Challah is one of my favorite breads. A kind of butterless brioche, it has the same flaky texture and lightness as brioche minus the butter. It also has a gorgeous braided look that's pretty easy to achieve with just a tiny bit more effort than is required to shape any old bread.
For a vegan, the chief challenge in baking a perfect challah tends to be the eggs that are such a predominant part of any challah recipe. Tastewise, I had always detested the eggy smell. But the eggs also help form the bread's delicate structure, which made it just a tad scary to contemplate baking a challah without them.
By now, though, I've veganized enough baked goods to never say die. So onward I pressed with my most trusted egg substitute, flax seed powder, which I thought would perform well in this bread because it is rich in fats, like eggs, but also has a deep nuttiness that would go well with the whole wheat I was planning to use in place of all-purpose flour.
I did use some bread flour, which is also refined, mainly because using only whole wheat would make the bread too dense and heavy, which, in a challah, would be self-defeating.The result was beyond my expectations. Not only was the challah extremely flaky and delicious, but it looked absolutely gorgeous with a golden-crisp crust.
In fact, it was a small miracle. (Also check out my vegan challah recipe made with all purpose flour, and my vegan sourdough challah!)
Looking for more vegan bread recipes?
- Vegan Sourdough Challah
- Onion Poppy Seed Rolls
- Vegan Chocolate Babka
- Sourdough Olive Sage Loaf
- Easy French Bread
Vegan Whole Wheat Challah Bread Recipe
Whole-wheat Vegan Challah Bread: Eggless Bliss
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ teaspoon active dry yeast
- ½ cup warm water
- 4 tablespoon flaxmeal whisked with 6 tablespoon water
- 3 tablespoon avocado oil or any neutral oil
- 3 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ½ cup whole-wheat pastry flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 ½ cup bread flour
Instructions
- Mix the yeast and the warm water in a mixing bowl and leave alone for five minutes to ensure the yeast is alive and frothing.
- Add the flaxmeal mixture, the two vegetable oil, sugar and salt. Mix until blended, then add the flours. Knead on medium low speed in a stand mixer for 5 minutes or about 10 minutes by hand. The dough should be elastic and smooth.
- Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, turn it once to coat the top with oil, then cover with plastic wrap and let it sit for about 2 ½ hours in a warm place.
- Punch down the dough, knead a bit, and then refrigerate for about 4-5 hours until the dough has doubled.
- Divide the dough into three balls and let them rest, covered with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap, for about 15 minutes.
- Roll each ball into a rope about 12 inches in length. Dust with flour.
- Place the three ropes side-by-side. Now pinch together the top ends and carefully braid the three, like you'd braid your hair. For instance, pick the left rope and place it between the right and the middle rope, then pick the right rope and place it between the left and middle ropes, and so on.
- Pinch together the ends and tuck them under the bread.
- Transfer the loaf to a baking sheet dusted with cornmeal.
- Brush the top of the loaf with some olive oil which will give it a lovely glaze after baking.
- Cover the loaf with oiled plastic wrap and set it in a warm place to rise. In about an hour, it would have nearly doubled in size.
- Brush the loaf again with olive oil, sprinkle some sesame seeds over it, then place it in a preheated 375-degree oven and bake for 30 minutes.
- Cool the loaf on a rack before cutting in.
- Enjoy!
For another great eggless, dairyless bread, try my Whole Wheat French Bread, which includes a step-by-step guide, or my butterless Avocado Brioche.
Vaishali
Anonymous, I would reduce the whole wheat flour to half a cup and substitute the bread flour for 2 cups of all-purpose flour.
This is because all-purpose flour has more gluten than whole-wheat, but less than bread flour, so reducing the amount of whole wheat and increasing the amount of all-purpose flour balances out the gluten content. (Gluten is what gives your bread its structure). Does that make sense?
Anonymous
Dear Vaishali
Is there any substitute for bread flour?
Thanks
Margot
I just took this out of the oven and popped a little piece in my mouth... AMAZING! I'll be making French toast with this for breakfast.
Gaby
Hi! This looks so great, I love challah but have never had a whole wheat version though I always prefer whole grain breads. I'm not really a practicing Jew but my friend and I are doing a relaxed shabbat dinner tonight so I'm making this right now. I ended up using quinoa flour instead of bread flour because it's all I had so I hope that doesn't mess it up. I'll let you know how it goes out!
ps. I love your blog!
Steph
This bread is what convinced me to go vegan...I knew if I could make an eggless challah, I could make anything vegan. This bread always brings compliments...my Jewish friends are delightfully surprised (and confused!) that the bread has no eggs. Thank you.
Dazy
I'm making this today. I think I'll try to shoot it, but I don't think it will be as pretty as your picture!
ttfn300
Great recipe 🙂 Made it yesterday, and it came out great!
VegSpinz
Hi, Vaishali- Saw the challah that veggie girl made on her blog- I tried to use whole wheat flour in another recipe but it turned out a bit dense. This looks amazing- thanks for the recipe!!
Kulfi
Thanks!! I made this recipe and it was great- I'm certainly going to make it again. The only thing I didn't like was the crust (too dry to my taste).
One simplification: I used a bread machine for the kneading and first rising; and then I had to punch it down again an hour after putting it in the fridge. I then left it there to rise again overnight (about 7 hours).
I posted my modified version (in Hebrew) on my blog (with a link here of course!):
Anonymous
Thanks so much for this receipe. I made it yesterday and it "kinda" came out fine. It tasted very good but didn't rise as much as I thought it should, and in the 2nd & 3rd kneading the dough sorta split into sections, as if someone had cut slits in it, and I had a hard time kneading it all together. I kneaded by hand; would that have been the cause? Also, couldn't find flax seed powder at Whole Foods, only flax seed meal which I used. Maybe next time I will pulvarize it into powder. Anyway my vegan company was thrilled with it.
Vaishali
Hi Divya: So glad to hear you're trying it. Will wait to hear how it goes. Good luck! And you're right: it does take some time 🙂
Divya
You must be wondering why a comment for an older post... I just love this recipe. I use flax seeds a lot too, and this looks like something I would totally enjoy.
Am making it today. Will let you know how it goes...
Man, it does take a while to make it, does'nt it? 🙂
Sunshinemom
Thanks for the eggless version. I was wondering whether I could use flax seed powder in place of eggs in cheesecakes. Any idea?
Nick
I recently got in to challah as well. My girlfriend used to work as a nanny for a Jewish family and the mother always made fresh challah bread. I would always hear about this fresh, chewy bread that you just tore chunks from and snacked on. Well just a few days ago I found a frozen Whole Wheat Challah bread in Fairway, a large gourmet/health/regular grocery store and it is delicious! This one has eggs in it, but I'm not a vegan. I like this recipe though, I may have to make this! By the way, challah is great with a schmear of peanut butter on it! Thanks for sharing!
Anke
this crust really looks perfect - as does the entire bread. hmmm 🙂
Coffee
I so want to try this! Will be coming back to stop by and look at it when I lay my hands on it. 🙂