Bread Machine Challah

Talk about a crowd-pleaser! This beautiful braided bread makes a statement. The challah bread recipe makes lovely bread that is slightly sweet and nicely tender.

Course Bread Machine Recipes

Cuisine American

Keyword braided bread, challah

Calories 288kcal

Equipment

Ingredients

Challah Bread

½ cups water
3 eggs beaten, use large eggs
¼ cup canola oil
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 ½ cups bread flour
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Egg Wash Glaze

1 egg yolk
1 Tablespoon water
1 pinch salt

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

This recipe is for a two-pound machine. Use the dough setting.
Follow the instructions that came with your bread machine in terms of which ingredients to put in the bread machine first. (I use a Zojirushi bread machine and with that, I add the liquids first.) Use the dough setting.
Check the dough after five or ten minutes of kneading. You’ll want the dough to form a smooth, round ball. However, if it’s a little wet, don’t worry about it.
If the dough is too dry add liquid a teaspoon at a time until the dough balls up. If really too wet, add flour a tablespoon at a time until it looks as expected.
When the dough is done put it on a lightly floured board.
Note that the dough will be very sticky. I used a bench scraper to help me work with the dough. It helped me a lot!
Divide the dough into three equal sections. Make each section into a ball and put it onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Cover the dough with a clean, lightweight kitchen towel. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes.
After the dough has rested, roll each ball into a rope.
My dough ropes were about 16 inches long. The next time I make challah bread, I'm going to make them longer.
Take the dough rope on the right and pass it over the center rope That dough rope is the new center rope. Then take the rope on the left and pass it over the center rope. It's now the center rope. Repeat until you get to the end of the dough ropes.
Tuck the ends underneath. Move the braided bread to a cookie sheet that’s been greased or covered with parchment paper.
Cover the bread with a clean, lightweight kitchen towel and let the bread rise for an hour
Remove the towel. Brush the bread with the egg wash.
Bake the bread in a 350-degree oven for 30 to 35 minutes. If the bread starts to get too brown you may want to put a sheet of foil over it for the last 10 to 15 minutes of baking.

Notes

This recipe is for a two-pound machine. Use the dough setting.

This recipe was developed and tested using US customary measurements. Metric measurements are calculated automatically.

Nutrition