Gluten Free Challah Bread
This gluten free challah bread is rich, golden, slightly sweet, and soft. It's not just for Jewish holidays anymore!
Ingredients
- 3½ cups (495g) Kim's gluten free bread flour blend* (made with dairy free protein powder)
- 2 tbsp psyllium husk powder
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar**
- 1¾ tsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp plus 1½ tsp (24g) instant (rapid rise) yeast, not active dry
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1¼ cups (300ml) water
- ½ cup (120ml) canola or vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs, plus one egg yolk
- 1 large egg combined with a pinch of salt and 1 tbsp of water for the egg wash
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the flour blend, psyllium husk powder, granulated sugar, baking powder, yeast, and kosher salt.
- Turn the mixer, fitted with the beater blade, on low and slowly pour the water and oil in. Add the eggs and egg yolks and blend until well combined.
- Switch to the dough hook and turn the mixer up to medium high speed and mix for 5 minutes. Scrape the dough from the sides of the mixer bowl and heap it in the middle of the bowl (or place it in another bowl) and cover.
- Allow the dough to cold rise in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight or up to 3 days.
- On baking day, remove the dough from the refrigerator and knead until smooth, adding more flour blend as necessary. Cut in half to make two loaves (or put the other half in the fridge for another day).
- Roll the dough out to a small rectangle (size isn't important-it should be roughly ½ to ¾ inch thick). Cut dough in half and then in half again to create 4 strands. Roll these strands on the counter to smooth them out into rope shapes.
- Begin braiding by making a hashtag sign and then crossing one over and the other under, as shown in the video. Then move the strand that's under on one side over its "neighbor" and keep going around in a circle until all those strands that were under are now over their "neighbors". Then go in the reverse direction until all strands have been crossed. Tuck under any stray strands.
- Place loaf on parchment-lined baking sheet and brush with egg wash. Put in a warm, draft-free area to rise until almost doubled, about 30-45 minutes (depending on the warmth of your area).
- Preheat the oven to 375° F and brush the loaf again with egg wash. Place the loaf into the hot oven and immediately turn it down to 325° F. Bake for 20 minutes. Pull out the partially baked loaf and brush any light areas (or all over) again with the egg wash. Bake for another 20 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool before cutting or tearing into loaf. Loaf will remain fresh for about 24 hours. To reheat it or to "freshen" it up, wrap the loaf or pieces in foil and place in a low oven (325° F) for 10-15 minutes.
Notes
*If you live in Canada, President's Choice flour blend has been used in place of my flour blend with great results.
* Leftover challah can be used in several ways, such as for French toast or bread pudding.
**The amount of sugar in this recipe is required to obtain the results I show in my video and pictures. Most of the sugar is used as food for the yeast (which is a substantial amount of yeast). If you would like to reduce the sugar content, please note you won't obtain the same texture as is intended in this recipe.
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