Almost every Friday, I make a new challah for the week. For a while I had to go gluten free for health reasons, but now I’m lucky enough to be back to full-gluten challahs! For now I’ll share this full-gluten recipe, but I’ll put my gluten-free up another time, promise.
Challah is an enriched braided bread that’s chewy and delicious. And you should bake some! It’s a traditionally Jewish bread for the holiday of Shabbat, but anyone can enjoy challah at any time. Personally, I find it’s a great regular activity with my sons and keeps them interested in the process of making food. They help mix ingredients and squish dough. It can be a little messy, but they’re getting better at it!
For this one, I actually have a proper recipe with measurements. And since it’s baking, which is another word for witchcraft, you should probably follow it exactly. It is one I’ve adapted from a similar recipe that required 7 egg yolks. Who has 7 eggs to spare in this economy? So, I use 3 egg yolks and 2 whole eggs.
This recipe is enough for one big challah or two medium challahs. Or however many challahs you can separate pieces of dough for, you do you.
Ingredients:
- 3 egg yolks
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/4 cup of sugar (and 1 teaspoon to feed the yeast)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 6 Tablespoons of olive oil
- 4 cups of flour (plus extra for dusting)
- 1 cup lukewarm water
- 2 and 1/4th teaspoons active yeast
Instructions:
- Dissolve 1 teaspoon of sugar in 1 cup lukewarm water and add the yeast. Set aside for 10 minutes.
- Separate your egg yolks and save the extra egg whites in a cup in the fridge for later use.
- Mix all your eggs, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, and 6 tablespoons olive oil together.
- Add 4 cups flour and mix together
- By now, make sure 10 minutes have passed and your yeast/water is foamy. Add to the rest of the ingredients.
- Mix it together with your hands and it’ll start becoming dough.
- Kneed the dough for about 10 minutes, with flour dusted on your surface and/or hands to keep it from sticking.
- Coat a clean mixing bowl with a little olive oil and set your dough ball in the middle.
- Cover the dough and set in a warmish spot like outside in the Florida heat to rise for 1 hour and 30 minutes.
- Punch the dough in the middle.
- Divide your dough into 6 equal sized pieces (or less if you don’t want to do a 6 strand braid).
- Roll out each piece into a long rope and braid. You can do a 3 strand, 4 strand, 6 strand – whatever you want. I like to do a 6 strand, and there’s plenty of tutorials you can follow on how to braid on YouTube if you’re not sure how. If you’re making a special Rosh Hashana challah instead of a Shabbat challah, curl your braided dough around itself into a circle!
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Cover your braided dough with a cloth and set aside for 30 minutes (your oven should be done preheating then).
- Take out the egg whites from the beginning and brush them over your challah to give a nice shiny coat.
- Bake for 15 minutes, then turn the tray around and bake for another 15 minutes. I’m gonna be honest, I’m not sure if this makes a difference, but I’m too afraid of messing up if it does and ruining the challah, so I keep doing it.
- Set out to cool.
- Eat! In my opinion, the best way to eat challah is tearing pieces from it rather than slicing it. That keeps the distinct chewy texture better. You can also dip it in olive oil and/or salt! Different families have different traditions, and mine holds to the idea that you shouldn’t use a blade against a bread of peace and rest.
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