These delectable breakfast squares satisfy our love of a hearty breakfast. For a weekend breakfast or brunch, choose ham and Swiss or any deli meat and cheese combination. Want other vegetables in your omelet? Replace with your preferred options!
| Prep Time: | 25 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 45 mins |
| Servings: | 30 |
| Yield: | 2 braided loaves |
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
- 1 cup margarine, melted
- ¾ cup white sugar
- 3 egg, beaten
- 4 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 7 ½ cups bread flour
- 1 egg, beaten
- 2 tablespoons poppy seeds (Optional)
- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds (Optional)
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, blend together warm water, melted margarine, sugar, and 3 beaten eggs.
- In a large bowl, mix together yeast, salt, and 7 cups of flour. Gradually stir in liquid ingredients, and mix until dough holds together.
- Knead dough on a floured surface with remaining flour until smooth.
- Split dough into 2 large pieces. Split 2 large pieces into 3 pieces each. Roll each third into a rope 3/4 inch thick and braid 3 strands together. Repeat. Place shaped dough onto greased cookie sheets. Brush dough with remaining beaten egg. Add poppy or sesame seeds, if desired. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size.
- Bake in a preheated 325-degree F (165-degrees C) oven for 20 to 30 minutes.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 91 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 6 g |
| Cholesterol | 25 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 g |
| Protein | 1 g |
| Saturated Fat | 1 g |
| Sodium | 157 mg |
| Sugars | 5 g |
| Fat | 7 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This recipe has been a family holiday must for years. There’s a bit of a debate over who makes it best. We don’t change a thing, except to double, triple, or quadruple it depending on who all makes it home.
I followed the directions implicitly. The loaves were no where near brown after 30 minutes. Even after another 5 minutes after raising the temperature to 350, the bread was only slightly browned. I haven’t tasted it yet, but I hope for the best.
We made regular challahs as well as a Minnie Mouse and a round one. Very good recipe! I love it 🙂
Moved to a new city and could not find a round challah. Erev Rosh Hashana and working full time, I found this recipe. I was afraid it would taste too yeasty but it is not! It is denser than my two-rise recipe. This made one huge and one smaller round, or could have been two nice sized challahs.
I made this Challah and it is delicious! Even my granddaughter who typically doesn’t like bread loved it! I baked it at 325 for 30 minutes and then another 5 minutes at 375 to give it more color. From now on this will be my go to Challah recipe!
It wasn’t a great recipe and was as hard as a stone!
This is a great tasting bread. Get all dry ingredients together then mix eggs and butter and add the very warm water and immediately start mixing so the liquid is warm enough to activate yeast. Otherwise, pretty easy recipe.
This was so easy and so delicious. I didn’t change a thing. I took one loaf to work and they raved. I will make this often.
I tried it 1 1/2 months ago and I ate the whole loaf it was that good !!!!
Very tasty bread! My kids loved it! It does take longer to rise and bake than you might expect, but mine turned out well. Does anyone know how long we’re supposed to knead the dough? I wasn’t sure because I usually use a bread machine so I’m not knowledgeable on dough kneading. I’m wondering if that has an effect on the rise time? Also, I made it exactly according to recipe. It was delicious.
For those of you who didn’t get it to rise…the secret with making a yeast bread is the temp of the liquid. If too much time passed from mixing the liquid to then adding it to the yeast/flour mixture then the temp would have lowered and therefore the yeast will not rise! This recipe is FABULOUS but I recommend mixing the flour mixture together FIRST. Then, in a saucepan/microwave heat your 1 1/2 c water with the 1 c butter (the butter will melt as the water heats…saves a pan and the butter won’t burn!) Then make sure you add your heated water to your eggs…don’t add eggs to the hot water or the eggs will scramble :). Then follow recipe. Also, if you are adding water directly to yeast then the temp should be 110. But since you are adding the hot water to a flour/yeast mixture the temp of the liquid should be 120-130 degrees. So heat the water a bit higher and make sure it’s still above 115 when you add to the flour and you should get a GREAT bread. I make bread often and my husband and children RAVED about this bread! I can’t vouch for whether or not it’s challah since I haven’t made the other “real” challah recipes, but I shall try it out and see if there’s a difference. This was AWESOME!!!!
The first time I made Challah I used this recipe and it turned out great. This recipe usually takes 3 hours from start to finish – allowing 1 to 1 1/2 hours for the rising. I love that it makes two loaves and the presentation is beautiful. I’ve tried it with golden raisins but usually I make it plain with either sesame seeds or poppy seeds on top. I’ve heard that it’s wonderful to make french toast with or bread pudding.
My neighbor made it for us the first time and my whole family loved it. reminds me a little of a less sweet version of Hawaiian bread. I have made it for the past 3 year for Thanksgiving this year I am adding Christmas to it. It is always Awesome!!! I make it to the T and it always works perfect for me. Thank you for sharing.
This is my first time making bread and I absolutely love it. I cut down on the measurements. I don’t want to much left over but it’s so easy to make, and tastes so good. and I am going to use some for french toast for breakfast.
So as always I changed around this recipe and made it match the ingredients I had in the house. I used a quick rise yeast for the first time making Challah and a mixture of fine ground whole wheat (5cups) and spelt (2cups) flour. I never have white flour in the house. I also used honey instead of sugar it being Rosh HaShannah and had the intention of putting raisons and cinnamon init but forgt so put raisons on top of a egg/honey glaze. It wasn’t as sweet as most rosh HaShonah loaves (thank goodness) and turned out fluffy and yummy and very very challahly. Yay!!
If you’re really in a hurry…and live in Atlanta (Buckhead) check out this quaint challah shop: http://gochallah.com I believe they ship as well!
I’ve tried this recipe twice, it didn’t rise either time (after following the recipe exactly). The taste was ok, but it was more like a bagel, then challah.
Does not taste like Challah. I do not recommend.
This challah tasted of flour and nothing else. I made it according to directions and it was heavy and dull. Next Shabbos I will be organized and make it properly!
This was awesome! Sorry to say, but if it doesn’t turn out, you need to look at what you did. One person wrote that it was better than traditional Challah, but since I have never had Challah, this was excellent!
I have used this recipe for two years as my Easter bread and my family loves it! Also, it’s perfect to do with my three year old and rises fast and easy. Everyone always wants to take some home after our Easter feast – this is a terrific bread.