A classic Jewish Shabbos delicacy that will make your house smell heavenly from a block away! This challah has flour, oil, eggs, sugar, yeast, and salt.

It’s not that scary!

Although I don’t make it often, there is nothing quite like fresh homemade challah. I honestly never thought I’d be able to make challah in my life. It seemed so daunting!

I have to credit my challah confidence to a challah bake I went to a few years back. We were taught how to make challah step by step while doing it ourselves along with the teacher. The hands-on learning did it for me. I saw how simple it was and knew that I would be able to replicate it at home.

The challah I made at the challah bake lasted us a while, and of course, I lost the recipe by the time I wanted to make it again. I did remember the ingredients though, so I decided to try it while guessing how much of everything went in. I tested a few recipes, had to throw out a few batches, and enlisted my husband as the taste tester when one of them finally made it in the oven.

Eventually one of them came out perfectly and that became our challah recipe. I specifically wanted a small recipe that could be easily mixed by hand and wouldn’t take up the entire freezer when freezing it.

Is making challah worth it?

Even though this is a simple recipe, making challah is still somewhat time-consuming and you may want to spend time cooking other things like proteins and sides. You can find all sorts of delicious challahs at a store and therefore it is not necessary to make them at home. That being said, if you want to try it once in a while it’s a real treat and does end up being worth it!

What we do sometimes is make challah the main part of the meal. We’ll get deli and dips, maybe make a soup, and have all of that with fresh challah. This way I’m not making challah in addition to everything else I’m making; I make it instead. If you love challah but can’t eat that much of it because there is always so much other food at your meal, try this and let the challah be the star of the show!

The rise struggle:

Anyone who has worked with yeast knows that dough can be very temperamental. Sometimes it rises beautifully while other times it just refuses to budge an inch.

If you want to get familiar with yeast here is a great article.

I have thrown out my fair share of dough because it wouldn’t rise until I learned some very helpful tricks. It’s a real shame to throw out your hard work and by applying these tips you won’t have to anymore!

Here’s what I’ve learned:

Confidence: This one will surprise you the most because it doesn’t involve any techniques – it’s just confidence! If you obsess over the dough and keep peeking at it (like I used to), chances are that it will not rise. Trust me, it’s a psychological thing but as soon as I left it alone it would rise. If you know that you did all the right steps just have confidence in yourself (and the dough) that it will rise!
Warmth: That being said there are some instances where something really might be holding the dough back from rising and if adjusted the dough will rise. One of those is temperature and/or weather. If it is too cold the dough either won’t rise or it will take very long to rise. A good trick is to put the dough in a turned-off oven that has been on not too long ago. Make sure it’s at that sweet spot of really warm but not too hot. If it’s too hot it will kill the yeast.
Time: Keep in mind that dough is not like milk and doesn’t need to be in the refrigerator after a certain amount of time. If you let it rise for an extra hour that is fine. In fact, the longer you let it rise the better. Don’t leave it out for too long but it is very versatile and can be eyeballed throughout the process.

Make it ahead:

If you want to split the process into a few days you can put the dough in the refrigerator before or after you let it rise. It will stay fresh and be perfectly fine to use which is super convenient if you have enough time to make dough but not enough time to braid and bake it. You can even freeze the dough for a few months. Whatever you choose, just make sure to seal it tightly.

Variations and substitutes:

You can make this into water challah by eliminating the egg.
You can skip the sugar for a healthier version (but keep in mind the sugar does help proof the yeast).
Use any seeds you like for the top like poppy seeds etc.
Choose olive oil for a healthier oil option.
When you bake them put them in the oven before turning it on for a 3rd rise – this will make it super fluffy!

Some serving suggestions…

In addition to having this at your Shabbos meal some more ways to enjoy Challah are:

Making it into a sandwich – egg salad and tuna are both so good in Challah.
Melting cheese on it – kids will love this.
Use leftovers as French toast – this way you will never throw any out!
Dip it into our sweet & savory eggplant dip.

Try our other challah recipes:

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