Challah Bread
Every time I make bread at home, I instantly proclaim that it’s so good I should really do this more often. And then it’s usually a few months before I actually get around to making bread again.
If you have never made bread at home, this Challah bread would be a good thing to start with. The dough was very forgiving and easy to work with. A coworker of mine came over to make this bread with me on Sunday. We were having a French toast party at work and decided that homemade Challah would be much better than store-bought.
My coworker had never made bread before, but like I said, this dough was very easy to work with. Like most breads, this does require some time with all the rising and waiting. But that’s ok, we enjoyed watching some cheesey chick flick while our bread was doing it’s thing.
Everyone at work was impressed that we made the bread from scratch. And of course, it made some great French toast!
One Year Ago: Strawberry and Spinach Salad
Three Years Ago: Goat Cheese and Spinach Turkey Burgers
Challah Bread
Yield: 2 loaves
Ingredients:
1 1/2 packages active dry yeast (1 1/2 Tbsp)
1 Tbsp plus 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil, plus more for greasing the bowl
5 eggs
1 Tbsp salt
8 to 8 1/2 cups flour
Directions:
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar in 1 3/4 cups lukewarm water.
Whisk oil into yeast, then beat in 4 eggs, one at a time, with remaining sugar and salt. Gradually add flour. When dough holds together, it is ready for kneading. (You can also use a mixer with a dough hook for both mixing and kneading, but be careful if using a standard size KitchenAid–it’s a bit much for it, though it can be done.)
Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. Clean out bowl and grease it, then return dough to bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour, until almost doubled in size. Dough may also rise in an oven that has been warmed to 150 degrees then turned off. Punch down dough, cover and let rise again in a warm place for another half-hour.
At this point, you can knead the raisins into the challah, if you’re using them, before forming the loaves. To make a 6-braid challah, either straight or circular, take half the dough and form it into 6 balls. With your hands, roll each ball into a strand about 12 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. Place the 6 in a row, parallel to one another. Pinch the tops of the strands together. Move the outside right strand over 2 strands. Then take the second strand from the left and move it to the far right. Take the outside left strand and move it over 2. Move second strand from the right over to the far left. Start over with the outside right strand. Continue this until all strands are braided. For a straight loaf, tuck ends underneath. For a circular loaf, twist into a circle, pinching ends together. Make a second loaf the same way. Place braided loaves on a greased cookie sheet with at least 2 inches in between.
Beat remaining egg and brush it on loaves. Either freeze breads or let rise another hour.
If baking immediately, preheat oven to 375 degrees and brush loaves again. Sprinkle bread with seeds, if using. If freezing, remove from freezer 5 hours before baking.
Bake in middle of oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden. (If you have an instant read thermometer, you can take it out when it hits an internal temperature of 190 degrees.) Cool loaves on a rack.
Recipe as seen on Smitten Kitchen
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
I’ve been wanting to make these for so long–might have to bust them out for the Superbowl next weekend 🙂
I made these after spotting them on Pinterest. I made them ‘just because’. They are quite tasty.
beantownbaker — January 14th, 2013 @ 3:46 pm
So glad you enjoyed them!
I made these with my 4 year old, we had so much fun and they are delicous!!!! Easy too. Loved this!!!! Thank you so much for sharing!
beantownbaker — January 18th, 2013 @ 3:34 pm
So glad you liked them!
We made these during a play date. Each kid got a piece to make their own shape. They are so cute and yummy!
beantownbaker — April 11th, 2013 @ 8:44 am
What a fun activity for the kids!
Hello there! This is my first visit to your blog!
We are a collection of volunteers and starting a new project
in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us beneficial information to work on.
You have done a marvellous job!
I am planning to make these for my daughter’s birthday party in a few weeks. Can the dough be made ahead? How long do they keep after making? What is the best way to reheat them if they have been made ahead? I am planning to make a test batch, but thought you could shed some insight. Also- do you think they would be good with 1/2 wheat flour? Excited to road test ’em!
beantownbaker — July 8th, 2013 @ 9:18 am
I make pretzels and freeze them all the time. I don’t see why pretzel bites couldn’t also be frozen. Just thaw them in the fridge overnight then reheat in your oven. I haven’t tried with wheat flour, but let me know how it goes for you!
I just made these tonight and they were so delicious!! I made a batch with salt and another with cinnamon sugar! So delicious!!
beantownbaker — July 16th, 2013 @ 8:37 am
So glad you liked them! I love making cinnamon sugar pretzels.
What if I don’t have brown sugar do you acually need it or is their something else I can use?
beantownbaker — October 6th, 2013 @ 8:13 pm
If you have molasses and white sugar, you can make brown sugar.
Sadly I left my kitchenaid standing mixer in states when we moved to Germany. Can I make the dough with a hand mixer?
beantownbaker — November 3rd, 2013 @ 12:32 pm
I think you could do this with a hand mixer. Let me know how they turn out for you!
Made these for our lake-house retreat this summer and they were gone before we even set them on the table! Making them again, but I learned my lesson and will be quadrupling the batch! That’s how good they are! Thanks for the recipe!
beantownbaker — January 2nd, 2014 @ 1:35 pm
We just made these for our New Years Eve party and I wish I had quadrupled the recipe! I only doubled it and they disappears so quickly!
Made these last night for the Superbowl. It made about 160 pretzel bites. Definitely more than 6-8 servings! They tasted a little “off” last night after we made them, but now that they’ve cooled down and we reheated them, they are delicious!
We plan on freezing about half since they taste EXACTLY like those PretzelMaker ones! Thanks!
beantownbaker — February 3rd, 2014 @ 4:59 pm
Good point about the serving size! I’ve updated it because this does make quite a few pretzel bites. Glad you enjoyed them.
Just made these tonight for the first time and they are delicious! The kids and I decided to experiment so we did some with smokey monterey jack cheese stuffed inside and rolled others in cinnamon sugar after they baked. Soooo yummy! Thanks for the recipe!
beantownbaker — February 3rd, 2014 @ 5:00 pm
Oh man, cheese stuffed pretzel bites? That sounds like a great experiment! Glad you and the kids enjoyed them.
Could I use tin foil instead of parchment paper?
beantownbaker — April 16th, 2014 @ 5:57 pm
Foil should work. I’d spray it with baking spray though.
Seems like a great recipe! Could you though assume how many TBSPs are in 1 package of yeast? Thanks (:
beantownbaker — May 12th, 2014 @ 4:57 pm
An envelope of yeast usually has 2.25 tsp in it. Be sure to check the packaging to see if it’s labeled as well.
This are awesome! I’ve made pretzels and pretzel bites before but this time I tried your recipe. Really delicious. One thing that makes it go a lot quicker is instead of rolling it into snakes from chunks of dough, I roll out the dough somewhat flat, and then cut strips from it. Then I can just roll the strips up a little bit to get them round and it’s all set.
Oh, tin foil does work even if you don’t spray it, they’re just a little tricky to get off, but it’s not a problem.
Thanks for the recipe! https://scontent-b-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/t31.0-8/p843x403/10259243_10203611442836402_762978649043400382_o.jpg
beantownbaker — May 17th, 2014 @ 6:11 pm
That’s a brilliant idea to just roll out the dough and cut it in to strips! I’ll definitely do that next time. Yours look great!
I’ve made these several times and every time they are a hit. i’m making a big batch today for an octoberfest party and just wanted to say Thank You for the recipe!
Tasty recipe!
super yummy! i halved the recipe for my family, and now i’m wishing i hadn’t! great super bowl party food.