life of tel aviv/ boutique hotels/ the complete travel vlog/food,wine and cheese in the subsequent posts!
To know more about Israel: visit Israel Tourism website.
These activities are usually fun while travelling, but all depends upon time you have and people around you. Lovely post !
ReplyDeleteBaking is therapeutic they say.
ReplyDelete