This eggy, hearty challah bread is easy to make and sure to be a hit! Tastes amazing straight out of the oven or as french toast the next day!
It was a bread-bakin', pasta-makin' weekend, folks. I made what felt like a zillion rigatonis (read: 10 servings or so) and a billion buckets of bread (read: 3 loaves + a batch of biscuits), not to MENTION a gigantic breakfast of everything I could think of on Saturday just.because.I.could.
Among the masses of bread I whipped up this weekend was my favorite challah recipe, adapted from Deb at Smitten Kitchen. And FRIENDS. It is THE BEST. So I decided to share it with the world (well...the part of the world that doesn't already creepily stalk Smitten Kitchen's recipe archives, anyway) (not that I do that, whatever) and also with a few select friends who came to dinner yesterday.
The braiding part is tricky, folks - I won't lie to you. It took me a few tries and several batches of challah before I got it to look somewhat right. There's a good tutorial on six strand braiding here - I won't try to explain it myself, because I will fail. But watch the video - it helps! She starts braiding around the 1:40 mark.
Here's what my braided loaf looked like:
WINNING.
I actually started making challah because of a restaurant in Portland called Gravy that makes the BOMB DIGGITY-EST french toast on the planet. (On the PLANET, folks.) They make it with challah bread and a super secret custard-y egg batter recipe that I have been determined to recreate for YEARS. Seriously - I know a lot of places make custardy french toast with challah bread.
But there's something magical about the one at Gravy. It's one-of-a-kind and will never be bested. Stay tuned for my copycat version of their super-duper french toast, though - I'm close to a breakthrough, I can feel it!
And now that I have fresh challah on my counter, I'm pretty sure it's about to be french-toast-o'clock in my apartment (friends and/or french-toast-testing-guinea-pigs welcome).
But until then, make yourself some of this bread. Slice yourself off a piece and butter it up real nice. Sit on your couch, eat your challah, and pat yourself on the back for being so bread-savvy. Refusing to share is totally acceptable - this bread just does that to people.
Print📖 Recipe
Simple Challah Bread
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Inactive Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 2 loaves 1x
- Category: Bread
- Cuisine: Bread
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
This easy challah recipe is perfect for weekend or holiday baking!
Ingredients
- 5 tsp. active dry yeast
- 1 ¾ cup warm water
- â…” cup sugar
- ½ cup olive oil, plus extra to grease a bowl
- 5 eggs, plus 1 extra for an egg wash before baking (6 eggs total)
- 1-2 Tbsp. salt, depending on your taste (I use 1-½ Tbsp. or so)
- 8 to 8-½ cups flour, plus extra for kneading/dusting
Instructions
- In a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Let sit for 5 minutes or until yeast begins to foam.
- Mix oil, sugar, and salt into yeast.
- Add 5 eggs, one at a time.
- Add 8 cups of flour in 1-cup increments, mixing the dough a bit between each flour addition. (If you're using a stand mixer, use the dough hook attachment here. If you're working without a mixer, stir in as much flour as you can with a wooden spoon and then knead the rest in by hand).
- When you've added 8 cups of flour, take a look at your dough. It should be slightly sticky but should still hold together and pull away from the sides of your bowl as you mix. If the dough is too wet, add more flour in ¼-cup increments until dough reaches the right consistency.
- If you're working with a stand mixer, add an additional 1 Tbsp. of flour to the mixer and continue to knead the dough with your dough hook attachment until the dough is smooth and holds together. If you're working without a mixer, turn the dough out of the bowl onto a floured surface and knead it by hand until it reaches a smooth consistency.
- Oil a large bowl and place your dough inside. Cover with plastic wrap or a clean towel and let it rise in a warm place for 1-½ hours or until it has doubled in size.
- When dough has doubled, punch it down and turn it over in your bowl. At this point, you can either let it rise again on the counter or let it rise slowly in the fridge overnight. I ALWAYS do one rise overnight in the fridge, no matter what kind of bread I'm baking. It gives the flavors more time to develop and makes for a much richer end product. If you're in a hurry, though, re-cover the dough and let it rise again for 45 minutes on the counter. If you have the time to wait, re-cover the dough and place it in the fridge for 7-8 hours or overnight. After the dough has risen in the fridge, take it out and allow it to come back to room temperature before you proceed with the next step (about 3-4 hours).
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, punch it down slightly, and cut it into 12 equal pieces. (Each loaf will use 6 of those pieces). Set 6 pieces aside while you form the first loaf.
- Roll each piece of dough out into a long rope, about 12-14", and place the ropes parallel to each other on your floured surface. See this video for great instruction on how to braid the pieces. Braid one loaf, set aside, and repeat the process with your remaining 6 pieces of dough. Transfer the loaves to a large baking sheet.
- At this point, you can freeze one or both loaves for baking later or you can let them rise a final time. If you freeze a loaf, remember to let it come back to room temperature and rise before you bake it. If you're moving straight onto baking, cover each braided loaf and let it rise a final time - in a warm place for 1-½ hours or until the loaves have nearly doubled in size (they should be puffed up pretty significantly).
- Beat your remaining 1 egg with 1 Tbsp. of water to make an egg wash. Brush it liberally on each loaf. Place loaves into a 375 degree oven and bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes have passed, pull the baking sheet slightly out of your oven and give each loaf another liberal brush of egg wash.
- Return loaves to the oven for 10-20 minutes or until loaves have developed a deep golden color. Fully cooked loaves should make a hollow sound when you tap them and will have a sturdy outer crust. (Don't worry, the inside will be soft!)
- Let loaves cool for 15-20 minutes. This bread tastes UN.BE.LIEVEABLE. when you eat it warm, but it's pretty dang delicious at room temperature, too. Enjoy!
Notes
*Note: I make challah in my stand mixer, a KitchenAid Professional 600 Series 6-quart-er, but even my supercharged motor slows down and pulls a bit with the amount of dough this recipe produces. If you have a smaller, standard mixer, I’d recommend cutting the recipe in half or foregoing technology and kneading this by hand.
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Nutrition
- Serving Size: â…™ of a loaf
- Calories: 462
- Sugar: 11.4 g
- Sodium: 615 mg
- Fat: 12.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 75.5 g
- Protein: 11.9 g
- Cholesterol: 77.5 mg
Jennifer
They keep burning on the bottom and I don't know why
Molly
Same. They were perfect until they went in the oven. After 15 mins the bottoms were black.
Jessie
Hi Jennifer, it's hard to say without being in the kitchen with you, but my first instinct would be to play around with the oven settings! You could try moving the oven racks further from the heat source or baking at a slightly lower temperature. My next instinct would be to check the baking sheet or pan - thicker, sturdier pans can help prevent burning! Hope that helps!
DEBBIE POLLEY
I have the two loaves in the oven as I type . I went ahead and added 1/4 cup of honey to the dough because I did this I made sure I used the full 8 1/2 cups of flour .It is looking good . I have made this bread many times . My family just loves it. Thank you so much
Jessie
I love the honey addition, Debbie! I'm so happy to hear you like the bread!
Diane
did you add the honey along with the sugar? or substituted the sugar with honey?
Thanks, really want to try this.
Paula
This is one of my favorite go to challah recipes! Thanks for sharing
Jessie
Wahoo! I'm so glad you like it, Paula!
Jody Nerhood
I want to make honey challah. Other than adding honey would you change the recipe in anyway? How much honey would you add? Thank you.
Jessie
I haven't tested this recipe with honey so I can't say for sure! You might just have to experiment a little bit.
Brittany
Have you made this recipe using Rapid Rise Yeast?
Jessie
I have not, but you could certainly give it a try!
Jody
Have you ever frozen baked challah bread and reheated it someway?
Jessie
Definitely! You can freeze it as a whole loaf or cut it into slices and freeze them individually, then let the bread defrost on the counter or pop a frozen slice in the toaster.
Jody
I've baked a lot but never baked bread. I wanted homemade bread to go with my homemade soup with home grown herbs. I found your recipe and it was great the first time. I took all your times seriously, letting my bread rise overnight. Thanx for sharing!
Jessie
I'm so glad you liked the recipe, Jody! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out!
Brandi Saylor
I loved making Challah when I was a teenager. I'm glad I found your recipe! I wrote about it and featured it on my blog!
Jessie
Thanks,Brandi! I'm so glad you liked it!
Liv
My dough won't rise? My yeast is not expired, and I leave it in the warmth. It does get some air, but after even 2.5 hours it's not doubled in size
Jessie
It's hard to say without being in the kitchen with you, but if you tested your yeast and it proofed up fine (regardless of expiration date) and the dough is rising slowly, you could give it some more time to rise and see if that helps. You could also just do the second rise in the fridge, then shape and bake the dough as directed and see how it goes - that second rise and subsequent shaping and baking will let the dough rise quite a bit again and it may correct itself.
Amanda
So when I put these in the oven, do I use just a regular cookie sheet to place them on? Do I need to flour it or grease it? My bread is on its first rise.
Jessie
I recommend a regular baking sheet as directed in the recipe! I like to use a silpat nonstick baking mat, but you could also use parchment paper or a layer of flour/cornmeal if you're worried about the bread sticking. Hope that helps!
Pope
Great easy recipe!
Not as fluffy or swert as the store brand I get.
Thank you, it was easy to get started with!
Jessie
I'm so happy you liked it! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out!
hannah
oh my, this is devine! I ususally don't do anything with yeast because it never turns out nice, but I tried this recipe and it is awesome! Thanks so much for sharing.
Jessie
I'm so happy you liked it, Hannah! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out!
Naaji
Hi. I mae this today and it turned out nice and fluffy though the braiding was not si good. Thank you.
Esther Kopel
Have you ever doubled this recipe to make more at one time?
Jessie
I have not, but you could certainly give it a try! I find the recipe as written makes plenty of bread (2 large loaves) and tends to fill up my largest mixing bowls, so doubling it might be tricky size-wise. If you try it though, let me know how it goes!
Alli
This was stupid good. I usually make a water challah but was craving some eggy goodness to go with my chicken noodle soup, tonight. This definitely hit the spot. Super easy (the hardest part was the 6 strand braid!) and totally worth the wait. THANK YOU!!
Jessie
I'm so happy you liked it!! Thanks so much for letting me know how it turned out!
Tina
Hi Jessie! I would like to refrigerate my challah _after_ I braid it (so it's gone through a first rise already, and then I braid and refrigerate) -- let it rise overnight and then bake it directly from the fridge. Should I put an egg wash on it right after braiding and before putting it in the fridge? Will this method work? Thanks!
Jessie
I haven't tried this method so I can't say for sure! If you do give it a try, let me know how it goes.
Aa
Can I leave it in the fridge for more than 8 hours to rise?
Sarah
Aa-
I did (leave the dough in the fridge for more than 8 hours in the fridge)...my loaves are in the oven now and look amazing!
Jessie
Wahoo - I'm so glad! Hope they tasted great!