Best Challah Bread (Braided Egg Bread)

This time-tested challah bread is soft, chewy, and lightly sweet, with a beautifully glossy braided crust. The flexible dough can be shaped into an oblong loaf for Shabbat, a round challah for Rosh Hashanah, or two smaller loaves for sharing. And should any survive dinner, the leftovers make truly glorious French toast!

Recipe Ingredients

You'll need the following ingredients to make this challah recipe:

Ingredient Notes

As with most bread recipes, you need the basic bread ingredients: flour, water, yeast, and salt.

Flour: Generally speaking, bread flour is preferred for challah dough because it has a higher protein content than all-purpose flour. This allows the dough to have a stronger gluten structure, making it easier to shape and the bread will be less dense.

You can use all-purpose flour if you wish, but the dough may be softer and the finished loaf slightly less chewy. Hold back some of the water at first, since all-purpose flour may absorb less than bread flour.

Yeast: I only use instant yeast (aka rapid rise) when I bake, which doesn't need to be proofed before mixing bread dough. With instant yeast, you just mix all the dough ingredients together and knead it for a few minutes.

If you use Active Dry yeast, then you might want to sprinkle yeast onto the warmed water with a teaspoon of sugar and allow it to sit for a few minutes before proceeding with the recipe. Letting it foam "proves" the yeast is active and ready to go to work. Otherwise, you'll end up with a bread doorstop, and no one wants that.

Eggs: The main difference between a basic bread dough and challah is that challah dough is enriched with eggs. The eggs also give challah its characteristic yellow color and rich flavor while helping keep the bread tender.

Canola oil: Oil is used instead of softened or melted butter to keep the bread dairy-free and giving it a slightly chewier texture. That's especially important if you're keeping Kosher and want to serve the challah with a meal featuring meat. Jewish dietary laws forbid the mixing of milk and meat products at the same time.

Sugar: Unlike sandwich bread, challah is lightly sweetened. The sugar isn't meant to make it taste like dessert. It simply balances the richness of the eggs and enhances browning.

Usually I use sugar, but substitute honey for the sugar, especially if I'm baking for a holiday that features honey (like the aforementioned Rosh Hashanah).

Mix-ins: These can be a fun way to add another flavor component to your challah. Some common mix-ins are raisins and chocolate chips, but you can experiment with other options like nuts, seeds, or chopped dried fruit.

Toppings: Sesame seeds and poppy seeds are common, and cinnamon sugar (1 teaspoon cinnamon mixed with 1 tablespoon granulated sugar) is a fun alternative. You can also go savory with spice mixes like za'atar. Get creative or leave it plain, your choice.

See recipe card for a full list of ingredients and measurements.

Step 5: Bake the challah

Right before putting it in the oven, brush the dough with an egg wash (an egg whisked with 1 tablespoon of water) to get that shiny crust. If you're using any toppings, sprinkle them on now.

Bake the challah at 350ºF for 25 to 35 minutes, rotating the pan front to back halfway through the baking time.

When the loaf is golden brown and it sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom (or reads 190°F on a digital thermometer), remove it from the oven and cool on a wire rack (photo 3).

A well-made challah should have a shiny golden crust, a soft but sturdy crumb, and a light chew from the bread flour. It should slice cleanly without crumbling and stay tender for several days.

Troubleshooting tips

Bread recipes vary because kitchens vary. Temperature, humidity, and even how flour is measured affect dough consistency, so learning what the dough should look and feel like is often more important than following the clock. With that in mind, here are some issues you might encounter when making homemade challah:

• The dough is very sticky: Add bread flour 1 tablespoon at a time. The dough should feel soft and slightly tacky, not glue itself enthusiastically to your hands
• The dough feels dry or stiff: Knead in warm water 1 tablespoon at a time. Flour absorbs water differently depending on the weather and how it's measured
• The dough isn't rising: Give it more time in a comfortably warm spot. A cool enriched dough may rise much more slowly than the clock suggests
• The braid keeps shrinking back: Cover the ropes and let them rest for 10 to 15 minutes, then continue rolling. The gluten simply needs to rest and relax
• The ropes tear while braiding: They may be rolled too thin or the dough may be too dry. Gently pinch the tear closed and avoid pulling the braid too tightly
• The braid spreads instead of rising upward: The dough may be too wet, under-kneaded, or braided too loosely
• Egg wash runs down the loaf: Brush gently so excess egg wash doesn't pool between the strands, where it can bake into pale spots
• My toppings keep falling off: Apply the egg wash first, then sprinkle the toppings immediately before baking so they adhere to the surface
• The crust browns too quickly: Tent the loaf loosely with foil and continue baking until the center reaches 190°F.
• The outside is done but the center is doughy: Check the center with a thermometer rather than relying only on color. A large single loaf may need a longer baking time
• The loaf splits between the strands: It was probably underproofed after shaping. Let the braid become visibly puffy before applying the egg wash and baking
• The challah is dense: Common causes include too much flour, inactive yeast, insufficient kneading, or cutting the rising time short.