Challah bread is soft and ideal to pair with a meal and family. After some days its also delicious as french toast! You will love how versatile this Jewish Bread is.
Before we start and in case you don’t know, authentic Challah Bread is dairy-free Instead it uses oil and the result is a dough very similar to a Brioche. Hence: delicious!
Can I make Challah Bread by hand?
No, as the amount of oil this recipe has won’t allow you to mix it in the dough before the yeasts start to work. Therefore use your stand mixer with your dough hook (pig tail).
Can I substitute the All Purpose Flour for another flour?
You may substitute the all purpose flour for bread flour. However don’t subbstitute it for anything else as you won’t be gettinga good result if you do.
Does the water need to be at a specific temperature?
Just use room temperature or just a bit warm. Remember you can always use tap water if its drinkable.
Can I substitute the sugar for something else?
No, make sure you use white sugar.
What yeast should I use?
The yeast that this recipes uses is rapid rise also called bread or instant yeast. If you can’t find that type of yeast at your store but you see one that is called “active dry” go ahead and use but just make sure you hydrate it in water (as the instructions say) before mixing it in in this recipe.
Below you will find the recipe – I provided 2 options: 3 strand or 4 strand. If you’ve never done Challah start with 3 strands as its easier to shape. As you feel more comfortable doing it, you can try to shape a 4 strand.
Authentic Challah Bread Recipe and Baker’s Math
| Ingredients | Grams (3 Strand) | Grams (4 Strand) | Baker’s % |
| All Purpose Flour | 237 | 316 | 100% |
| Water | 71 | 95 | 30% |
| Honey | 10 | 13 | 4% |
| Sugar | 17 | 22 | 7% |
| Whole Eggs | 40 | 54 | 17% |
| Egg Yolks | 28 | 38 | 12% |
| Vegetable Oil | 27 | 36 | 11% |
| Salt | 5 | 7 | 2% |
| Yeast | 14 | 19 | 6% |
| Total Dough | 450 | 600 | 190% |
Authentic Challah Bread
Equipment
- Stand Mixer – dough hook attachment
- Parchment Paper
- Sheet tray
- Digital Scale
- Scraper
- Brush
Ingredients
- 237 grams All purpose flour
- 71 grams Water
- 10 grams Honey
- 17 grams Sugar
- 40 grams Whole eggs
- 28 grams Egg yolks
- 27 grams Vegetable oil
- 5 grams Salt
- 15 grams Yeast
Instructions
- Weigh all ingredients separately
- Place all the ingredients, except for the oil in your stand mixer.
- Using your dough hook mix until all the ingredients are incorporated and the dough starts to feel elastic
- Then turn the stand mixer to low speed, and slowly start adding the oil. If you add too much it will start splashing, so make sure you add it slowly
- Once all the oil has been incorporated into the dough stop the mixer and scrape the dough out onto your working table.
- Divide the dough in 3 pieces of 150 grams each using your digital scale.
- Shape each piece into a log of 20 inches long.
- Braid the dough, making sure its not too tight to leave space for the dough to rise.
- Mix 1 egg with a brush, and use it to egg wash the dough.
- Let the dough sit in a warm spot and egg wash it often to prevent the dough from creating a skin (as it wont allow the dough to rise properly)
- Once the challah has doubled in size preheat the oven at 350°F
- Egg wash again before baking and bake at 350°F for 30 minutes.
- Enjoy!