One-line recipe:

Pineapple Vegetable Pizza

My favorite quick and easy lunch is pineapple vegetable pizza. I buy premade pizza crusts and keep them in the freezer, so they’re always on hand. I sauce it and top it with mozzarella, feta, onion, mushroom, and pineapple. Delicious!

—Naomi Nachman

Review It

I found a new chummus brand in my grocery store that tastes as close to homemade chummus as I’ve seen! I’m not a massive fan of the very acid-forward packaged chummus tubs, but Esti brand has a super smooth taste that I’m really loving. And cute packaging never hurt anyone.

—Michal Frischman

Okay, quick:

What’s the side dish you make that everyone keeps going back to?

Sesame green beans.

—Chavi Feldman

FT, Help Me!!

I’d love to see recipes for what to do with leftover chicken on the bone from Shabbos. —Brachi Perlman

Some of my kids (you know who you are) used to turn up their noses at leftovers, so the best strategy is to disguise. Cut the chicken off the bones into chunks and mix with sautéed onion, cooked rice or orzo, and a handful of nuts. Or chop in a food processor with a little onion, maybe celery or scallions, mix with egg and bread crumbs, and make patties or a loaf. You could shred it, mix with sautéed onion and shredded carrot, add a pinch of cinnamon, maybe a few raisins and an egg, and use it to fill boureka dough. Or shred it into a salad… What they don’t know won’t hurt them!

(Of course, there will always be the wise guy who takes one bite and says, “You made this with the chicken from Shabbos, right?”)

—Barbara Bensoussan

Halacha:

How many pounds of flour are needed to take challah with a brachah?

In order to fulfill the mitzvah of hafrashas challah and be able to recite the brachah, the dough must contain an amount of flour no less than the volume of 43.2 average-size eggs. Since there are several factors and diverse views on how to calculate this amount in today’s measurements, the custom follows the opinion of most poskim, who recommend being stringent in all respects. That means that challah should be separated from dough made from as little as 2 pounds and 10.3 ounces, or 1.2 kilograms (approximately 8¾–9¼ cups) of flour, but the brachah should not be recited unless the dough contains at least 4 pounds and 15.4 ounces, or 2.25 kilograms (approximately 17¾–18¼ cups) of flour.

Therefore, if dough contains less than 2 pounds and 10.3 ounces of flour, it is completely exempt from challah separation; if dough contains between 2 pounds, 10.3 ounces and 4 pounds, 15.4 ounces of flour, separation of challah is required but no brachah is recited. If it contains more than 4 pounds, 15.4 ounces of flour, challah should be separated with a brachah.

(While this is the prevalent custom, many families have the minhag that a blessing is recited if the dough contains at least 3 pounds and 11 ounces, or 1.67 kilograms [approximately 13–13½ cups] of flour.)

-Answered by Rabbi Doniel Neustadt

(Originally featured in Family Table, Issue 742)