Sweet Breads

I cringe inwardly every time I hear the term 'sweet bread' and the reason goes back to culinary school. My memories of the first week of school are bittersweet. I was thrilled to be there, but my predominant recollection is one of being completely fooled. Sitting with a group of classmates we were eating dinner in the Grand Hall.

The food at The CIA is no joke. That first week there was often more than one course and many times I was presented presented with something I’d never tried before, usually a phenomenal experience. This particular dinner a plate of rolls was brought to our table described as sweetbreads. Fantastic, I love enriched breads, it was a welcomed appetizer in compared to our regular salted cod. I grabbed one and took a bite. It was good…but not sweet. I took another bite. It was really good, still not sweet and I wasn’t sure of what the brown center was. Half the table shared the inquisitive look on my face while the other half laughed. I decided to stop eating.

Back in my dorm room I researched in one of the huge text books they handed out. Not good. This is the exactly what I read, from that same book. ‘Organ Meats/Variety Meats and By-Products’ was the category, “Veal organ meats such as calf’s liver, tongue, and bones are among those most familiar and popular in American Kitchens. Sweetbreads (the thymus gland), brains, and heart can also be found.” So I had eaten veal heart or brains, maybe neck. Two problems; I had eaten veal. I don’t want to eat veal. While it may taste good, my conscience won’t let me. And I had eaten an organ. I don’t ever want to eat an organ and I don’t care what animal it’s from.

So, what is the point of this story? It is my long winded (get to know me) way of suggesting you request clarification of nouns and adjectives (Sweetbread noun, no thank you. Sweet bread adjective, why yes, I would love some). Challah or babka, I’d take anytime. I was familiar with challah in the version of French toast for years, and not very well acquainted with babka until working directly with it. Both breads are enriched, and have special meaning. Challah holds great symbolism in the Jewish religion and normally is eaten on the Sabbath. Babka is embraced by Christian Eastern Europe as a traditional Easter bread.

Challah has a great background story, and its meaning represents life, sacrifice, the scriptures, and three of the Commandments. All in one loaf of bread, it’s beautiful. Even the shape of the bread bares significance, there is meaning in all parts of challah. Babka…well, that means Grandmother in Polish, and sweet cake made with rum and raisins. It is widely available year round, not just at Easter, thankfully! While challah is sweet and rich, it normally is a plain dough with no inclusions (there are exceptions when raisins and caraway seeds are used).

Babka is a whole other story. It is filled with smear (a paste of cinnamon and sugar and a little fat, or chocolate and some sugar), rolled, scored and then twisted around itself to make sure that each bite has smear filling; then topped with streusel. It’s not for neat eating, but after a bite you won’t want to be careful and calculated while eating it. The formulas for each are very similar. The main differences is that babka can call for milk, while challah will not so it remains kosher. Babka has more sugar, in the dough and then more again in the filling and topping. Challah, while sweet isn’t quite that sweet. Babka also has more fat, it’s more tender, kind of like the love child of cake and bread, it can have up to double the amount of fat of a standard challah. The one place where challah takes the lead is in either whole egg, or egg yolk, to give that rich yellow color and expected eggy flavor.

I think most people have had challah, or a cheap variation of it, if only at a diner as French Toast or a roll out of the bread basket but if you haven’t had babka, you are really missing out! With your first bite, you will embrace its feelings of warmth, contentment and satisfaction. It will make your mouth happy and your fingers dirty. You will love it, just like a Grandma.