Description
The easiest homemade Vegan Challah bread recipe! Soft, pillowy and plush, this vegan challah tastes just like traditional Challah bread, yet is completely egg free (and of course dairy free!).
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (120 mL) warm water
- 4 cups (550 g) bread flour or all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar or coconut sugar
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 2.5 tsp (.25 oz) quick rise yeast
- 12 tbsp (185 g) neutral oil*
- 1/4 cup (62.5 grams) dairy free yogurt, room temperature*
- vegan “egg” wash*
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
Instructions
- Please read through all instructions before beginning.
- Prep: Grease a medium bowl with olive or coconut oil, and set aside. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Whisk the dry ingredients: In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. Attach the bowl to the stand mixer, along with the dough hook attachment. Alternatively, you can mix the dough by hand using a wooden spoon and no stand mixer.
- Make the dough: Add the water and the dairy free yogurt to the bowl. Mix on medium speed until a very shaggy dough forms, about 3-4 minutes. Then add in the tablespoons of oil, and begin to mix again on medium speed. Stop every so often to reincorporate the oil. Once the oil is incorporated, turn the speed of the stand mixer onto high, and allow the dough to be kneaded in the bowl for about 10-15 minutes, or until soft and pliable. The dough might still be slightly tacky, but should not leave globs of dough on your finger tip.
- Knead the dough: Once it starts to form a ball, lightly flour a clean surface and shape the dough into a ball.
- First proof: Place the dough ball into the medium sized greased bowl. Cover with a clean dish towel and place in a warm area (ideally above 80F) to rest for about 60-120 minutes, or until doubled in size.
- Shape the challah bread: I’ll be describing how to braid a 6-braided challah bread. Please see the blog post for alternative options:
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Lightly flour a clean work surface. Then you’ll first divide the dough into 6 even pieces. You can use a kitchen scale to achieve more accuracy. Roll out each dough piece to be 18″ long.
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Then pinch the tops of each strand together on one side, so you have strands splayed out.
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Next, take the right outermost strand, and cross it over the top. Then take the left outermost strand, and cross it over the right at the top. Now you’ll have two of the strands at the top, and four middle strands. Spread the four middle strands out a bit with two on either side so you know the middle.
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Next, take the right outermost strand and cross it over to the middle of the four strands. Then take the second to the outermost left strand, and cross that over to the right, to be the outermost strand on the right now.
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Now, repeat for the other side. Take the left outermost strand and cross it over to the middle of the four strands. Then take the second to the outermost right strand, and cross that over to the left, to be the outermost strand on the left now.
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Repeat this pattern for the entirety of braiding your vegan challah bread. I also recommend watching the video tutorial here to help as well.
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- Proof: Carefully transfer the challah dough over to your baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cover in a warm area (no more than 95F- an oven turned off but with the light on is fine) to rise until double in size, about 1 hour.
- Brush with vegan egg wash: Preheat the oven to 375F. Mix the maple syrup and dairy free milk together, then brush the tops of the challah bread with the vegan egg wash. Sprinkle with sesame seeds if desired.
- Bake: Place the vegan challah bread into the oven to bake for 35-40 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Slice and serve!
Notes
Quick rise yeast: This method is designed for instant yeast (quick rise yeast). If you’d like to use active dry yeast, please follow the water challah recipe in my cookbook.
Neutral oil: You can use coconut oil (triple refined for no flavor), avocado oil, vegetable oil, or olive oil.
Dairy free yogurt: you can also use an equal amount of pumpkin puree, applesauce, or cooked sweet potato in lieu of the yogurt.
Vegan egg wash: Mix together 1 tbsp maple syrup and 1 tbsp of dairy free milk, such as soy milk.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/15 of loaf
- Calories: 178
- Sugar: 5.7 g
- Sodium: 5.3 mg
- Fat: 4 g
- Carbohydrates: 31.3 g
- Protein: 3.6 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Keywords: vegan Challah bread, easy Challah bread, water Challah bread, vegan challah