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.
i amazed myself making this! It was a hit and I am making it tonight for Thanksgiving tomorrow morning! ?
Hi Tessa!
Thanks so much for the recipe, really looking forward to trying it!
I don’t have a KitchenAid at home… is it possible to make this bread without a mixer?
Thanks!!
Lauren
You can make any bread by hand kneading. The mixer isn’t necessary, it just makes things easier and less laborious. It’ll probably take about 7+ minutes to knead this Challah by hand depending on your upper body strength 😉
Hi, the recipe is great. I had a little problem cuz the dough wouldn’t rise but it finally did after one night in the fridge 🙂 I braided it the next morning, let it rise one hour and baked it. The result is great and tasty, thanks a lot!
How was oil must I use as I don’t want to use butter for kosher reasons
Wow. My family will think I’m a professional bread maker now thanks to you. This was a great recipe, a wonderful video and amazingly good bread. Thank you. The two mistakes that I made as a rookie were 1) adding the salt before seeing that the butter should be unsalted. oops, and 2) not seeing that the last tablespoon of water was to be reserved for the egg whites. Both were easily done by someone who reads through an entire recipe
Thanks for making this video it was great. I love using challah bread for my Limoncello bread pudding
So you know, butter can be kosher It just needs to be certified kosher butter. Using oil instead of butter doesn’t seem like it would make nearly as good or rich of a loaf,
Hi, congratulations for your great videos. You sure make all this baking easy. I use fresh yeast, how much will be the 2 1/4 ts dry yeast? I´m glad I found your blog. I already registered to recieve your new posts. Thks so much.
Thank you! This is a great tool for converting dry yeast to fresh yeast measurements: http://www.traditionaloven.com/conversions_of_measures/yeast_converter.html
What beautiful bread!. Great video, by the way – makes it so much easier for beginners to follow and actually “see” what to do. Thank you so much!!
WOW!!! FABULOUS AND EASY.THANK YOU!
Can you tell me why you do 2 braids, one on top of the other instead of one larger braid. I’ve never made this before and wondered why most do one big braid versus one on top the other. Does it cook differently?
I put the challah in the oven and decided to clean the bathroom while it was baking. All though I was using chlorine and other chemicals I could still smell the bread baking, with all the doors closed. When I went in the kitchen, I fell in love! The smell is amazing, the challah looks amazing and the taste.. no words for it! Thank you so much for this recipe!