Thanks Mike. I will look at this when I am back home. We're in Evanston for a college tour for my middle.

I've started boiling my cider because it gives it a rounder flavor.

And my cider has one ingredient: apples!

Thanks for the challah costing. Looking at it my bread is way less expensive than I thought and when I start buying less expensive flour that should help A LOT. I could switch from avocado oil to canola as avocado oil is about three times the cost but I like it better now than canola so I may see if I can find a less expensive source than Costco.

It was a perfect day for Northwestern: sunny and in the low 70s with a nice breeze. Our tour guide spent at least half the time talking to us in front of the beach. Smart kid! And our tour guide was from West Hartford and went to high school with my oldest and knew him well so it was a good connection.

We stayed with my brother who put on a big push to have his nephew close by and he is the uncle who live farther away in Wilmette. My other brother is walking distance to Northwestern and Henry likes the idea of family being close by. Henry is also a pretty talented singer and wants to pursue that in addition to engineering in college and of all the schools he is looking at Nwestern has the best mix of STEM and performing arts.

Mike,

Did you try my recipe. I love your spreadsheet. It turns out my challah is much less expensive than I thought. Thanks again!

Also, I haven't noted it in my recipe yet but right now I am using boiled cider. I am boiling my own and I boil about 1/3 of it away. I like the flavor better. I boil my own not because it will save money but because I can experiment with different ciders to see which works best. If I buy it from KAB (the only place I have seen it) I am limited to what they sell. We have so many small farms selling cider and they are not all the same. On Rosh Hashanah we went apple picking at a new place and I really like this orchard. But they're cider is a little weak so I can by from the other place I drive by every week on my volunteer day.

They've started to also make cider from apple mixes or specific apples. So I can buy apple cider, gala cider, or honey crisp cider. The honey crisp carries a higher price and I am not sure it is worth it.

CT stopped our orchards from picking apples off the ground and pressing them.

But it's still legal in MA and NY so we have apple cider from those states that is less expensive.

All it did was make CT apple cider more expensive and annoy local growers.

But we still have plenty around.

Mike - My email is unstuck! Thanks

I don't know any laws - Jewish or civil - that says that challah must be baked by Jews. That may be different in Nebraska but not here. I worked in a bakery where the owner was Jewish but none of the bakers were until I started apprenticing there. They made challah every Thu/Fri overnight.

Now kosher is something different. It requires constant supervision of you, your recipe, your techniques, and your kitchen. For example, one of the reasons I originally switched to boiled cider was to keep cider taste but reduce the amount vs the rest of the liquid. If too much juice is used in relation to the rest of the liquids then it is cake not bread.

You would need a representative from koshering authority constantly in your kitchen. But anyone can make challah.

Mike - thanks.

You have "package size" and its value is 1. I guess I thought it was one pound but looking at the cell now I realize it isn't.

I have my eggs at 47 grams which is a bit shy of 2oz.