On the Plaza of the Americas on Friday mornings, students can donate money to help relieve hunger and enjoy freshly baked pieces of challah bread.
Challah for Hunger, a national organization that began its UF chapter two years ago, sells loaves of bread each week as a fundraiser for the American Jewish World Service, a national organization that provides aid to the genocide relief in Darfur. Last year's recipient was the Bread of the Mighty Food Bank.
Student volunteers bake the bread from scratch each Thursday, which is sold Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Challah bread, commonly known as egg bread, is a Jewish recipe made primarily of eggs, flour, yeast and sugar. The bread is braided, baked and usually topped with sesame seeds and raisins.
"Jewish families have been making this for 3,000 years," said Brenda Wolnerman, an expert challah baker and the Hillel rabbi's wife.
It takes a full day to prepare and bake the bread. At 11 a.m. on Thursdays, students gather at Hillel to mix the ingredients, which include dry yeast, flour, vegetable oil, eggs and either sugar or honey.
"It's a personal preference between honey and sugar," said Jessica Davis, the Jewish student life coordinator. "But it bakes better with sugar."
Challah for Hunger bakes about three batches of bread each week, which is the equivalent of 40 loaves.
After mixing the ingredients this week, Davis and Jennifer Szlasa, a chemical engineering junior, attempted to smooth out the dough.
"You just need to beat the crap out of it," Szlasa said.
The dough is placed in a bowl and left to rise throughout the afternoon.
Students return at 6 p.m. to braid and bake the bread. The toppings are added as the bread is separated and braided. The most popular toppings include cinnamon sugar and chocolate chip.
"We've had people get really angry at us when we've sold out of the chocolate chip," Davis said.
It takes about an hour to bake the bread, which is then cut into pieces and packaged.
The organization accepts donations for each package of bread and usually asks for $3 to $4 per piece.
"We've had a real good presence on campus and the group gets larger as the weeks go on," Davis said.
For the recipe, visit smittenkitchen.com.
