No-Knead Challah
Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François' wonderful book, "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day," is the inspiration for this challah bread. We took the authors' dough recipe, tweaked it a tiny bit, and made a honey-sweetened, egg-enriched dough that yields a light, tender, golden loaf. Sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds, if desired.
Another member of the increasingly popular no-knead family of breads, this dough can be stirred together, then stored in the fridge up to about 4 days before using.
Read our blog about this challah, with additional photos, at Bakers' Banter.
Dough
- 6 3/4 cups or 7 3/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour*
- 1 tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 tablespoons instant yeast
- 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
- 4 large eggs
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup melted butter or vegetable oil
- *See step #1, below.
Topping
- 1 egg (any size) beaten with 1 tablespoon cold water
- 2 to 3 tablespoons sesame seeds or poppy seeds, optional
Directions
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1) The flour/liquid ratio is important in this recipe. If you measure flour by sprinkling it into your measuring cup, then gently sweeping off the excess, use 7 3/4 cups. If you measure flour by dipping your cup into the canister, then sweeping off the excess, use 6 3/4 cups. Most accurate of all, and guaranteed to give you the best results, if you measure flour by weight, use 33 ounces. |
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2) To make the dough: Combine all of the dough ingredients, in the order written, in a very large bowl (at least 6 quarts). Stir to make a sticky dough. You can do this in a stand mixer and then transfer to a larger bowl; or simply use a big bowl and spoon (or dough whisk). |
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3) Cover the bowl, and let the dough rise for 2 hours at cool room temperature. |
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4) Refrigerate the dough for at least several hours, to chill it and make it easier to work with. It can be refrigerated for up to 4 days before using. |
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5) When you're ready to make challah, remove the dough from the refrigerator, and scoop out about one-third of the dough (about 21 ounces). Transfer it to a floured work surface; a silicone mat works well here. |
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6) Divide the dough into three pieces, and shape each piece into a log about 24" long. |
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7) Braid the logs, pinching the strands together at each end. |
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8) Lightly grease an 8" x 2" round cake pan. It's important that the pan is at least 2" deep. If it's not use, a 9" round pan. Coil the braid into the pan. |
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9) Cover the pan, and allow the braid to rise for about 90 minutes, till it's quite puffy. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F. |
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10) Uncover the challah, and brush it with the egg/water mixture. Sprinkle with seeds, if desired. |
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11) Bake the challah for 30 to 35 minutes, till it's golden brown and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers at least 190°F. |
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12) Remove from the oven, and carefully turn out of the pan onto a rack to cool. |
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Yield: one 9" round braid. The entire recipe will make 3 loaves. |
Recipe summary
- Hands-on time:
- 20 mins. to 30 mins.
- Baking time:
- 30 mins. to 35 mins.
- Total time:
- 16 hrs 20 mins. to 4 days 16 hrs 20 mins.
- Yield:
- Three 9" challah rounds; made individually, or all at once
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- Recipe comments (22) »
Tips from our bakers
- For a braid with a bigger hole in the center, coil the dough into a 9" round pan, rather than an 8" pan.
Reviews
03/15/2010
Absolutely the best challah i've ever had. Easy recipe, easy to roll out, and so proud of it. thanks,
02/10/2010
While it came out a bit heavier, with a slightly coarser texture than heavily kneaded home or commercial challot, the taste and look is everything I hoped for. With the minimal effort and mess I expect from no-knead recipes. I am using a 9" or 14" oval glazed stoneware casserole (similar to a Marcel Henri). The loaves come apart very easily along the braiding fissures; this is convenient when tearing the loaves ritually, but somewhat frustrating when slicing with a knife. I need to bake at least 4, and sometimes as many as 8, small-to-medium loaves every week for Shabbat. This makes it all much more relaxing. A local challah variation is to include chocolate chips (or Nutella) hidden among the braided strands,
01/29/2010
plan to make this today so I guess I shouldn't 'rate' it yet.... but there is no option to comment w/out rating..... I am new to recipes on this site and I was very pleasantly surprised to see you include a flour measurement in weight. I prefer to bake w/recipes that use ounces v. cups since it gives more consistent results, so thank you! Now if we could just get all the other baking recipes out there converted.....
01/19/2010
This was absolutely delicious! I also had an enormous laugh at the angry responses here. Who knew people could get so angry about bread? If anyone like Jim or Rivka believes that kneading is necessary for real traditional bread, the truth is probably that ancient breadmaking more closely resembled Jim Lahey's no-knead technique, in which a very wet dough is allowed to rest a long time to encourage gluten to form. Kneading speeds up this process so we can make bread faster. So the "traditional" method of kneading is actually a technological innovation designed to speed things up. No-knead recipes replace effort with patience, and the wait is worth it: flavor improves substantially with long rises. This particular recipe was marvelous, some of the best challah I've had, with a moist, open crumb and an intense egg flavor. I weighed the flour, but the only all-purpose flour I had was another brand. The dough was much drier than the pictures in the blog, so I just added water until it resembled the photo. Came out absolutely perfect, great gluten formation, and best of all there's enough for two more loaves! I think pictures of the dough at every stage in a recipe are a marvelous idea, so we can adjust our liquid-to-flour ratios according to the variations in our ingredients at home.
10/09/2009
I loved this recipe as did my entire family! Thank you..it made a perfect Rosh Hashana challah!
One question, what's the best way to freeze this dough and then bake it at a later time?
Thank you!
I like to freeze the dough, after I have kneaded it. I put it in a plastic resealable bag, making sure I get all of the air out. You can freeze it for about 3 months. If you know in advance that you will be freezing it, you might want to add about 1/2 teaspoon extra yeast as some yeast cells may die off in the freezer. When you are ready to work with your dough, let it thaw in the wrapppings on the counter, then shape and let rise and bake. Enjoy! Mary @ KAF
09/19/2009
This bread was really great. I used half of the dough for the challah, and put it in a 9.5" springform pan to cook and it was perfectly sized. I cooked it until 195 degrees in the center, and the flavor was fantastic. I had it "cold rise" in the fridge overnight and it was really great. I made it as one of the bread for Rosh Hashana last night (along with the Apple Challah bread on this site with the other half of the dough). This is an easy challah to make, not a whole lot of work involved, and it looks beautiful.
09/01/2009
Made the dough as instructed and broke up dough to two 1.5 portions and formed in 5x9 pans. let them rise two hours and baked - they rose and baked great (needed to turn down heat near end to allow inside to bake longer and prevent crust from burning). These made excellent french toast. Used remainder of dough to make 3oz round rolls - added sesame seeds on top. My family loved them - soft and flavorful. Thanks for the great recipe. Next time I will try the braiding.
08/28/2009
Very Pleased! The taste was fabulous and the texture came out amazing. I roasted some garlic at the same time and used it as a spread and it was an incredible match. In reference to the indignance of being a shortcut Challah, I am personally grateful to King Arthur and Staff for being creative and enabling people like myself to learn, who did not have a Jewish Grandmother from the old country to teach me, how to make a Challah. I am exceptionally grateful to KA for also developing short cuts to fabulous bread for busy people like myself and many others who do not have entire days to devote to baking a loaf of bread. It does not mean we no longer respect the traditional and long way of baking a Challah and that we are writing off history and tradition. This recipe came out beautifully for me and I will definitely make it again. A+!
08/23/2009
I made the recipe as written with the exception of replacing 1 1/2 cups of AP flour with King Arthur whole wheat, The bread was very dry. Maybe I should have added more water or oil to balance the whole wheat, but it was such a small percentage that I didn't think it would matter. Everyone ate it, but the two other challah bakers who were with us, agreed it wasn't worth making. Fortunately our Shabbat dinner included some juicy salads and I dipped my bread into them so I could eat it at all. I also made the coffeecake with the remaining 1/3 of the dough and it was also too dry to eat. The dough was so sticky to work with--I was disappointed that the bread was as it was--not worth the effort. I would rather knead!
08/18/2009
This was so easy I'm planning to make it often, not just for Rosh Hashana and Shabat. It's delicious and the French toast is out of this world. P.S., Rivka and Jim, if a no-knead challah recipe is all you have to be upset about then you are truly blessed.
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