Hey y’all! In this post, you’ll find my 8-ingredient vegan challah recipe, a little bit about what challah is, why it’s special to me, and about the skills you’ll learn through making this recipe. If you want to skip right to the recipe, check out the button above.
Challah is a special recipe to me because it’s the first baking recipe I really felt I had become an expert in. I learned to bake challah as an undergraduate student through my university’s Challah for Hunger chapter, an organization where chapters bake and sell challah to raise funds for hunger relief organizations. Chapters also engage in education and advocacy around hunger issues. As an alumni of the organization, I still work with the non-profit, advising four chapters around the country.
Because of my experience with Challah for Hunger, I baked challah every other week for three years – and a lot of it. This gave me tons of practice with one recipe, and I was able to build my confidence that allowed me to experiment with this recipe in ways that I otherwise likely wouldn’t have. I also had the wonderful opportunity to guide others through the process of making this recipe on a bi-weekly basis, which further developed my skills.
Not only that, but challah is DANG delicious y’all. Just a plain loaf of challah is slightly sweet and fluffy from a double rise. I can honestly eat a whole loaf myself, and I have burned my tongue on many occasions eating my challah too quickly out of the oven.
Challah bread is a Jewish bread typically made for Shabbat (the weekly day of rest from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday) and other Jewish holidays. Many challah recipes have egg in them or the dough is washed in egg. Challah is also typically braided.
I eat challah for all occasions and no occasions. I give challah as gifts and bake it for friends who need a pick-me-up. My recipe is egg-less and contains just 8-ingredients. There are a few skills you’ll gain through this recipe:
- Challah braiding: this is a skill that takes a bit of practice, but the video below should help you get started. And I always say, it doesn’t matter if your braid is a little wonky because it’s gonna taste delicious!
- Kneading: Just when do you put your hands in your dough and start kneading? And when do you stop and let your dough rise? And how do you even knead at all? This isn’t an exact science, and you’ll get a feel for these things over time. But I’ve put some of my tips in the recipe below.
So, that’s challah! The recipe below is one that I’ve developed and tweaked over four years into what it is today. Let’s get started!
8-Ingredient Vegan Challah
Ingredients
- 7.5 cups flour plus more for kneading
- 2.5 cups water
- .75 cups sugar
- .5 cups oil
- 1 tbsp instant yeast**
- 1.5 tsp salt
- non-dairy milk
- maple syrup
- toppings as needed
Instructions
- Mix the sugar, oil, salt, and water in a large bowl until everything is dissolved. Using warm water helps.
- Add 3 cups of flour and mix. All the clumps may not go away. It’s okay, you can go on to the next step!
- Combine the yeast with 1 cup of flour in a separate small bowl. After they have been mixed, add them to the dough mixture and stir in.
- Slowly continue adding flour. As your mixture becomes thicker, add the flour more and more slowly. Add flour until the dough only slightly sticks to your hands.
- Knead the dough with your hands in the bowl at first for approximately 5 minutes. You’ll need to coat your hands with flour as needed, and continue reapplying the flour throughout so that the dough remains only slightly sticky to the touch. Then transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes more.
- Transfer the dough back to the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit for 30 minutes to rise.
- After the dough has risen, preheat your over to 350 degrees F. Transfer your dough back to a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 9 equal balls of dough.
- Use 3 balls at a time. Roll the dough balls into strips between your hands. - If you are going to stuff the challah, create a divet in the dough with your fingers down the center of each strip that you are going to fill. - Fill the divet with your selected topping and then pinch the edges of the dough together to close the dough.
- Braid the strips together by placing them side by side. Take the three ends of each of the strips and bring them together while the other ends are angled outwards.
- Bring the outside strip on the right to the middle of the other two strips. Then, bring the outside strip on the left to the middle of the other two. Repeat until you've braided all the way down. Fix the ends of the challah by braiding and tucking the ends underneath the loaf.
- Repeat with the other dough balls.
- Place the challot* on a parchment paper lined tray, ensuring there is about 2 inches between each loaf.
- Cover the loaves with hand towels and let rise for 30 minutes.
- After the dough has risen, place any toppings you are going to use on top.
- Put your trays in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes.
- While your challot are in the oven, create the wash for the top of the challah by mixing equal parts non-dairy milk with maple syrup.
- After the 20 minutes, remove the challah from the oven and wash with the mixture you created. Place them back in the oven for 20-30 more minutes, until golden brown and a fork placed in between the braids comes out clean. Another method you can try is tapping the bottom of the challah and seeing if it sounds hollow.
- Once your challah is done, let it rest on the tray for a few minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool. Or, if you find challah as irresistible as me, eat it immediately and burn every taste bud in your mouth (:***
Notes
- Alternatively, you can allow your dough to rise in the fridge overnight after braiding. This allows you to split the process in half so it’s less time all at once and it allows your dough to rise a little longer. The only difference is instead of covering with hand towels, you’ll cover with aluminum foil and put it in the fridge. Then follow the instructions the same way.
- Some fun toppings that I've used in the past include: sprinkles, cookie butter, vegan beef & cheese, rosemary & garlic, apple & cinnamon, cinnamon sugar, and lemon poppyseed. The sky is the limit when it comes to challah flavors - get creative!