The traditional challah bread begins our Shabbat and holiday meals, as has been done in Jewish homes throughout the world for thousands of years. It is full of symbolic meaning dating to the Exodus from Egypt.
Most challah recipes today are loaded with white sugar and refined flour. But it is possible to make a healthy and tasty challah. I have tweaked Susie Fishbein’s Bread Machine Challah recipe from Kosher by Design by replacing the white flour and sugar for whole grain and honey, using coconut oil, and adding herbs and seeds for extra flavor. Fishbein’s recipe uses only the egg yolk- a perfect foundation for converting a recipe to wholegrain. The lecithin in the yolk helps to tenderize the dough; a technique used by Peter Reinhart in his whole grain Challah as well. (You can see his recipe at the 101cookbooks blog).
I like to use a six stranded braid to shape the dough, even when baking in a loaf pan. I learned this technique from Maggie Glezer’s book, A Blessing of Bread
This recipe works with any kind of flour; white, whole wheat, sprouted grain, and spelt. You may need to adjust the liquid and/or flour quantities as you knead. Spelt flour always requires less water. The bread machine takes care of the initial kneading and first rise but is not necessary; a stand mixer or your hands work just as well.
Adapted from Susie Fishbein’s, “The Best Bread Machine Challah.”
I like to bake the braided challah dough in 2 loaf pans or 1 large and 4 small.
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
5 large egg yolks (reserve one white for bread glaze or use one whole egg for glaze)
1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup honey
4 1/2 cups organic sprouted whole wheat flour, or any other flour
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
Optional topping: sesame seeds, poppy seeds, anise seeds, dried rosemary or dill
- Place all ingredients in the bread machine and process on the dough cycle (my machine requires the liquid ingredients to be added first). Alternatively, mix the liquid ingredients in a stand mixer or by hand then add in the flour and knead until a smooth, uniform dough is formed. Allow to rise for 2 hours or until it has doubled in bulk.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Lightly flour a work surface. Divide the dough in half and shape as desired. If not using loaf pans, you can place the braided dough on parchment-lined baking sheets. Cover the dough and allow to rise for 45 minutes.
- Whisk the reserved egg white with a tablespoon of water in a small bowl. If you are using white flour for the challah, whisk a whole egg for the glaze to give the dough more color. Brush the challah with the glaze and sprinkle with desired topping.
- Bake for 30 minutes- less for smaller loaves- until the loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottom or registers 195 degrees with an instant read thermometer.
- Let cool on a wire rack
Susie Fishbein, Kosher by Design: Picture Perfect Food for the Holidays & Every Day
Maggie Glezer, A Blessing of Bread: The Many Rich Traditions of Jewish Bread Baking Around the World
Claudia Roden, “Challah” on MyJewishLearning.com
This post is linked to Whole Foods for the Holidays | A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa.
WOW!!!! Those are gorgeous Challot! Thanks for all the tips!!!
Thank you Dina!
What type (stainless steel, stoneware, etc) of loaf pans do you use?
I use Le Creuset loaf pans for the larger loaves and a stoneware mini loaf pan from The Pampered Chef for the small loaves. They also carry a stoneware muffin pan and other bakeware if you want an alternative to metal pans. I have never tried a Pyrex loaf dish for breads. I would be curious to know if anyone has had success with that.
Great recipe, thank you
I was googling grain free granola and stumbled across your website so for the last couple minutes I’ve just been jumping around from page to page and am so glad I found it! I do WW Sourdough Challah for every Shabbat and I actually use Maggie Glezer’s “My Sourdough Challah” recipe exactly, except that I use 100% whole wheat and coconut oil. I’ve found that it works but it just needs a REALLY long rising time (much longer than in the recipe) or a very warm place. I don’t think they look as beautiful as yours do…but they’re pretty delicious nonetheless
Hi Alexis,
I’m so glad you are enjoying my blog!
Lately I’ve been doing no-knead sourdough bread for Shabbat – I haven’t done this sprouted challah in a while. Glezer’s sourdough challah didn’t come out very well last time I tried it, but I feel more comfortable working with sourdough now and may try it with this recipe soon.
If you do decide to make the “Nutty Granola” I would love your feedback on it!
great!
dont think i can find the sprouted flour.
what about sprouting the wheat berries myself and blending them in a vitamix as they are….
anyone tried something like this
Yes, you can do this yourself.
Health, Home, and Happiness has a post about Homemade Sprouted Flour (with pictures); http://www.healthhomehappy.com/2010/09/homemade-sprouted-flour.html
If you try it, let me know how it works out for you!
Just stumbled upon your blog and love reading it. Do you think I could sub a Chia seed gel for the eggs? Also, I couldn’t find a gluten free challah. I made one once but it turned out okay.
I couldn’t find subscribe to comments so I won’t know when you reply.
Thanks Anna, glad you like the blog.
I’ve never experimented with Chia seed – but if you do please write back and let us know how that worked – many people have egg allergies and would find that helpful. But there are many recipes for egg-free challah. Here is one from Creative Jewish Mom; http://www.creativejewishmom.com/2011/05/the-cjm-guide-to-baking-delicious-challah.html.
I make no-knead bread when I need an egg free bread for shabbat; http://www.realfooddigest.com/lahey-my-bread/.
Gluten free challah is tricky, I played around with it a few years ago but haven’t made any recently. Experimenting with gluten-free baking takes up so much time (and ingredients) and I haven’t been able to perfect one I like yet. Keep us posted if you find one you like!