Awareness regarding hafrasha challah

amother

Fri, May 03 2024, 12:52 pm

3 different women have recently told me that they make a large challah dough every few weeks, do hafrashas challah with a bracha, divide the dough & freeze it. Then they bake 2 challah's every Friday.
I just want to make others aware that if you do hafrashas challah with a bracha on a dough, the entire dough has to be baked at the same time & in the same home/place.

amother

Orange

Fri, May 03 2024, 12:56 pm

Where is the source for this?
I also make a large dough about once every 4-6 weeks, do hafrashas challah, form challahs and freeze and bake 2 every week, as well.

amother

Fri, May 03 2024, 12:58 pm

amother Orange wrote:

Where is the source for this?
I also make a large dough about once every 4-6 weeks, do hafrashas challah, form challahs and freeze and bake 2 every week, as well.

You can do hafrasha, but without a bracha.

amother

Fri, May 03 2024, 1:00 pm

amother Hosta wrote:

There are differing opinions. According to star k, one should in fact make a bracha in this situation.

"If one person bakes dough with 5 lbs. of flour and uses half of it this Shabbos and freezes the rest for eating next Shabbos, Challah should be taken with a bracha after the dough is kneaded."

https://www.star-k.org/article.....llah/

This doesn't negate what I said. It says here that all dough was baked, but some challos were frozen for next week. That's fine.
The issue is freezing raw dough & not baking all dough right away.

amother

Orange

Fri, May 03 2024, 1:17 pm

Well because of your post, OP, I called my Rav and you are correct. He said to be mafrish without a bracha.
Thank you for the PSA. Can't believe I've been doing it wrong all these years.

amother

Grape

Fri, May 03 2024, 1:31 pm

On this topic, I learned recently that if you bake 5 pounds to give out, as in not all for your personal use it might be problematic to be mafrish with a bracha as well

mha3484

Fri, May 03 2024, 1:36 pm

amother Grape wrote:

On this topic, I learned recently that if you bake 5 pounds to give out, as in not all for your personal use it might be problematic to be mafrish with a bracha as well

A friend who is a morah stopped baking challah with the kids because of this.

amother

Raspberry

Fri, May 03 2024, 1:54 pm

amother Grape wrote:

On this topic, I learned recently that if you bake 5 pounds to give out, as in not all for your personal use it might be problematic to be mafrish with a bracha as well

Why do the bakery do it then?

amother

Fri, May 03 2024, 2:01 pm

amother Grape wrote:

On this topic, I learned recently that if you bake 5 pounds to give out, as in not all for your personal use it might be problematic to be mafrish with a bracha as well

Correct. For example, if you give challa for shalach manos, you can make hafrasha without a bracha.

Hashem_Yaazor

Fri, May 03 2024, 2:36 pm

amother Raspberry wrote:

Why do the bakery do it then?

Because there's a possibility a single family will buy enough that warranted the bracha. It's different when done commercially.

This is also a major problem at bas mitzvah celebrations, camp, etc....

yiddishmom

Fri, May 03 2024, 2:40 pm

I think many women are completely not aware of the many halachos in regards to hafrashas challah. I often come across women who make a bracha when not necessary.

My SIL had no idea that there was even a minimum flour requirement.

If you make a large dough, and divide some for challah, some for rugelach or pizza, it's also a question if bracha is necessary.

Rabbi Barclay has a Q&A book on the topic. "Guidelines"

Gut shabbos everyone!

amother

Peru

Fri, May 03 2024, 4:25 pm

Hashem_Yaazor wrote:

Challah bakes where everyone takes home a small piece.....

chestnut

Fri, May 03 2024, 4:31 pm

Wait, what about public challah events where women take it home to bake?
ETA someone said it right before me

Hashem_Yaazor

Fri, May 03 2024, 4:33 pm

chestnut wrote:

Wait, what about public challah events where women take it home to bake?

Can definitely be a problem but I've seen some where the table is just one family together doing 5 lbs at once. Depends on the setup and how much each family is coming home with. Sometimes just the organizer says the bracha and everyone says amen, and she brings home enough to warrant that bracha vs everyone making their own bracha...

amother

Hosta

Fri, May 03 2024, 4:34 pm

amother OP wrote:

This doesn't negate what I said. It says here that all dough was baked, but some challos were frozen for next week. That's fine.
The issue is freezing raw dough & not baking all dough right away.

I edited my post because you are correct, the quote qas not relevant. But the article does say that the dough needs to all be used for the same home, not that it needs to be baked all at once. There are other sources as well but I don't have time to look now.

amother

Jean

Sat, May 04 2024, 10:19 am

yiddishmom wrote:

Rabbi Kallus also has a sefer on this, it addresses any and every question I've ever had and read on groups. Both him and Rabbi Jaeger (co-author with Rabbi Barclay) taught me in seminary.

Personally we bake everything then freeze right after baking. Tastes fresh to us.

LovesHashem

Sat, May 04 2024, 10:20 am

chestnut wrote:

Wait, what about public challah events where women take it home to bake?
ETA someone said it right before me

Challah bakes where I live always tell women to either come with their own dough which is enough to say a bracha on, or just come to answer amen.

There's no bakes where there's communal dough given out or anything.

amother

Daylily

Sat, May 04 2024, 4:59 pm

amother OP wrote:

Can it be baked in 2 shift's, one after the other?

kenz

Sat, May 04 2024, 6:57 pm

amother Daylily wrote:

Can it be baked in 2 shift's, one after the other?

Like if you don’t have a big enough oven for all of it at once? Yes, certainly.