Ashkenazi · bread

Challah (Six-Strand Sabbath Bread)

Challah (Six-Strand Sabbath Bread) reads sweetness 6.2, richness 5.9 and funk & ferment 3.7 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Ashkenazi bread, about 4 hr 45 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

• Umami & Savory — 4.2 / 10
• Sweet & Fruity — 6.2 / 10
• Sour & Bright — 0.4 / 10
• Bitter & Earthy — 0.9 / 10
• Rich & Fat — 6.8 / 10
• Aromatic & Spice — 0.6 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Sweetness 6.2 · Richness 5.9 · Funk & Ferment 3.7 · Salinity 3.6 · Nutty 2.9 · Umami 2.2 · Earthy 0.9 · Floral 0.6

What's in it (10)

• bread flour — 1000 g
• yeast — 14 g
• water — 400 g
• oil — 110 g
• caster sugar — 100 g
• eggs — 300 g
• salt — 12 g
• egg yolk — 100 g
• water — 15 g
• sesame seeds — 30 g

Time & effort: about 4 hr 45 min (1 hr 5 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 286.6 kcal, 8.9 g protein, 9.7 g fat, 40.4 g carbs

Dietary: Vegetarian · Contains egg — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (10 steps)

1. Whisk the yeast and sugar into the warm water and leave 5 minutes.
2. Add the flour, oil, eggs and salt and knead 12 minutes, until the dough is smooth, elastic and just slightly tacky to the palm. Challah is enriched with oil and eggs but no dairy, which is what allows it on the table beside a meat meal.
3. Cover and rise 1 hour 30 minutes, until doubled.
4. Knock back and rise a second time for 45 minutes. Skip this and you get a coarse, bready loaf; the second rise is what gives challah the fine, stringy, tearable crumb it is judged on.
5. Divide into six equal strands, roll each 40 cm long and slightly tapered at the ends, and braid from the middle outward in both directions, 15 minutes. Braiding from the centre keeps the loaf even instead of fat at one end.
6. Prove 45 minutes on a lined tray, until springy and nearly doubled.
7. Brush all over with the yolk glaze, working it into the crevices between strands.
8. Scatter with sesame or poppy seeds and bake at 190 C for 33 minutes, until deep mahogany and reading 93 C in the centre. Cover with foil if it colours too fast.
9. Cool on a rack 40 minutes. Two loaves go on the Sabbath table, covered, for the double portion of manna.
10. Substitutions: poppy seeds can stand in for the sesame seeds.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

• Canjeero with Ghee and Sugar — Somali
• Bint al-Sahn (Layered Honey and Nigella Bread) — Yemeni
• Coco Bread — Jamaican
• Bolo Lêvedo — Portuguese · Azores
• Apam Balik (Peanut and Sweetcorn Griddle Pancake) — Malaysian

Keep reading: what sweetness, richness, funk & ferment mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.