MANDYLICIOUS

Mandy Silverman — Challah guru

By Ellen Braunstein

THERE ARE MANY WAYS to bake challah and Mandy Silverman offers no less than 370 varieties. Her sweet and savory braided loaves are topped and stuffed with ingredients you never imagined, like caramelized onions and brisket, molten peppermint chocolate, and rainbow cupcake batter.

Known as the “Challah Guru” this Massachusetts baker offers recipes, guidance, and endless inspiration for challahs. She shares her creations with 40,000 followers on Instagram.

“I started off as a local business in 2013, Mandylicious, cooking from my home,” said Silverman, a wife and mother in her early 40s. With only a year of practice, she began turning out challahs with “crazy, fun things. I had so much experience with all this weirdness.”

From her home, she sold 30 a week. Then she took her baking business online and became an Instagram influencer. Her posts went viral. She showcases her challahs and answers questions about making them. “Word of mouth has been really helpful. I realized that my platform was better served there, as a way to teach people how to make challah and give out recipes.”

Silverman has made every baking mistake, “so I was really able to help people.” She also teaches classes on Zoom in the past few years and more recently returned to inperson classes.

Her mother inspired her to start with the basics – a slightly sweet loaf with a shiny, golden crust and pillowy-soft interior. Mom longed for a neighbor’s honeylayered challah, but was told it was a secret recipe. “I said, Mommy don’t worry. I will figure out how to make it. After several attempts, she got it right. “At some point, you get exhausted from failure because it’s not like making a pancake. You know right away, but a challah takes hours to see if something is wrong with the taste or the texture.”

Then came buffalo chicken (her husband’s favorite), Indian food (a friend’s pick), salami, and cookie dough, to name a few. She would make special flavors for friends for their birthday and a Thanksgiving variety braided to resemble a turkey beak and feathers.

The biggest challenge in making a challah is getting the dough texture right. “When you make the dough you want it to end up being tacky, but not sticky. You don’t want it to be too dry because the dough doesn’t have enough leeway to rise. If it doesn’t have enough give, it will taste doughy and dense.

“With a challah, you have to use your own judgment because the dough will change consistency depending on humidity levels