There are eight people at Nuk Tessli at the moment.  As well as Doron and myself, there are: a Swiss client, two American friends of Doron, plus three young Israelis: Amotz, Oren (which means”pine tree”) and Inbal (which means the clapper of a bell.)  Eight hard-working people means a lot of bread!

Last year we had to put a new floor in the oven as the baking stone was too broken.  This meant that the roof was not high enough and the fire could not burn hot enough.  So one of Doron’s first jobs was to restructure the roof of the oven.  Amotz was the only other person here at that time.

I have described the baking process in a previous post.  We needed to bake yesterday.  I made 4 large loaves (each twice the size of a regular loaf) and Inbal made hala, which is a traditional sweet Israeli bread eaten on Friday evening when the whole family gathers for the pre-Sabbath meal (even if they are not religious.)

It has oil and a lot of sugar in it, and it is braided.  Just before it goes in the oven, it is brushed with egg and coated with sesame seed.

Here is the result of the days’ baking.

At the end of the day, Doron made what he calls a quiche although it has no pastry or eggs.

And here we are eating everything.  There are no fancy dishes, but the meals we have been eating are wonderful.

(From left to right: Cooper from the US slicing the hala, Verena from Switzerland, Inbal, Oren and Amotz.)