Daniel Helmstetter lives his life by the sign that hangs above his bakery in Colmar: “Le talent et la passion.” A fourth-generation baker, he told me that he “fell into the mixer and never came out.” The Helmstetter Bakery was started by his grandfather in 1906 in the central square of Colmar, a town once known for its large Jewish population. Each Thursday and Friday, Daniel still makes barches au pavot, an oval-shaped challah with poppy seeds and a thin braid on top, for his Jewish clientele. Barches (also spelled berches), which means “twisted,” is also a derivation of the Hebrew word birkat (blessing), from the verse in Proverbs 10:22, Birkat Adonai hi ta-ashir, “The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich.” “A local rabbi said that the braid represents the tribes of Israel,” Daniel told me over coffee and pastry at his home near the bakery. “And the poppy seeds, the manna in the desert.” Poppy seeds, once grown in the region, may have disappeared from the fields, but the taste from them lingers on. For his barches, Daniel makes a dough that is tighter than his baguette dough, so that it can be easily braided. In a few nineteenth-century versions, boiled potatoes were substituted for some of the flour in the dough, perhaps to help preserve the loaf over the course of the Sabbath.
Recipe information
Yield
2 loaves
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Pour 2 cups lukewarm water into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. Stir in the yeast and the sugar.
Step 2
Add one of the eggs, the vegetable oil, and the salt. With the mixer on low speed, add about 7 cups of the flour. When the dough is still sticky, turn it out onto a floured board and knead it, adding the remaining flour as necessary to prevent the dough from sticking to your hands or the board. Continue kneading the dough until it is smooth and elastic, then put it in a greased bowl and cover it. Let it rise for about an hour, or until the dough has doubled in size.
Step 3
Punch the dough down, and let rise again, covered, for another hour. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and dust a baking sheet with semolina flour.
Step 4
Punch the dough down once more, and turn it out onto a lightly floured board. Divide it into two balls, and set one aside. Separate out about a fifth of one ball of dough. Mold the remaining, larger piece of dough into a smooth oblong loaf about 10 inches long, and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Then take the smaller piece of dough, cut it into three long thin strips, and braid them. The braid can be stretched or shortened, as needed to cover the loaf. Carefully place the braid onto the loaf, and gently press down to attach, using a little water as glue if needed. Repeat with the second ball of dough, and put onto the baking sheet.
Step 5
Break the remaining egg into a small bowl, beat well, and brush the wash over both loaves. Let rise for 1/2 hour, and then brush again with the egg wash. Sprinkle poppy seeds all over, and bake for about 30 minutes, or until golden and firm.
