What is Challah bread?
Challah bread is traditional bread that’s whipped up for Friday evening dinners in the Jewish religion. You know the one; it looks like a braid and is fluffy on the inside. Or in other words, it’s a slice of heaven.
All you need are two pieces of bread (and for those who are religious, Jewish, then be sure to bless it). The bread itself is sometimes sweeter and gives a fun, tasty start for the heavy meal that comes straight after.
Challah Bread Recipe
This specific recipe I actually learned from my sister, as she is the one in charge of making Challah in our family for Friday dinner. I’m usually the one who makes the dessert 😉
The recipe requires rising time for the dough so if you are in a hurry, this is not the bread for you. If you have time and patience, then you will have super delicious and yummy bread to munch on!
This recipe I'm sharing here is my simple, sweet Challah and if you need other Challah recipes then here are a few more options:
Whole wheat challah
Sweet potato challah
Vegan challah (Water Challah)
Beet challah
Apple Cinnamon Rosh Hashanah Challah
Rainbow challah
Need an idea for leftover Challah bread? I have the perfect French toast recipe, check it out!
Challah Bread
Ingredients
- 4 cups (500 grams) flour
- 1½ tablespoon dry yeast
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1¼ cups lukewarm water
- 1 egg
- ⅓ cup any vegetable oil - I like to use olive oil
For garnish:
- 1 egg beaten - egg wash
- 2 tablespoon sesame seeds
- 2 tablespoon pumpkin seeds
- 2 tablespoon poppy seeds
Instructions
- Mix all of the dry ingredients, except for the salt, in the stand mixer bowl.
- Attach the kneading hook and mix on slow speed.
- Gradually add oil, water, and egg while mixing.
- Add salt and knead for 4 minutes until dough is unified.
- Form the dough into a ball shape and let this rise in a greased bowl for an hour.
- Divide the dough into 2 pieces and let this rise again for half an hour.
- Divide each pieces to smaller pieces and create strands to braid the challah.
- Braid the strands to challahs. (In the pictures I made round challahs from 4 strands each)
- Heat the oven to 160°C / 325°F degrees with no fan - upper and lower heat.
- Brush the 2 braided challahs with the egg wash and let this rise again for another half an hour - if you are in a hurry, you can skip this step.
- Make another layer of egg wash and sprinkle all of the garnish seeds.
- Bake for 40-50 minutes –but pay attention after 40 minutes if the bread looks very golden then take them out of the oven!
- Serve and Shabbat Shalom!
