Honey Challah : A Delicious Delve Into the Jewish Spirit

I’m the Jewish-looking one with the black hair and the longsuffering smile.

Mmm. Challah.

Growing up Jewish, even in the mountains of East Tennessee, one ingests copious amounts of challah bread. (Especially when one is the Jewish kid who won’t eat potatoes, and therefore won’t eat latkes. Oy vey!)

Challah, is, quite simply, Jewish bread. Challah is beautiful, symbolic and full of honey, which appeals to both the baker and the English major in me. It’s particularly prevalent around Hanukkah, but when one has aunts who bake, it is always prevalent. And that has never been a problem with me.

This is my favorite recipe for honey challah. You can even add chocolate chips to the bread dough if you like — chocolate chip challah makes a delicious, dessert-y snack.

Honey Challah

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water

1 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons active dry yeast

1/2 cup honey

1 egg

3 egg yolks

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon salt

Directions:

1. Combine 1 cup warm water and 1 teaspoon sugar in a bowl. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of active dry yeast over this mixture and set aside until foamy, or about 8 minutes.

2. Place 1 cup of all-purpose flour in a large bowl and make a well in the center. 

3. Whisk 1/2 cup honey with 1 egg, 3 egg yolks, 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil and 1 tablespoon of salt in a small bowl. Pour into the well.

4. Stir to combine. Add yeast mixture to create a soft, shaggy dough.

5. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until soft. Place dough in a covered bowl and let rise until doubled in size, roughly 1 hour.

6. Knead dough once more, cover, and let rise until doubled in size again, roughly one hour.

7. Knead dough one more time. Line a baking sheet with parchment.

8. Separate the dough into two equally sized balls. (This is where you would mix in chocolate chips if you desire.)

9. Create from each ball three foot-long strands of dough and braid each set of three strands together, pinching and tucking the ends underneath each braid.

10. set dough braids aside to rise until doubled in size, roughly one hour.

11. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Beat remaining egg.

12. Brush loaves with the beaten egg until evenly coated. Drizzle each loaf with honey and bake until golden brown, roughly 15-25 minutes.

Et violà. Delicious honey challah! Although baking challah is certainly and all-day enterprise, you will be able to bask in the multi-cultural nature of your newly-baked bread and experience the traditional longsuffering of the Jewish spirit. One exciting thing about this bread is that the honey acts as a natural preservative, making challah an ideal bread for a 40-year wandering in the wilderness, or for breakfast several days after the bread is made. 

Enjoy your challah with the shalom that is a freshly-baked loaf of bread. 

—Alyssa