My Favorite Challah Recipe (2024)

Your illustration shows light bands of crust between the golden dark patches of crust. This comes from the rising in the oven revealing surfaces that had no egg wash. If you want that uniform brown crust, remove the loaf after 15 Minutes in the oven and reapply eggwash to the light areas that have appeared.

I love this recipe but made a few teaks that make it a little richer and sweeter with a more yellow inside:
change the 1.5 tbsp of yeast to 2 tbsp
sub honey for sugar (better color and flavor)
change the 4 eggs used in the dough to 3 yolks + 1 whole egg

Guys, your cooking instruction that this takes one minute is not true. It also appears as the only information about this recipe in every preview platform one wishes to share it on, like Facebook. This reflects badly on me as well as you. Can you correct this, please?

I have made this a few times and have received a lot of great reviews. In the beginning my challah would burn at the bottom, so I now put tin foil with the shiny part facing away from the challah at the bottom of the pan. I have a thermofan oven and I find the oven to be a bit too hot in general, so I put it on 345 degrees fahrenheit and put a loose sheet of tin foil with the shiny part facing to the top on top of the challah during the last 15 minutes of baking.

I have tried a few challah recipes and this is definitely one of the best! Light and airy...almost like a brioche. That said, temp was to high (browned very fast). Found lowering to 350 for my oven (Bosch electric) worked AND highly recommend cooking on parchment on baking sheet to avoid burning bottom. Finally, braiding directions a bit unclear. But taste is great!!

anyone else find that 8 cups of flour is just simply too much? i've tried this recipe twice and each time i've used just under 6 cups of flour. both times the results were great.

I agree with Mia. The challah for me was delicious, but the bottom was slightly burnt. I simply scraped off the burnt bits, and all was good. Besides that, the interior was soft and pillowy, with the outside a golden brown (I took mine out of the oven at 34 minutes). Highly recommended

I'm going to be one of those cooks that loved the recipe but changed everything... I have bees, and therefore honey, so I substituted the 1/2 white sugar for 1/3 cup honey. I also used olive oil. Came out perfect (except someone needs to review her braiding technique...).

Do I have to rise it in the fridge or can I do the final proof on the counter and halve the time? I don’t have space in my fridge for a cookie sheet and two loaves

Yes - it makes a delicious loaf! Butter does not make the challah Treyf (un-Kosher) - it will be Dairy. For a Kosher household, fine to eat with a dairy or vegetarian meal, just no meat.

The King Arthur Flour recipe for challah recommends not only using parchment paper to insure the bottom of the loaf doesn’t burn, but also doubling up the baking sheets, ie., nesting the baking sheet that the challah is on into another baking sheet. I did that and the bottom came put perfectly golden without a trace of char.

If you do that, it won't be kosher.

The amount of flour needed is going to be variable because of factors like day to day humidity and where the flour was grown (i.e. flour bought in the NE will be different than flour bought in the South) will affect the amount of moisture needed. So, you just have to trust the feel of the dough when it comes to deciding the exact amount added!

such a wonderful and easy bread. Rich and luxurious. This bread has a great crumb. The only change I made to the recipe was adding steam to the oven with a cup of water poured in to a sheet pan that had been preheated at the bottom of the oven - Made the bread rise higher than I had expected.

1st attempt today. Made 2 loaves. Taste and texture were fantastic. Received many compliments. Baked using parchment not foil and my loaves were beautiful on the bottom.

I substituted about 1.5 cups of rye flour and replaced all the sugar with honey - it turned out great!

I love this recipe. I did use saffron infused water and for rosh hashonah I added honey to the egg wash. Absolutely beautiful and delicious.

I don't have much experience baking challah and I'm about to try this recipe for the first time. ONE TABLESPOON of salt sounds like a lot! Is it necessary? Will the finished loaf taste salty? Also, I'd like to add raisins to the dough. At what point do I add them?Thanks for your feedback.

This recipe is duplicated athttps://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/7199-my-favorite-challah.

I have made this maybe a dozen times, and each time is better than the next. Though I follow the recipe verbatim, I do note that I get better results with a 60 min 2nd rise (rather than the 30 mins prescribed) and it NEVER takes 35-40 mins to bake...Mine is a deep golden brown in 25 mins and perfectly done in the middle. Just make sure to put it in the middle of the oven...too close to the bottom and it will be too well done.

Note that the 1-3/4 cups of lukewarm water is omitted from the ingredients list. If you bake with instant yeast like me, you might get tripped up by this.Also, the time is "1 minutes". Try 3h 45m or so.

Don’t forget - 4 eggs in batter, one to brush on!!!!!!

The King Arthur Flour recipe for challah recommends not only using parchment paper to insure the bottom of the loaf doesn’t burn, but also doubling up the baking sheets, ie., nesting the baking sheet that the challah is on into another baking sheet. I did that and the bottom came put perfectly golden without a trace of char.

Way too much flour! Almost unworkable. I added water but next time will reduce the flour greatly!

The recipe was perfect. We sprinkled the top with Trader Joe's Everything but the Bagel Spice Blend and would do it again. Definitely use parchment paper to prevent the bottom from browning too much. Watched a few youtubes for braiding instructions which I tried plus the simple snake pattern which is so easy and really very attractive without the fuss and bother of braiding.

Make sure dough not too wet, should be risen and puffy before baking

Is it mandatory that the last ride be in the fridge? Like a previous asker, I have no room for 2 loaves and a pan!

great recipe you should also add little bit of honey

I don't understand step 5: "Either freeze breads or let rise another hour in refrigerator if preferred." I think it's the wording. So there is a 3rd, final rise? Or is the rise optional? Or do you have to rise another hour and this can be in the fridge but doesn't have to be?

Haven’t made this recipe yet; was just directed to it. But, for those who found the braiding instructions confusing, after extensive research I found this video, which seemed WAAAAAAAAY easier than any of the others I found.https://youtu.be/vHiA4fOndRQ