Simple Challah Bread Recipe With Video

The BEST challah bread recipe you’ll discover, I’ll present you step-by-step the best way to make my Grandmother’s well-known six-strand challah bread, excellent for the Jewish Sabbath or weekend French toast.

This challah bread recipe hails from my Ema Ljuba, my Bubbe on my dad’s aspect, who’s the matriarch of the Jewish aspect of my household. She spends most of her time in Israel now so we don’t get to see her as typically as we’d like, however each time I bake her challah bread I’m transported to her kitchen in Berkeley, CA the place I realized the best way to make this irresistible recipe.

Just lately my Ema Ljuba has been on the town and my boys ask to see her nearly on daily basis. She has that form of lasting influence on kids, and adults! Effervescent, charismatic, joyful and all the time smiling from ear to ear, Ema Ljuba is probably the most magical grandmother on this planet, and that surprise interprets to her meals. You’ll be able to style the love!

All about Challah Bread

Challah bread originates in Japanese Europe and is a part of Ashkenazi Jewish delicacies. It’s sometimes braided in 4 or 6 strands and eaten on ceremonial events such because the Jewish Shabbat (sunset Friday), and main Jewish holidays like Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish new yr). The feel and consistency of challah bread is much like brioche as a result of excessive variety of eggs within the recipe. Mild, fluffy and eggy, leftovers make the last word French toast or bread pudding! In the event you’ve by no means baked home made bread earlier than, I urge you to offer this fool-proof recipe a shot. Consider me, if I’m baking bread (with yeast!), I can guarantee you anybody can do it.

The best way to make a six-strand braided challah bread

To get began, dissolve yeast in heat water in a small bowl or liquid glass measuring cup with 1 tablespoon sugar and put aside.

Word: You’ll need to use a big sufficient bowl as this combination will begin to develop because the yeast prompts.

Then in a separate giant bowl or stand-mixer base, whisk collectively flour, sugar and salt.

Slowly add your crushed eggs and the water with dissolved yeast and sugar to the massive bowl of flour.

Subsequent, pour within the oil or melted butter and blend properly with a wood spoon or with low to medium velocity. If dough doesn’t begin coming collectively, add a bit extra flour, a pair tablespoons at a time, till it pulls away from the bowl. You need the dough to be sticky although.

As soon as your complete mass sticks collectively, end up onto a floured floor and knead by hand for about 5 minutes, including in that final cup of flour as wanted to type a easy, pliable, shiny ball. It is a nice time to get out any aggression!

Then drizzle a big bowl with vegetable oil (canola oil works too) and place dough into bowl flipping it over to ensure it’s lined with the oil. It will forestall it from sticking. Cowl with a towel and let dough rise at room temperature till doubled in dimension.

As soon as the dough has doubled in dimension, that is the enjoyable half: punch down with a fist and dump onto a evenly floured floor. Knead one or two extra occasions earlier than dividing the dough in half to start forming two braided loaves.

From there, you’ll divide every half into both 3 strands (or 4 or 6 relying on how intricate you need your loaf to be braided.)

Then take your 3 (or 4 or 6) items of dough and roll them out into strands.

Now that the strands have been rolled out, it’s time to start braiding. Just like weaving a pie crust, you’ll need to weave every strand over and below the following one.

In the event you’re a visible learner like I’m, try this step-by-step video guide I created to braiding challah bread. When you’ve completed braiding the challah, place every loaf on a greased giant baking sheet (or one lined with a silicone baking mat), cowl with a dry towel and let rise a second time.

Lastly, pre-heat oven to 350 levels then brush every loaf with a crushed egg.

In the event you’d like so as to add a topping, that is the time to sprinkle with sesame seeds, poppy seeds, or glowing sugar.

Place each pans within the oven and bake the challah bread for about half-hour or till bread is golden brown on the floor.

Let cool after which take pleasure in your Shabbat Challah Bread!

Components and Substitutions

• All Goal Flour: The excessive gluten content material and lightweight, fluffy consistency of all objective flour is important to the right challah bread recipe. I don’t suggest substituting every other kind of flour for this recipe.
• Dry Energetic Yeast: The key to challah dough that rises right into a tall, lovely loaf is utilizing contemporary energetic dry yeast. I like to recommend storing within the fridge in between makes use of to increase the lifetime of the yeast.
• Sugar: White sugar provides the perfect refined sweetness to this brioche-like bread. I wouldn’t substitute with every other sweetener.
• Eggs: The brioche-like texture and density of this bread are as a result of excessive variety of eggs within the recipe. That is what separates challah bread from conventional sandwich bread.
• Butter or Oil: We love utilizing butter in our challah bread however oil works simply as tremendous. In the event you’re avoiding dairy, I might use oil in any other case go for butter.
• Toppings: Earlier than baking, sprinkle the challah together with your most popular topping for added crunch and texture. Nice choices embody sesame seeds, sparkling sugar, poppy seeds or all the things seasoning.

Baking suggestions and time savers

One HUGE baking tip: admittedly, I don’t love the large mess that baking bread can create within the kitchen. Seems, neither does my Aunt Sabrina! The answer? The entire dough kneading could be accomplished in a stand mixer with a dough hook! All of us use and love the traditional KitchenAid stand mixer so when you don’t have one, you must definitely take into consideration including it to your vacation want listing.

Regularly requested questions:

Whether or not you might be Jewish or not, everybody can take pleasure in my grandma’s scrumptious Shabbat Challah Bread, and I urge you to offer it a attempt!

No forks required.

Need extra scrumptious and family-friendly recipes?? Head over to my Pinterest board!