Billy Lyons with Zagat goes behind the scenes at Breads Bakery to find out how challah is made. He filed the following report for NY1.

Breads Bakery, a popular bakery near Union Square, is becoming a new holiday mainstay for in-the-know New Yorkers. The bakery stays faithful to traditional Jewish recipes while incorporating diverse ingredients, a mix that is beloved by modern diners.

"When it comes to challah and babka, there are a certain number of things that we need to keep traditional; that basic bread dough with flour and water and eggs,” says Kelly Jacques, Production Manager at Breads Bakery. “I think there's really room to play with it and still call it a challah. In our festive challah, you see it's topped with six different seeds, so there's no fights over what type of challah to get at the bakery. Everyone can take their own slice."

The creativity at this bakery has expanded their traditional appeal and landed their goodies, especially their challah and chocolate babka, a spot on countless Thanksgiving and Christmas tables.

"Challah and babka are traditionally more Jewish treats for the holidays, but they're becoming more popular for people even not of Jewish faith," Jacques says.

After getting up to speed on the history of the dish, it was time to start rolling and braiding dough.

"Straight lines on either side,” Jacques says. “It's more of an art than a science at this point. Next is the Thanksgiving challah. We make dough the same as we would and then we add everything at the end."

I had the festive challah. There is that touch of sweetness, but it is still a really nice way to start off a meal. I also tried the Thanksgiving challah. Again, this was the second one we made. And of course if you don't like vegetables, there are some carrots in here. We ended with the chocolate babka. I can see why this is one of their more popular items.