Berches is the ceremonial bread that was eaten by the Jews of Germany for the weekly Sabbath and for holidays. It differs from the challah most Americans are familiar with in two ways: 1) it is a "water bread" that does not contain eggs in the dough, 2) it contains mashed potato in the dough, which gives it a slightly tangy taste, similar to sourdough bread. Following tradition, this bread is braided and sprinkled with poppy seeds. My mother, Gabrielle Rossmer Gropman, and I are writing "The German-Jewish Cookbook: Recipes and History of a Cuisine", which will be published in 2017 by Brandeis University Press, HBI Series on Jewish Women. This recipe was slightly adapted from one given to us by Herta Bloch, who with her husband Alfred owned the well-known and much-loved German-Jewish meat shop Bloch & Falk in New York City from the 1940s - mid-1990s. Berches can either be made in loaf pans or as a free-form bread (I have included a photo of each version above), though in either case the bread will be braided.

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