How To Make Your Dream Challa

Challah is the Jewish egg bread served every week on Shabbat, make it at home the way you and your family love

Homemade challa smells delicious and brings extra joy and happiness to our family’s shabbat. I want to share it with you, because I know if I can do it, so can you! I want to share some tips to make the process especially easy and delicious.

As a newlywed, after realizing my husband would appreciate homemade challa, I gave it a try.

One of my first challas

“ummmm… Good, nice try” my husband said after tasting one of the challas, trying to make me feel better. After one more unsuccessful attempt, my homemade challa attempts came to a screeching halt. Supermarket bread it was for us… :(

A few years later, after attending a few hafrashot challa women events and watching a super helpful YouTube video, I decided to give it another try.

I found this Karin Goren recipe that my family and I love. Try finding your recipe that you like that will yield the exact challa result you want. Google image “challa recipe” and try to pick the picture that looks closest to what you would like your challa to come out to. With time you may discover you prefer whole wheat/no egg/honey instead of sugar etc… By making it at home, you are completely free to make all these changes!

Karin Goren Sweet Challah

Dough
1 3/4 cups room temperature water
2 tablespoons dry yeast = 50 gram fresh yeast
1 tablespoon salt
1/2–3/4 cup sugar(depending how sugary your family likes)
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 kg flour (=6 and 3/4 cups of flour)

Egg wash and decoration
1 egg + a little water
Sesame seeds

Instructions

1. Mix all the ingredients together
2. Knead at least 10 minutes, no less!
3. Lightly-oil challa and cover bowl with plastic wrap till dough doubles in size.~ 1.5 hour
4. Fold and shape dough. (Jamie Geller challa braiding video) 1 kg should yield 4 large challas. Tip 1- use a bread roller to roll out each braid piece and then roll with your hand to create the braid. Tip 2- bread directly on the tray so you won’t need to transfer after second rising.
5. Cover with Plastic wrap and rest till almost dough doubles in size~ 1 hour, preheat your oven 180 degrees Celsius .
6. Glaze with egg wash using a little brush, and place in oven for about 15–20 min depending on your oven. I always check after 15 min as my oven works very well. Challa is ready when tapping on the bottom of the challa makes a hollow sound.

Shabbat Shalom!