Name: Challah Bread: Round & 4-Strand
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 345 min
Ingredients: 2 egg yolks (room temperature); 2 eggs (room temperature, one is for the egg wash); 1/2 cup water (lukewarm, less 1 tbsp); 2 tbsp vegetable oil (plus more for greasing); 370 g all-purpose flour (2 3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons); 7 g active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons); 1/4 cup sugar (granulated or cane); 1 tsp salt; 1 tsp honey (optional); 2 tbsp sesame seeds / poppy seeds (optional)

L’shana tova! This is the best challah recipe to help you celebrate the new year. It’s wonderfully fluffy and has a perfect golden exterior. Using a KitchenAid mixer makes the process a breeze, ensuring your dough is perfectly kneaded and ready to shine, but feel free to hand-knead if you don’t have one.

In this post you will learn how to make challah bread with easy, step-by-step photo instructions. With this recipe, you can make a classic round challah or 4-strand braided challah.

🌟 Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Tips & advice from a decades-long challah baker – I’ve been baking challahs for decades and have picked up some essential tips along the way to share with you.
Descriptive, easy-to-follow instructions – Challah isn’t the easiest recipe, so I do everything I can to help you create a successful result.
Reliable results and fluffy challah every time – If you follow my recipe, I promise it will turn out a beautiful challah every time.
Yields perfect golden color – We all want that perfect golden-brown glowing goodness on our challah, and with this recipe, you’ll get it!
Sweet, irresistible flavor – The taste of this challah is superb: slightly sweet and scrumptious. This challah doesn’t last very long in our house!
Two braiding options – Choose what you like best and make a perfect round challah or 4-strand challah (sometimes called 4-braid challah.)

🧾 Ingredients in This Recipe

Active dry yeast – You must use active dry yeast and not wet yeast or other varieties. When properly activated, this helps the dough rise and makes a fluffy challah texture.
Sugar – I use white cane or granulated sugar as this yields a consistent result every time.
Warm water – This is key to activating the yeast. You want this to be between 100-110°F.
Salt – Use table salt. You can substitute it for sea salt.
All-purpose flour – This gives the challah its density and stability.
Egg yolks – Egg yolks bind the dough and are used for the egg wash over the top. Egg challah is the traditional version, but there are great vegan options out there.
Vegetable oil – You can substitute it with canola oil.
Honey (optional) – I like to add honey to my glaze, but it’s optional. If using it, see the pro tip below.
Sesame seeds and/or poppy seeds (optional) – Challah with sesame seeds tastes great and has a beautiful appearance. I use the black and white seeds to make it extra special. However, they are optional additions.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

🍯 Pro Tip

Know that if you use honey in the glaze, the challah will get brown much faster. To counteract this, cover the challah with tin foil once it starts to get golden to prevent burning.

✅ Tips for the Best Challah Bread Every Time

Always test your yeast – you must test your yeast to ensure it’s active. I always buy plenty of extra yeast as some packets can often be duds. Keep spare yeast in the refrigerator to prolong the shelf life.
Knead the dough well – Don’t skimp on the kneading! This is key to getting the right texture and a smooth challah dough.
Let the challah rest after baking – rest for 30 minutes minimum. This is the hardest part because we all want to start tearing into it, but it is well worth it!
Bake until internal temp reads 190F – This is the most accurate indicator of the bread being cooked properly. Click here to shop for my favorite thermometer.
For slicing, cook the challah in a springform pan – if you plan on using your challah to make French toast or slice it for other recipes the next day, the springform pan yields a better shape.

👩‍🍳 How to Make Challah Dough

Add 1 egg, 2 yolks, the lukewarm water, and 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil to a stand mixer with a whisk attachment and mix until combined.

Switch to the dough hook. Add in the flour and instant yeast. Run on low for 3-4 minutes. Rest for 20 minutes while the flour hydrates.

Pouring sugar into the bowl of dough of a stand mixer.

Add in ¼ cup granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt. Run on medium speed for 9 minutes.

Quickly hand knead to make sure it doesn’t stick to the counter. If it does, add a little more flour. Lightly oil the bowl and the dough, cover, and rise for 1.5 hours until just about doubles in size.

If your bowl has a lid, you can seal it. If not, cover the bowl with a kitchen towel, and seal the bowl (and kitchen towel) in a garbage bag to trap in the air.

Stand mixer bowl in an oven with a blue silicone lid.

Adding in raisins or other mix-ins

The time to add mix-ins is before you braid the challah. If your ingredients add moisture, you’ll want to compensate for the extra moisture by reducing the flour in the recipe. I adjust this challah recipe to make raisin challah in this post which works for any dried fruit.

🟤 How to Braid a Round Challah

Divide the dough into 4 equal 16-inch long ropes with the ends tapered. Tapering the ends helps minimize the bulk at the end when you tuck them under the challah.

Four step by step photos showing how to braid a challah round.

🥖 How to Braid a 4-Strand Challah

Divide the dough into 4 equal 16-inch long ropes with the ends tapered. There are two main kinds of 4-strand braids. One is more of a chain link, and the other is a flat braid. You can use either version.

Start by anchoring the top by pinching them together. Number the ropes from left to right, 1-4.

The pattern is as follows:

Strand 3 over strand 2.
New strand 3 over strand 4.
Strand 3 over strand 2.
Strand 1 over strand 2.

Keep repeating this pattern down the braid.

Four strand braid of a raw challah on a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat.

🔥⏲ How to Finish Proving & Bake Your Challah

Stack two baking sheets and top with a layer of parchment or a silicone baking mat. Cover with cling wrap and prove for 3 hours. It will double in size.

Heat oven to 350°F with the rack in the middle.

Raw round challah sprinkled with sesame seeds.

Mix the remaining egg with the (optional) honey* in a bowl. Brush over the challah. Sprinkle with the sesame/poppy seeds.

Baked round challah sprinkled with sesame seeds.

Bake 35-40 minutes until the internal temperature reads 190F.

LET IT REST! 30 minutes minimum. This is the hardest part but it is well worth it.

A brown, baked, braided challah bread on a white background.

⭐️ Tips for the Best Challah Every Time

Avoid dense challah: If you make this recipe and the yeast has not been properly activated, it will never get that stretchy texture. Instead, it will be more solid and hard to roll. Make sure the yeast is activated before going any further.
Be wary of rising issues: Challah that doesn’t rise is usually due to either incorrect proofing times (too short or too long), or yeast that wasn’t properly activated.
Avoid too-high oven temperatures: Your challah dough can split if the oven temperature is set too high.

Celebrate every Jewish holiday this year in a delicious way with these fantastic Jewish recipes.

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11 Comments

Naz* says:

October 17, 2024 at 9:14 am

So delicious! I made it last Friday for Shabbat and it was crazy delicious. So light and fluffy.

AliceK says:

October 9, 2024 at 4:38 pm

I am confused. In the notes before the recipe, you say NOT to use instant yeast, but in the pictures and the recipe, you specifically say to use instant yeast. Which is it?

1. Candice Walker says:
  
  October 9, 2024 at 5:12 pm
  
  Great question. Use dry instant yeast, not the wet yeast that can also be called fresh yeast.
  
Debbie says:

December 7, 2021 at 4:01 pm

This turned out amazing! I had not made challah bread before and the steps were easy to follow, until it came to the braiding. My own mind got confused with this but your pictures really helped! I had to undo the attempted braid twice before I got it but got there in the end. The end result is a lovely deep golden challah that tastes great! This makes me want to try more breads that incorporate twists and turns!

1. Candice says:
  
  December 7, 2021 at 5:19 pm
  
  I’m so glad to hear you liked it and the pictures helped, Debbie! And I’m glad it’s encouraging you to try new breads with twists and turns. Enjoy!
  
2. Mel says:
  
  December 10, 2023 at 1:59 pm
  
  370g of flour seems to be a bit high for the ratio of dry to wet ingredients. The first time I mixed it, the dough turned into wet sand. I started over and added maybe 2/3 what the recipe calls for, mixing just until combined and tacky. Hope the rest of it turns out well.
  
Emma Radmilovic says:

September 13, 2021 at 6:40 am

I was a first time challah baker from scratch when I attempted this recipe, had also never made any kind of bread with dry active yeast before. It was easy to follow along and my challah came out perfectly! The crust and texture are amazing. 10/10 will make again

1. Candice says:
  
  September 13, 2021 at 5:33 pm
  
  I’m so glad to hear it, Emma! We just made one for Rosh Hashanah and the two of us ate the whole thing on day 1… looking forward to making it again this week… Enjoy!
  
Larry Heyman says:

September 6, 2021 at 12:59 pm

Hi. The recipe states a prep of 45, a cook time of 30 and a rest time of 60. But it calls for 2-60 min rises. So the summary is inaccurate.

1. Candice says:
  
  September 10, 2021 at 10:03 am
  
  Thanks for catching that, Larry! I’ll update it now.

5 from 15 votes (13 ratings without comment)

Challah Bread: Round & 4-Strand