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.
PrintSimple 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
- ⅔ 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: ⅙ 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
Marie
Hello, I just made this recipe for 1st time. I followed all the instructions and my dough just couldn’t take so much flour. I ended splashing with water to compensate and get it to right consistency but, not sure what happened.
Ron
You used too little water, I assume you made the mistake I was about to make, by mis-reading the quantities. See my comment above
Eric Corbett
I have made this twice now but use my duck eggs, it is always a crowd pleaser!!
Amy Kamber
We recently moved to Colorado and it's going to be my first time making challah out here - any suggestions for making it or adjusting it to the high altitude?
Teri
I’m trying this one next time. It sounds delish. I also love the added info about freezing. So helpful. Thank you
Jackie @ Life As A Strawberry
No problem Terri, how did it come out?
Annie
Last time I baked this recipe, it got too brown on top. Is there a way to keep the crust from over baking? Thanks!
John Moses
Can you your print recipe to only print the recipe? 34 pages printed when I asked for a print.
I'm going to attempt this for Thanksgiving. I'll leave a reply of how it worked out.
I've never made bread before but we are having a little competition. your recipe and claims of how good it is sold me on my choice. Excellent "Blog" here.
Ginell
HI! I’ve made this recipe many times and everyone loves it! However, this isn’t the first time i will attempt to premake it a week ahead and freeze it. Couldn’t you tell me how to properly store and freeze the dough? I know it says not to freeze it until after the second rising, but what after that?
Ginell
OH my goodness, so many autocorrect fails in my question lol! I’m just trying to ask if you could tell me how to properly store and freeze the dough after I have fully prepared it? I love this recipe and so does my family!
Jessie @ Life As A Strawberry
You can freeze the dough right after you braid it (don't give it any time to rise!) by placing it on a flour-dusted baking sheet and sliding that into the freezer for an hour or two, then transferring the loaf to cling wrap or an airtight container and returning it to the freezer. I actually prefer to freeze the bread after it's already baked, though - it holds up SO well in the freezer and it's much easier than dealing with the unbaked dough! Just wrap a cooled, baked loaf in plastic wrap or put it in an airtight container, throw it in the freezer, and defrost when you're ready to use. I also like to slice the bread and freeze individual slices - just pop a slice in the toaster straight from the freezer whenever you want a piece. Hope that helps!
page barger
Hello! this an absolutely fabulous recipe and I will certainly use it in the future!!
Jackie @ Life As A Strawberry
Thank you Page!
Victoria
Hello, can you provide a half recipe list? I would love to only make one loaf at a time.
Jennifer
I would love this as well, please! Thank you!
Ron
Try to half the ingredients?
Estee@soulandstreusel
This looks delicious and sooo eggy! I've been making solely water- challah for years(I have a fabulous recipe), and it is so fluffy that no-one ever guesses there is no eggs in it! But I LOVE trying new recipes, this will be the next one!
Erin
Jessie, thank you for the recipe. This was my first time making challah bread. It came out perfect.
Jackie @ Life As A Strawberry
Thanks Erin!
LindaK
I’ve made a traditional challah for years. Mine rises once in a greased bowl for 1.5 to 2 hours. Then, I form the braid and bake. The loaves rise nicely in the oven. No multiple rises or overnight waits are ever necessary and the taste is fully developed and delicious.
Sarah
I'm definitely going to try this, I'll let you know how it turns out. Thank you for this recipe.
Jackie @ Life As A Strawberry
Hi Sarah, sounds good!
zaira
i made this recipe and it turned out great! i don't have a bread machine or a stand mixer, so i did everything by hand! i hope i can share a picture of what it.
thanks for sharing this recipe.
i'll definitely make it again.
Jessie @ Life As A Strawberry
Wahoo! So happy to hear that, Zaira - thanks for letting us know how it turned out!
Angela
Hello. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. Your recipe calls for 5 eggs but what if I use just egg yolks? How will that change the end result? Thanks!
Jessie @ Life As A Strawberry
We haven't tested this recipe with just egg yolks so I can't say for sure, but I would imagine it would make the bread a bit denser and richer. You can definitely give it a try - let us know how it turns out if you do!
Marce Land
Help! I’m new to making bread and I’ve always wanted to try making challah. I tried the recipe with my 6qt stand mixer and once baked the braids all melted together and flattened out so you can’t even see that I braided it. It’s just like one regular loaf of bread. What did I do wrong? My house is always 66-68 degrees.
Jessie @ Life As A Strawberry
Hi Marce! It's hard to say without being in the kitchen with you, but my first instinct would be to look at the dough itself. Since our flour measurements here are by volume (rather than by weight) the amount of flour can vary a bit from baker to baker depending on how you measure your ingredients - I always tell people to trust their gut and add a bit more flour if the dough feels like it needs it! If the dough didn't have quite enough flour, that could definitely contribute to it spreading. It's also important to work the dough just before you shape it (and not to let the "ropes" rise too long before they're braided together!) The other variable I would look at is rise time - if a dough is over or under-proofed, that can have an impact on how well it holds its shape. I hope that's helpful and that you'll give it another try! I always find that bread baking is more about practice than anything - you should see some of the bread fails we've had in our test kitchens 😉