basics/bread/breakfast/brunch/recipes

Just Your Basic Challah Recipe

Posted October 16, 2016 by Stephanie

challah bread recipe - www.iamafoodblog.com

challah bread recipe - www.iamafoodblog.com

challah bread recipe - www.iamafoodblog.com

challah bread recipe - www.iamafoodblog.com

I’m not a huge bread baker. People say baking bread is a science and it’s one that I haven’t quite figured out yet. I LOVE bread with a passion but it doesn’t always love me back. I remember the very very first loaf of bread I baked – I did it fearlessly, not knowing much about bread baking – turned out fantastic. I still remember our friends being super impressed that it wasn’t a store bought loaf. But after that one success, many of my bread baking experiences have been fails.

That is, until now! I’ve got my bread baking mojo! Ever since baking up totoro shaped buns (recipe coming soon, for Totoro week, the last week of October!), I’ve been on a bread making roll! Get it? Roll, like a bread roll?! It’s great because our house smells amazing and there’s always fresh bread. But it’s also not great because I’m starting to resemble a loaf myself.

Anyway, I got it in my head that I wanted to bake a challah, even though I don’t really know anything about challah. I did a deep google search looking for the right recipe to make – there are a lot of them out there. In was very tempted to go for baking classes near me to increase my baking skills, but thought I could do it myself! I narrowed it down, texted some friends who are much better at baking bread than I and then went to town.

It started out kind of sticky and for a while I was worried but I let rise overnight and the next day it was fluffy and happy and ready for braiding. I did yet another deep google dive to find out how to braid a six-strand challah, did a bit of practice with some yarn and then went to town. I have to say, I nailed it! I felt so proud of my challah baby after it rose all gloriously poofy. I felt even better after we cut it up and ate it!

If I can challah, you can too! Do it!

challah bread recipe - www.iamafoodblog.com

challah bread recipe - www.iamafoodblog.com

challah bread recipe - www.iamafoodblog.com

challah bread recipe - www.iamafoodblog.com

Challah Recipe
makes 2 loaves


Yeast Starter

  • 1 cup warm water
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 2 tablespoons rapid rise yeast

Dry Mix

  • 6 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons salt

Wet Mix

  • 4 eggs
  • 2/3 cup flavorless vegetable or canola oil
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/4 cup mild honey

Egg Wash

  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon water
  • pinch of salt

very slightly adapted from Food 52

In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together 1 cup of warm water and the sugar. Sprinkle the yeast on top and let proof for 5 minutes.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, use a wooden spoon to stir together the flour, sugar and salt. Attach the dough hook.

In a medium bowl or large liquid measuring cup, whisk together the eggs, oil, water, and honey.

Add the yeast mixture to the wet ingredients. Stir to combine. Use the dough hook and knead on low speed. Make sure all the flour is picked up from the bottom of the bowl. The dough is quite wet, if needed, add flour, a tablespoon at a time, until the dough is smooth and no longer sticky. Knead for 7-10 minutes, or until the dough is soft and pliable and passes the window pane test.

Divide the dough into two equal pieces, tucking into balls. Set into lightly oiled large bowls and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Rise overnight in the fridge, or at room temp until doubled, about 2 to 2.5 hours.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375°F.

Working with one ball of dough at a time, divide into 3 for a 3 strand braid or 6, for a 6 strand braid. Roll out the dough into ropes/logs, about 1 foot long.

For a 3 strand braid: Don’t pinch the tops of the logs together, just start braiding. When you reach the end, pinch the ends together, then flip your loaf over and upside down so that the top is now at the bottom. Braid and then pinch, tucking in both ends.

For a 6 strand braid: Pinch the tops of the six logs together. You want to take the outermost log, bring it over two strands, tuck it under one, and bring it over the last two. You want to repeat the pattern, taking the outermost log, going over two strands, under one, over two. Repeat until the entire loaf is braided. Pinch the ends and tuck under.

Place your braided loaf on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Brush with egg wash and loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rise, 30 minutes.

When the oven is ready, brush with egg wash again and bake for 20-22 minutes, or until golden and baked through.

Notes: I found my dough to be quite sticky but I didn’t want to over knead or add too much extra flour so I put it in the fridge overnight and the next day it turned out great! It was still on the tacky side, but easy to work with when I added a light dusting of flour.

It’s Sunday! You know what that means: it’s time for Sunday Brunch. Why don’t you skip the line and make brunch at home this week? The coffee’s truly bottomless, the booze doesn’t have a crazy markup and you can chill out in your pajamas. Every Sunday I’ll post a brunch recipe. Soon you won’t be asking, where should we go for brunch – instead it’ll be, what should we make for brunch today?

7 Comments

  1. I agree baking bread is hard, but your challah is so beautiful. “If I can challah, you can too” gives me encouragement, so I am trying very soon.

  2. I have purpose!!!! Deep LOL! Oh my gosh yours turned out beautifully and so funny as I had been wanting to try making a challah loaf too! I am inspired, buddy! XO

  3. Alissa says:

    In the fourth paragraph you list “Add the yeast mixture to the water, immediately followed by the wet ingredients.” Is that supposed to be add the yeast mixture to the dry ingredients?

    1. Stephanie says:

      hi alissa,

      you mix the yeast starter (water, sugar, yeast) with the wet mix (the eggs, oil, water and honey), then mix that into the flour. hope that helps? let me know if you need more clarification!

  4. Carol says:

    We followed your recipe and made a delightful challah bread! We left it to rise in the fridge for 2 nights because of holiday timing and it rose quite a bit. It made an ENORMOUS loaf of bread but it was beautiful and delicious. The only thing I found was the dough was quite sticky and needed a fair bit of extra flour (but another website we saw recommended avoiding over-flouring, so it was hard to know exactly how much flour to add!). We also followed a youtube video to learn how to do the 6-braid, and it was totally worth it for a beautiful loaf of bread!

    1. Stephanie says:

      hi carol,
      so happy it came out nice and fluffy! good call on the flour – sometimes it’ll need a bit more or less depending on how humid it is in your kitchen :)

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