The challah recipe is from the book, Maggie Glezer's "A Blessing of Bread". Here is the full story about this challah. "The recipe of this challah shared defenestrate Esther Kramer. And she got it from mom - Bashi Levina. At the beginning of the last century bash has crossed the ocean, migrating from the Belarusian style in the American heartland. To America bash, brought with him five children, a samovar and a big feather bed. The bread for this recipe BASA baked whole life. Once a week she wound up the dough from 10 kg flour, which was divided into twenty portions, each portion into three equal pieces and bake twenty-braided Hal, pouring waves of unbearably delicious aroma all around. On those pastries were gone the entire day. The bread in the family was a big wooden barrel, which the husband Bashi adapted for the storage of grain. This amount Hal family enough for the whole week. This bread is preserved perfectly, due to the Belarusian secret ingredient, which you probably know. "Potato water", i.e. water remaining after boiling peeled potatoes. And of course cumin. This challah is always sprinkled with cumin. And if the holiday challah with raisins in the dough with the cumin still intervenes in the dough.