Vegan Challah

This vegan challah recipe adapts the classic Jewish bread recipe to make an incredibly soft bread loaf that is delicious, beautiful, and creulty-free. Traditional challah uses eggs, which we have replaced with Just Egg in our version. Many challah recipes also use honey, so we just substitute with our vegan honey made from apple cider. While the round braid may look intimidating, it’s actually quite simple, and it really makes this loaf stand out!

We also use this honey recipe in our vegan honey and yogurt eclairs and vegan honey lemon cake. If you’re looking for another vegan bread recipe, try our easy no-knead focaccia!

Make sure to check out the recipe notes for additional information and tips.

If you try this recipe, leave us a comment below to let us know how it goes. We would love to hear from you!

Vegan Challah

Little Lighthouse Baking Co.

A round braided vegan challah bread loaf.

5 from 3 votes

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Prep 30 minutes mins

Cook 30 minutes mins

Rest Time 2 hours hrs

Total 3 hours hrs

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Jewish

Servings 1 loaf

Equipment

• stand mixer
• mixing bowls
• half sheet baking tray

Ingredients  

Vegan Honey

• 500 g apple cider (2 cups)
• 200 g sugar (1 cup)
• lemon extract or lemon juice optional but recommended

Dough

• 180 g unsweetened soy milk (¾ cup)
• 1 packet active dry yeast (2 ¼ tsp)
• 80 g vegan honey (¼ cup)
• 113 g Just Egg (7 ½ tbsp)
• 60 g vegetable oil (¼ cup)
• 500 g bread flour (4 cups)
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• ¼ tsp black salt
• ¼ tsp turmeric

Egg Wash

• 2 tbsp Just Egg
• 2 tbsp unsweetened soy milk

Instructions 

Vegan Honey

• Mix the apple cider, sugar, and a few drops of lemon extract in a saucepan. You can also use a few teaspoons of lemon juice.
• Cook on medium heat, skimming the foam off the top. Do not skim the normal bubbles, just the yellow-ish foam that swirls around.
  
• Cook until it reduces in volume by about half. This can take a while… The final consistency will be thicker once it cools down. We store ours in the fridge.

Dough

• Proof yeast in a small amount of the soymilk (heated to about 105ºF) if you are unsure if your yeast is alive.
• Combine all dough ingredients in a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment. Mix on low speed until ingredients are incorporated, about 1-2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary. Then mix on medium-low speed until a soft dough forms, about 6-8 minutes. The dough will be quite sticky, but that is normal.
  
• Lightly flour a large bowl. Scrape the dough from the stand mixer bowl and form it into a ball. Transfer the dough to the floured bowl and lightly flour the top of the dough.
  
• Cover and let rise until about double in size, about 1 hour.
  

Braiding

• Once the dough has risen, gently punch the air out of it. Turn it out onto a clean work surface. No need to flour the surface, since the oil in the dough prevents the dough from sticking to the surface.
• Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Roll the pieces into long strands of about 22 inches.
  
• Weave the four strands so that two are horizontal and two are vertical, with each piece going over one of the perpidicular pieces and under the other perpendicular piece.
  
• Starting with the ends of the strands closest to you, take the strand that is under the closest perpendicular strand. If that strand is on the left, cross the end of that strand over the strand on the right (like in the picture below). If the strand is on the right, then do the opposite and cross it over the strand on the left. Remember the direction that you are going, either clockwise or counter-clockwise (like in the picture below).
  
• Now you will have one side (either left or right) with three strands instead of two. Take the middle strand and cross it over the strand that is in the clockwise/counter-clockwise direction that you are going.
  
• Now another side will have three strands. Again, take the middle strand and cross it over the strand that is in the clockwise/counter-clockwise direction that you are going.
  
• Now another side will have three strands. Again, take the middle strand and cross it over the strand that is in the clockwise/counter-clockwise direction that you are going.
  
• Now you are back where you started, with the strands closest to you. Now go the opposite direction that you have been going, and cross one of the strands closest to you over the strand in the new direction.
  
• On the side that has three strands, take the middle strand and cross it over the strand that is in the new direction.
  
• Again, on the side that has three strands, take the middle strand and cross it over the strand that is in the new direction.
  
• Again, on the side that has three strands, take the middle strand and cross it over the strand that is in the new direction.
  
• Now you are back where you started again. Reverse directions again and repeat the process.
  
• On the side that has three strands, take the middle strand and cross it over the strand that is in the new direction.
  
• Again, on the side that has three strands, take the middle strand and cross it over the strand that is in the new direction.
  
• Again, on the side that has three strands, take the middle strand and cross it over the strand that is in the new direction.
  
• When the strands are not long enough to continue braiding, tuck them under.
  
• Transfer the braided dough to a half sheet tray lined with a silicone baking mat, parchment paper, or lightly oiled. Cover with plastic wrap.
  
• Let rise until about doubled in size.

Bake

• Preheat the oven to 375ºF.
• Combine the Just Egg and soymilk for the egg was in a small bowl or cup. Use a pastry brush to brush the mixture on the entire surface of the dough.
  
• Bake in the center of the oven until dark golden brown, about 25-30 minutes.
  

Notes

• Like many of our recipes, this recipe uses Just Egg as an egg replacer. We have not tried this recipe with any other egg substitutes. If you do, please let us know how it turns out!

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