My family loves Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year. Unlike Passover, always a huge affair at our house taking weeks of preparation, or even Hanukkah, when we often have a party and the kids get money or gifts from their relatives, this quiet reflective holiday focuses on repentance and spiritual renewal. To usher in a sweet new year, we start our holiday meal by saying a blessing, then dipping chunks of round challah and apple slices in honey.

While it's easier to buy our challah, I would much rather make it: The best bakery challahs can't compare with those made at home. I have been making challah every Sabbath and holiday for my family for years, and my kids still sigh when they taste it on Friday nights. I fashion the dough into special shapes, glaze the crust with egg so that it shines like burnished mahogany and create bread that is so moist and rich tasting, you would think you're eating cake.

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I sweeten my challah with honey but occasionally I will make a pumpkin challah, fragrant with cardamom, or a tone-on-tone golden raisin saffron challah.

But I don't make challah because it's better or more interesting or more personal; I do it because it satisfies my soul. Baking bread takes so little time, only organization, and forces me to concentrate on something physical and primal: the humble act of baking bread.

As a writer who specializes in bread baking, I have tinkered with my own challah recipe for years and tested many other versions, and I have my own favorite techniques for fairly fool-proof baking. I use a yeast slurry to start my doughs off to a strong fermentation: It's easier than proofing the yeast, and gives beginners confidence that the yeast is good. I find that stiffer doughs make prettier challahs with more defined forms, and that loose shaping is the curviest.

I usually refrigerate the dough at some point, either just after mixing it or right after shaping it, finishing the bread up to two days later. When I refrigerate the dough just after shaping, I get the added bonus of improved flavor, because of the additional acids produced during a slow, cool fermentation.

The simplicity and quiet of bread baking seems perfect for Rosh Hashana, a time when we are supposed to be reviewing and reflecting on our spiritual lives. Even if you are new to baking, try making a round challah or spending an afternoon baking with your children. Think about all the hard work that went into growing, harvesting and milling the flour in your bread, and how your baking is the last step in that cycle.

As you shape the dough into the traditional spiral, think about the cycle of life and how fortunate we are to have the privilege of celebrating the new year once again.

Rosh Hashana, literally the "head of the year," starts at sundown Wednesday, the first day of Tishri, the first month in the Jewish calendar. It will be the year 5765, as counted from the supposed year of the Creation.

Rosh Hashana has ancient roots, but unlike most Jewish holidays, it does not commemorate a historic triumph (leading to the old joke: They tried to kill us, we won, now let's eat).

Rabbis in ancient times set up the complicated lunar-solar Jewish calendar to ensure that Rosh Hashana will always fall around the harvest time, so many families cook and decorate their homes with all the abundance of the season. Jewish custom is to serve symbolic foods for the first festive meal, often recalling a verse or teaching of the Hebrew Bible.

For Rosh Hashana, sweet foods such as apples and honey are especially traditional, representing the hope for a sweet new year. Most families avoid spicy, sour and bitter foods. Carrots are often served because the cut carrots look like gold coins and symbolize plenitude.

Pomegranates are used as a garnish and a centerpiece, their abundant seeds symbolizing all the Jewish faith's 613 commandments (and you thought there were only 10!).