Wednesday Baking: How to make Challah
Challah is an eggy, braided bread of Jewish origin. I'm not Jewish, so I make no claim that this is authentic Jewish challah bread...my only Challah-making lessons have come from cookbooks, not from a Jewish grandmother. Those of you who do have challah-making Jewish grandmothers can feel free to correct any inaccuracies in this post. 😉
Authentic challah usually does not contain any dairy products, but mine has some butter in it. The original recipe called for margarine, which is obviously not made from milk, but since I really dislike margarine and since I'm not particularly concerned about being authentic, I use butter. If you are want to go dairy-free, though, you can certainly feel free to use oil or whatever butter substitute product you prefer.
Real challah is made with a slightly complicated braiding technique that involves using six strands of dough. My challah recipe is much simpler...it uses six strands of dough, but you use those six strands to make two separate braids, which are then stacked on top of each other. It's not quite as fancy as the traditional technique, but it looks quite lovely.
Because this dough has a lot of eggs and a fair amount of butter, it makes a soft, fluffy bread. It's good sliced and eaten with butter, but you can also toast it or use it to make French Toast.
To make challah, dissolve the yeast in a cup of warm water.
Add sugar, butter, salt, and flour.
Add three whole eggs, plus an egg white (reserve the yolk for later), and enough flour to make a soft dough.
Knead until smooth and elastic.
After the dough rises, it's time to do some braiding. Divide the dough in half, and divide each half into two pieces. One should be about twice the size of the other.
Divide each half into three pieces.
Roll all six pieces into ropes. Braid the three large ropes and the three small ropes.
Place the large braid onto a baking sheet and place the smaller braid on top.
Repeat with the remaining half of the dough, cover the braids and let them rise. Once they're risen, beat the reserved egg yolk and a teaspoon of water, and brush the mixture over the braids.
I added a little too much water to my egg yolk, so my egg wash dripped down and made a mess on my baking sheets.
No big deal, though...after baking, my bread looked just fine.
Sometimes, for reasons unknown to me, the top braid slides off to the side a bit.
This is purely a cosmetic problem, though. As you can see, the inside of a lopsided loaf is just fine.
Challah makes 2 loaves
1 cup warm water (105-115 degrees F)
2 pkg. (4 ½ teaspoons) active dry yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
⅓ cup butter, softened, or melted and cooled
1 ½ teaspoons salt
5 ¼-5 ¾ cups all purpose flour
4 eggs
1 teaspoon water
Place warm water in mixer bowl; sprinkle in yeast and stir until dissolved. Add sugar, butter, salt, and 1 ½ cups flour; blend well. Stir in 3 whole eggs, 1 egg white (reserve yolk), and enough flour to make a soft dough.
Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 5-8 minutes. Place in bowl, cover, and let rise 45-60 minutes, or until doubled.
Punch dough down and turn out onto lightly floured surface. Divide dough in half. Divide each half into two pieces, one about ⅔ of the dough and one about ⅓ of the dough. Divide each into three equal pieces (you should have 6 larger pieces and 6 smaller pieces).
Roll the 6 larger pieces into 12 inch ropes and the 6 smaller pieces into 10 inch ropes. Braid three of the large ropes together and place on greased baking sheet. Braid three of the smaller ropes and place on top of the larger braid. Repeat with remaining ropes.
Cover; let rise in warm place until doubled in size, about 30-45 minutes.
Beat reserved egg yolk with 1 teaspoon water; brush over loaves. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, or until browned. Let cool on wire racks.
That challah is just waiting for a bowl of Chicken Soup!
This looks lovely. Make a slice down the center of the large braid, slightly wedge it open and place the small braid in the "crack". You should not have a sliding problem. ^_^
Or make a "dent" in the braid. The rising is what is causing the top to slide.
Looks delicious! Thanks for sharing. I do have my grandmother's recipe, actually, I'll have to compare when I get home 🙂
I agree with Wendy. My neighbor makes a dent in the center of the larger braid and puts the smaller braid into it. I think that would help solve the sliding problem.
As for "authentic" braiding -- I'm not sure there really is *one* authentic method. Traditional challahs (or chall-oht, in Hebrew) can be simple-braided (3 long strands) or braided with 4 strands, or 6 strands, or made round, or braided and round. I have seen your method, of a small braid on a larger braid, many times as well. Often the small braid is thinner than the one you show here, and runs the full length of the larger braid.
And one friend of mine has a breadpan that is pre-shaped as though it is a braid -- like a mold, basically.
So, I would say, no worries about what is the "authentic" way to braid the challah. Just enjoy the warm goodness of it!
I might have to make matzah ball soup to go with that challah...
I'm jewish and I love challah. I dont keep kosher, so I would use butter too, but oil is really more authentic. It does make excellent french toast.
My mouth waters every time I visit your site!
My thoughts exactly on that chicken soup, which is what we are having tonight actually! Off to try this recipe! Hooray!
Oh yum! I say if you enjoy eating it, it is authentic for your house! It looks like "real" challah to me!
My grandma never baked the challah--it was bought at the kosher bakery. I learned how to make it from books, too ;o)
The reason margerine is used instead of butter is that the sabbath meal where challah is served is usually a meat meal and the laws of Kasrut (keeping kosher) forbid mixing meat and dairy at the same meal ("You shall not seethe a kid in its mother's milk"). If you don't keep kosher, however, challah really is better made with butter.
And it's also great slathered with butter. When I was very little I used to beg and whine to have butter on my challah on Friday nights until my grandma would give in and let me have it. BUT, I had to eat it out on the back porch (in the rain or the snow sometimes) with her labrador retriever, Pepper, trying to share (and sometimes he did!). It's a cherished memory.
Challah makes great french toast and--if you ever manage to have enough left over--incredible bread pudding.
Ooops! That's laws of Kashrut.
And, did you glaze the bottom braid before you put the top braid on? That might account for your sliding problem. I've never had that happen to mine and I don't do anything elaborate to keep it in place.
I do glaze twice. Once when I have finished braiding--before the final proof, and once right before placing it in the oven.
Oh I love challah. I hope to try this.
Thanks for posting this! Challah was one of the first breads I tried to bake, and it was kind of a disaster, but I think I'm ready to try it again. In fact, I may make it tomorrow. (I've got 4 dozen cookies to bake today for Thomas' school bake sale!)
Hi there, Longtime lurker here! I've tried several of your recipes but wanted to share...I made the Challah this afternoon and then...made french toast {for supper}. It was wonderful and so easy. There really is nothing like kneading bread. It soothes my soul.
Kristen, you mentioned that your house has gotten chilly. Where do you put your bread dough to rise - oven with pilot light or just light on? Oven with pan of hot water?
A friend of mine has a challah recipe I love. Now I'm going to have to make both and compare. Darn. Life is hard sometimes.
@Janknitz - I love your story! Did you know that there's a group of Jews that mix milk and meat? I *think* they're in India but I need to check my resources to be sure. They left the Levant a long time ago and so developed traditions very different than the Talmudic ones of Europe. They take the Torah's prohibition of not seething a kid (baby goat) in it's mother's milk very seriously - and literally. They keep close records of goats and lineage so as not to mix a kid and it's mother's milk as prescribed by the Torah. As the Torah is silent on all other milk-meat combinations, they are acceptable.
Thus endeth the useless trivia lesson for the day.
many many thanks for this post! i have used it to make challah for christmas gifts. people have been so gracious about it -- they really seem to think it's special! 🙂 it makes me feel so much better about christmas. thank you... by the way, i also made mark bittman's challah recipe (from How to Cook Everything) and we blind taste tested it against yours. Your recipe won!
I'm pretty excited about making this bread!! I'm not a frugal mom, but I try to be a frugal husband, and I think this will help in that regard! So glad I found this site!!
Is there a way to get bread to rise without using yeast? I am new to baking so I am still trying to learn. Thanks. :0)
I just made this...and it is amazing!!! It made two HUGE loafs...not as well braided as yours...but it was my first time...and the taste is what really matters!!
If I only make half the recipe (1 packet of yeast, etc), can I only make 1 loaf?
Yep! That will work just fine.
@Kristen, but how to divide three eggs?
I'd probably just use two eggs and call it good. Yeast dough is not that specific!
Thank you for this post frugal girl. I just moved out here in the Antelope Valley and could not locate a store or bakery that sold challah for 2 months, we've been using matza instead for the weekly ceremony, my family has had enough! This recipe has come just in time...I showed my wife that I got help from a gorgeous woman LOL! I realize that this was initially done some years ago, but, if you're still receiving responses from here, blessing upon you and your beautiful child. Shalom (peace).
To avoid the slip off - toothpicks hold the top one in place.