Sweet Crumb Challah Bread
A few years ago I attended my first Challah baking class, and I was hooked! Now I bake Challah year round, especially on the holidays, and send them to friends & family. Enjoy this bread warm & fresh out of the oven, toasted with jam or butter, or get creative with some Challah french toast (if there’s any left to make some!)
Sweet Crumb Challah Bread
Equipment
- Stand mixer with whisk & dough hook attachment
- Parchment paper
- Large aluminum loaf pan
Ingredients
Yeast
- 2 tsp yeast
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 1 tsp sugar
Sweet Crumb Topping
- 1 stick melted butter
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Dough
- 7 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 eggs
- 1 egg yolk (save the white for egg wash)
- 1 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup honey
Instructions
Yeast
- In a small bowl, mix 2 teaspoons yeast with 1 1/2 cup of warm water and 1 tsp of sugar. Mix well until yeast bubbles. Set aside.
Sweet Crumb Topping
- Melt the butter in microwave. In a small bowl, use a fork to mix the melted butter, flour and cinnamon together until it reaches a crumbly consistency. Set aside.
Dough
- In the stand mixer with the whisk attachment, mix 4 eggs and 1 yolk with vegetable oil. Once combined, add in 2 tbsp sugar and 1/4 cup of honey. Mix well.
- Change attachment to dough hook and add in flour and salt. Add in the yeast mixture and the dough will begin to form.
- Form dough into a ball. Take a large bowl, and add in a few drops of vegetable oil to coat the bottom. Place the ball of dough in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit for at least an hour, or until dough has doubled. At this point, you can refrigerate the dough to use the next day, or continue onto the next step.
- Roll the dough into a long log (approx. 14 inches). Divide the log into 3 equal pieces. One at a time, roll each piece out into a long thin strip. Make sure all 3 are of equal length.
- Before braiding the 3 pieces together, take the egg white (from the 1 yolk used earlier) and brush onto the tops of each piece. This will act as a glue to hold them together as you braid. Now braid the pieces together, and once finished, fold the bottom tip of the braid underneath. Brush the dough with the remaining egg wash and add sprinkle with the sweet crumb topping. Cover the dough and let it sit for an additional 30 minutes as it will continue to rise. Then bake in preheated oven at 375° for 20-25 minutes, or until lightly browned.