This recipe for Challah bread has the same delicious flavor but is a little heartier. Very simple! If you want a medium-sized loaf, you may easily decrease the recipe in half. Add oats, poppy seeds, or anything else that takes your fancy.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Additional Time: | 3 hrs |
| Total Time: | 3 hrs 50 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 1 loaf |
Ingredients
- 2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
- 1 cup warm water (100 degrees F or 38 degrees C)
- ½ cup granular no-calorie sucralose sweetener (such as Splenda®)
- ½ cup butter at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 3 eggs
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup rolled oats, slightly crushed
- 1 egg, beaten
Instructions
- Mix the yeast and water together in a large bowl, and let stand until a creamy layer forms on top, about 5 minutes. Beat in 3 eggs, sweetener, butter, whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, and rolled oats. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, 5 to 10 minutes.
- Form the dough into a compact round shape, and place in an oiled bowl. Turn the dough over several times in the bowl to oil the surface of the dough, cover the bowl with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm area until doubled in size, about 2 hours.
- Punch down the dough, and cut into 3 equal-size pieces. Working on a floured surface, roll the dough pieces into ropes about the thickness of your thumb and about 12 inches long. Ropes should be fatter in the middle and thinner at the ends. Pinch 3 ropes together at the top and braid them. Starting with the strand to the right, move it to the left over the middle strand (that strand becomes the new middle strand.) Take the strand farthest to the left, and move it over the new middle strand. Continue braiding, alternating sides each time, until the loaf is braided, and pinch the ends together and fold them underneath for a neat look. Place the braided challah on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cover the loaf with a dry cloth, and let rise in a warm spot until doubled, about 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Brush the loaf with 1 beaten egg, and bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes. Let cool before slicing.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 252 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 33 g |
| Cholesterol | 82 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Protein | 8 g |
| Saturated Fat | 6 g |
| Sodium | 468 mg |
| Sugars | 0 g |
| Fat | 10 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This was SO easy and I have had some epic fails with yeast breads. Healthy too – half whole wheat flour and uses Splenda. Following the recipe directions I ended up with 2 nice-sized loaves – Bonus!
A definite keeper. Changed a few things because I can’t make my bread with any dairy, so changed the butter to canola oil, and used regular sugar as well as plain flour (4.5 cups of it, no oats). I made rolls instead of 1 challah, and didn’t need to wait 1 hour to rise before putting it in the oven. Maybe next time I’ll try adding raisins to it.
You cant really put the eggwash on the loaf after the 2nd rise.. or it will collapse. It would make more sense to eggwash after you braid the loaf and then let it rise. The consitency and taste are nothing like challah I’m used to. Not to say it isn’t a nice bread. it reminds me a lot of any other whole wheat bread.
We couldn’t stop eating it, the whole wheat flour is a really nice touch. Love this recipie. I halved the recipie & also started it too late in the evening. I ended up having to the second rise in the fridge & finish baking it the next day, it was still awesome.
My, this bread was tasty! I used 1/2 cup sugar instead of Splenda, since we didn’t have any on hand. Also I extended the second rising time to 2 hrs. instead of the 1 hr. the recipe calls for. Everyone loved it; it looked and tasted like genuine artisan bread! Another thing I liked about it was that it wasn’t dense like many homemade breads tend to be. 5 stars for D’s Whole Wheat Challah!