Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: Rich, ever so slightly sweet, and perfect with dinner or as French toast in the morning.
Texture: Moist and tender yet firm.
Ease: The steps are relatively easy they just require some patience. I always thought challah was extremely difficult to make but after watching someone do it in school I realized it shouldn’t be that intimidating.
Appearance: Challah is one of the most beautiful loaves of bread and this recipe creates a fantastic but uncomplicated braid.
Pros: So much better than store-bought challah and much more satisfying (both in terms of taste and accomplishment).
Cons: Requires pretty much a whole day to make,
Would I make this again? I’ve made challah probably 5 times at home already.
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I’ve made challah bread way more times than I care to admit after learning how to make it in culinary school.
It’s such a gorgeous and complicated-looking bread that I was never really confident enough to try it.
This recipe is actually pretty easy, even if you’re not a super experienced bread baker.
I wanted to make a video about challah because I feel that once you see how easy it really is your at-home challah baking will be much more successful.
Be sure to save some day-old challah because it makes killer French toast!
*Please note: I am not Jewish so I am not claiming this is traditional or authentic challah.
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Challah Bread
Ingredients
- 3 to 3 1/4 cups (15 to 16 1/4 ounces) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 1 envelope (2 1/4 teaspoons) instant yeast
- 1/4 cup (1 3/4 ounces) sugar
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 3 large eggs, one egg separated (reserve the white for the egg wash)
- 4 tablespoons (2 ounces) unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon water, at room temperature
Instructions
- In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, mix together the 2 whole eggs and 1 egg yolk, melted butter, and 1/2 cup of the water until combined. Gradually add the flour mixture. Increase the speed to medium and mix until the dough comes together. Knead for about 5 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic, adding up to a 1/4 cup more flour if the dough is too wet and sticky. Mix the egg white and the remaining 1 tablespoon of water and cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Shape the dough into an even ball and place in a lightly oiled ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Gently press down on the dough to deflate it then cover with plastic and let rise until doubled again, about 40 to 60 minutes.
- Transfer the dough to a floured work surface. Divide the dough into 2 pieces, one about half the size of the other (the small piece should weigh about 9 ounces, the larger should weigh about 18 ounces). Divide the large piece into 3 equal portions. Roll each portion into a 16-inch long rope. Line up the ropes and pinch them together at one end. Braid the rope pieces, pinching the other end together to seal the braid. Place the braid on a parchment or silicone mat-lined baking sheet. Repeat the exact steps with the remaining 3 smaller pieces of dough. Brush egg wash onto the large braid then carefully place the smaller braid on top. Loosely drape the loaf with plastic wrap and let rise until puffy, 30 to 45 minutes.
- Meanwhile, adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and preheat to 375°F. Brush the loaf with the remaining egg wash. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the loaf is golden brown and registers an internal temperature of 190°F with an instant read thermometer. Let the loaf cool completely before slicing.
Can I freeze this bread?
Hi Lynn! We haven’t tested freezing our Challah bread, so I can’t say for sure how it will turn out. However, we have had success freezing similar types of bread. I recommend individually wrapping each slice in plastic wrap and storing it inside a freezer bag. Then, defrost at room temperature before enjoying (or using it for French Toast!). I hope this helps! Happy baking! 🙂
Will you update the recipe with weights instead of volume measurements? Tessa’s got me hooked on doing things that way now =)
We have quite a few recipes on our list to update with weight measurements, improved photos, and recipe instructions! Each one takes weeks of work to complete, so please just bear with us as we chip away at the old recipes 🙂
In the meantime, feel free to use our Ingredient Measuring Guide to do the calculations. Hope that helps!
hey! I’ve used your recipe every year on Christmas eve for 5 years now. Sometimes it’s perfect, sometimes it’s dense and tiny. I’ve read that there can be too much time rising which changes the texture. What are your thoughts on that? Everytime it turns out dense and tiny I can never pinpoint where I went wrong because it rises beautifully in the first two steps of rising but doesn’t really do mich once braided. Maybe I’m working the snakes too long or hard or something? I do love in a drastically different environment and am not experienced with yeast breads. I live on the Oregon Coast, struggled with some candies too. I do use a standing moxer bread hook and then have to use the ovens warming drawer to rise if because my kitchen tends to be cool. Anyways, thanks for this recipe and let me know if you have any thoughts for me!
Hi Starla! We are so glad to hear that you enjoy this recipe! As for your intermittent struggles, it’s so hard to know exactly what’s going wrong some of the time, without baking alongside you. I will say that living somewhere humid can alter your bakes drastically (I know from personal experience!). Some days when it’s not so humid, your baking will undoubtedly be better than really humid days – especially when it comes to breads, candies, and certain finicky bakes like French macarons. There are a few other things you can try to look at to ensure perfection each time, beyond that, though. Firstly, making sure that your yeast is active is crucial. It’s not going to rise well if your yeast is old and no longer active. Learn more about yeast and how to test for freshness here! Secondly, always measure your ingredients properly. This ensures accuracy and makes sure you’re not accidentally adding too much flour, for example, and changing the chemistry of the recipe. Also, the bread just might just need longer to rise, especially if your kitchen is cold – learn more about how to tell if your dough is risen enough here. Finally, your guess could very well be correct – you might be over-handling your portioned bread when rolling out to braid, so try a gentler hand there, so you don’t squeeze every bit of proofing out of it as you roll. I hope that helps! Happy baking 🙂
Made this yesterday and it was as easy as Tessa promised. It was delicious! Can’t wait to double the recipe to have enough to share.
Yay! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Donna! 🙂