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When they say "covered but not airtight," what exactly does that mean & why??

I have a batch of their basic recipe in my fridge in tupperware with the lid firmly attached. will something happen to it because the lid is on tight?

Perhaps because the activity of the yeast can form gasses, increasing the pressure inside of the container, which could cause the lid to pop off?

Which wouldn't be a huge tragedy, but could cause some damage to the contents of your fridge!

I believe as3087 is right--the "covered but not tight" is primarily a precaution against popping lids. The dough will continue to ferment and rise a bit until it gets cool enough that the yeast goes dormant, so no matter what you do, store it in a container big enough to allow some expansion.

For my loaves, I tried tupperware with the lids on tight, tupperware with one corner of the lid 'unsealed' (not pressed tight), and a bowl covered with saran wrap. The tightly sealed lids did pop because of the expanding gases, but everything was fine once I resealed the tupperware. The tupperware with lid slightly ajar and bowl covered with saran wrap both worked fine. You need some kind of cover to prevent complete moisture loss, but the tightness of the seal won't significantly change the end result since the dough is so wet. :)

What's wrong with kneading bread?

is there any way i could make this with whole wheat flour?

lately i've been using whole wheat flour for all of my baking, an it seems to work just fine in most situations (i've made brownies, cakes etc). i know it would alter the texture but otherwise i think it might work...

how cool! i'll try it this weekend. i love challah, but don't have enough counter space for real kneading.

Ooh -- I'm going to try this this weekend!

ForbiddenFruit -- Have you tried white whole wheat flour? It's a 100% whole wheat flour, but it acts more like white flour. White whole wheat is naturally occurring, not bleached -- I think I read somewhere that it's like the blond verson of whole wheat. HTH!

traditions are traditions for a reason... why is challah always braided?

OK, I'm a former JCC Youth and Camp Director and Hebrew school teacher so bear with me on the explaination on why Challah is braided:

The three braids represent the commands to observe the Sabbath as commanded in the Ten Commandnments. One braid represents the commandment to remember the sabbath A second braid represents the word "Shamor" - to guard and honor the sabbath. The third braid is for "b'Dibbur Echad" - that the commandments of remembering and guarding the sabbath were said by G-d as one commandment.

Another thought is that the sabbath represents and reminds us of three different concepts: The Creation of the World, the Exodus from Egypt and the Messianic Era to come.

A final thought is that challah is braided much like the havdallah candle that is lit to end the sabbath in order to remind us of the different twists and turns that life tends to take.

By the way, the "challah" mentioned in the Torah is not referring to the challah that Jews eat on the sabbath and holidays. It refers to the command to separate a small amount of the dough when baking bread. In the times of the Temple this portion was given to the the preists at the Temple. Today there is a rabbinical command to separate a portion from the dough - the challah - and burn it. Technically, it's not challah or at least kosher challah in less this portion has been taken.

Wow, this recipe makes fantastic-tasting challah! I will definitely use it when hosting my next brunch. Thanks for this!

Looks lovely.
I've been very sucessful with Jim L.'s no-knead bread recipe, and the family just loved it with butter and jam right out of the oven...i wonder if they'd go for the challah with nutella & hazelnut or will they just spread butter and jam on that as well.