ctaymor reviewed Braided by Beth Ricanati
Review of 'Braided' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
I was clearly not the target audience for this book. I loved the premise. You too can bake challah every week, and it will have positive effects on your life. Indeed, Ricanati inspired me to bake challah on a workday for the first time ever, and it was totally doable.
However, this book assumes it's audience is either not Jewish or is primarily a cultural Jew, or otherwise has low knowledge of halachah, traditional Jewish practice, and texts, and also minimal baking knowledge. I could see enjoying it more 10 years ago, but as a fairly observant Jew, who used to bake a lot, there were quite a few parts which were annoyingly 101. Not a flaw in the book, I'm just not the target audience.
However, despite that, I do feel I got a lot out of the book. Ricanati's description of the emotional journey baking challah every week …
I was clearly not the target audience for this book. I loved the premise. You too can bake challah every week, and it will have positive effects on your life. Indeed, Ricanati inspired me to bake challah on a workday for the first time ever, and it was totally doable.
However, this book assumes it's audience is either not Jewish or is primarily a cultural Jew, or otherwise has low knowledge of halachah, traditional Jewish practice, and texts, and also minimal baking knowledge. I could see enjoying it more 10 years ago, but as a fairly observant Jew, who used to bake a lot, there were quite a few parts which were annoyingly 101. Not a flaw in the book, I'm just not the target audience.
However, despite that, I do feel I got a lot out of the book. Ricanati's description of the emotional journey baking challah every week took her on has inspired me to give weekly challah baking a try.