High Altitude Challah Bread
This homemade challah bread is so soft and fluffy, with a rich eggy flavor. Use this same recipe for making challah shaped into wreaths, loaves or buns!
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Dough Hook (this dough can also be kneaded by hand)
Ingredients
Tangzhong
- 3 tbsp whole milk
- 3 tbsp water
- 2 tbsp bread flour
Dough
- ½ cup whole milk, warmed to between 110-115F
- 1 packet (2 1/4 tsp) good quality instant or rapid rise yeast
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 4 ½ cups (21 oz) bread flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 1 ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter, very soft
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk (save the extra white for the egg wash)
Egg Wash
- 1 large egg white
- 1 tbsp whole milk
Instructions
Tangzhong
- In a small saucepan, whisk together the water, milk and flour. Cook over medium heat for several minutes, whisking constantly, until it thickens into a paste.
- Remove from the heat and set aside until needed.
Dough
- Warm the milk to between 110-115F. Stir in the yeast and 1 tsp of the sugar, then let it sit for about 5 minutes, until bubbly.
- In the bowl for your stand mixer, combine 3 1/2 cups of the flour with the rest of the sugar and the salt. Add the tangzhong, the milk/yeast mixture, the soft butter, eggs and egg yolk, then stir into a rough, shaggy dough.
- With the dough hook, knead the dough for 10 minutes on medium low speed, gradually adding the remaining 1 cup of flour a few tsp at a time. The dough should be soft, smooth and stretchy, pulling away from the sides of the bowl but still sticking a little at the bottom. If kneading the dough by hand on your counter, knead the dough for 15 minutes.
- Gather the dough into a ball and place it into a greased bowl that's at least twice as big as the dough. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set it in a warm place to rise until the dough is doubled in size. Depending on the freshness and quality of your yeast, as well as the warmth of the ingredients and environment, this may take 1-2 hours. For me, it took 1 hour with the bowl sitting inside my oven on the "bread proof" setting.
Shaping
- Lightly flour a clean counter top, and turn the dough out onto the counter. Gently deflate the dough by pressing it into a thick rectangle.
- Cut the dough into 3 equal portions for a 3-strand braid (or more portions if you're doing a more elaborate braid with more strands).
- Gently stretch each portion of dough into a long rope, about 25 inches long, trying to keep the ropes the same thickness from one end to the other.
- To decorate the strands like I did in the photographed wreath, follow this step, otherwise, skip to the next step. Whisk together the egg white and milk for the egg wash, and brush it over two of the strands, leaving the third strand plain. Heavily sprinkle the two strands with toppings of your choice, such as seeds or crushed nuts. I used poppy seeds and finely chopped pecans for mine.
- Lay the three strands side by side and braid them together from one end to the other.
- For a wreath shape, bring the two ends of the braid together and pinch them together. For a large round loaf, simply coil the braid up into a spiral, tucking the end underneath the outer edge of the loaf.For a long loaf, just pinch and tuck the ends of the braids under at each end.
- Stack two baking sheets together, and line the top one with parchment paper. Gently transfer your shaped loaf to the baking sheet.
- Cover with a slightly damp tea towel and set in a warm place to proof for 1-2 hours, until puffy. Again, this will depend on the freshness and quality of your yeast, and the warmth of the environment. Mine only needed 1 hour to proof, but if your loaf isn't very puffy after an hour, continue to let it proof for another hour.
Bake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- For a shiny, deep brown finish on your baked bread, brush the dough all over with the egg wash. For a matte finish, don't use the egg wash. Note: I didn't use the egg wash on either of my loaves, except for using it to stick the toppings to the wreath. For the spiraled loaf, I just sprinkled the dough with a little granulated sugar before baking.
- Bake the bread until a digital instant read thermometer inserted into the largest part of the bread reads 190F. For a wreath, this may only take 25-30 minutes, but for a round loaf that's more dense in the middle, this may take 40-45 minutes.
- Let the bread cool for several minutes, then enjoy warm or at room temperature. Fresh challah is wonderful served with butter, honey or jam.
Notes
Store leftover challah in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days, or in the freezer for up to 3-6 months.
Leftover or stale challah is still great toasted, or can be used to make French toast or bread pudding. It's also good for homemade stuffing recipes at Thanksgiving.
For Kosher challah, replace the milk and butter with dairy-free alternatives.
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