The Edgy Veg

Vegan Challah Bread Recipe

Vegan Challah Bread — Water Challah Recipe

Vegan Challah Bread

Although Challah bread is typically made with eggs, my vegan Challah recipe uses aquafaba to recreate the texture and taste of traditional challah bread. I used 6 vegan ingredients from my kitchen and warm water to create this traditional water challah recipe.

Water ChallahChallah is one of the most delicious types of bread I’ve ever tried. I got to try a vegan Challah while on my trip to Israel, thanks to my friend Nadia (@theveganitalianchef on Instagram). I honestly couldn’t wait to get back to my kitchen in Canada and make traditional Israeli challah for myself and also to share the recipe with you!

This traditional bread is served at Jewish ceremonial occasions, such as Shabbat and other holidays like Rosh Hashanah. It is shared and enjoyed by many people worldwide. Many years ago, kosher bakeries catered to people who wanted egg-free challah by making “water challah”, which is essentially what I’m going to show you how to make.

Related Recipe: Israeli-Style Tahini Toast

making Challah Vegan

Vegan Challah Bread Recipe

EGG-FREE | DAIRY-FREE | VEGAN

Few things in life are better than the smell of freshly baked bread spreading through your house. If I could turn the smell of this Challah recipe into a candle, trust me I would.

The prep time is long because you must leave the dough alone to rise and proof. Active yeast does most of the work for you, just be patient with these beautiful loaves and the reward will be worth it. Obviously you don’t have to stand there and watch it rise for hours. I also have a 3-Ingredient Vegan No-Knead Bread recipe that’s super easy to make!

This Challah recipe is great if you have other things to do around the house while the smell of bread fills your home!

The full recipe is down below!Vegan Challah Bread Recipe

Vegan Challah Ingredients

Vegan Challah Instructions

  1. In a large bowl or in the bowl of your stand mixer, combine 1 3/4 warm water, 1 1/2 tbsp yeast, and 1 tbsp sugar. Let sit for 10 mins or until yeast bubbles and froths.

  2. Whisk, or use the whisk attachment for your mixer, and mix in 1/2 cup of softened vegan butter or oil, and 10 tbsp aquafaba, 3 tbsp at a time.

  3. Whisk in 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 tbsp salt.

  4. Using your dough hook (or hands if you do not have a stand mixer) gradually add in flour 1 cup at a time, mixing between each addition, until dough holds together.

  5. Knead dough until smooth. If you are using a stand mixer, do this with your dough hook. If you are doing this by hand, do this on a floured work surface.

  6. Grease a large bowl with vegan butter or olive oil. Add dough, and cover with plastic wrap or a damp dishcloth. Place in a warm place (I like to put it in my oven with the light on), and let it rise for 1 hour, or until it’s almost doubled in size.

  7. After it’s doubled in size, punch down the dough, and cover again. Let rise for another half an hour.

  8. This makes 2 loaves, so cut dough in half. Braid your Challah (check out my fave tutorial linked in recipe card). Grease a large baking mat, or parchment.

  9. Brush both loaves with 3 tbsp aquafaba or more as needed to cover completely, and allow to rise for another hour.

  10. Preheat oven to 375F.

  11. Brush loaves with additional aquafaba and then sprinkle with sesame seeds, or if you’re feeling adventurous, sprinkle everything bagel seasoning.

  12. Bake on middle rack for 30-35 mins, or until golden brown. Turn tray halfway through for even baking.

  13. Cool loaves on a wire cooling rack.

egg free challahTips for making Challah Vegan

  • You can make challah buns instead of loaves of bread if you want!
  • I chose to top my challah with sesame seeds on one loaf and everything bagel seasoning on the other, but you can make with or without any seasoning!
  • Don’t skip the rising process! I know everyone wants things fast, but rising time is SO important to form this delicious bread
  • I highly recommend using a stand mixer since it will produce the best results.
  • Challah dough can be sticky, so many people are inclined to add more flour, but don’t add extra flour! Stick to only using 7.5 to 8.5 cups of flour. You want the dough to be slightly sticky.
  • Don’t bake on a plain baking sheet, always use a greased baking mat or parchment, or else the bottom cooks too fast and may burn.
  • Some challah bread recipes use honey for the sweetness, but instead, I used white sugar to recreate the sweetness of challah bread. If you don’t want to use or have white sugar, feel free to try cane sugar or coconut sugar (but I haven’t personally tried it myself).

I love eating this bread warm, on its own with my homemade vegan butter spread on it, or even cutting slices and using it for vegan french toast if I really feel like spoiling myself. We all deserve some challah french toast in our lives.water challah vegan

Is water challah vegan?

Most water challahs are vegan but I’ve noticed some challah use honey, instead of sugar! My challah recipe is 100% vegan! Other online recipes also use butter, instead of oil so be careful.

Looking for more Vegan recipes?

Recipe for Water Challah (Vegan)

5.0 from 22 reviews
Vegan Challah Bread Recipe
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
This traditional bread is served at Jewish ceremonial occasions such as Shabbat and other holidays. It is shared and enjoyed by many people worldwide. Typically, the bread is made with eggs and honey. In my vegan challah recipe, we use aquafaba and white sugar to recreate the texture and sweetness of traditional israeli water challah bread.
Author:
Recipe type: Bread
Cuisine: Israeli
Serves: 2 loaves
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl or bowl of your stand mixer, combine; 1¾ cups lukewarm water, yeast, and 1 tbsp sugar. Allow it to sit for 10 mins or until yeast bubbles and froths.
  2. Whisk, or use the whisk attachment for your mixer, and mix in vegan butter or oil, and 10 tbsp aquafaba, 3 tbsp at a time.
  3. Whisk in ½ cup of sugar and 1 tbsp salt.
  4. Using your dough hook (or hands if you do not have a stand mixer) gradually add in flour 1 cup at a time, mixing between each addition, until dough holds together.
  5. Knead dough until smooth. If you are using a stand mixer, do this with your dough hook. If you are doing this by hand, do this on a floured work surface.
  6. Grease a large bowl with vegan butter or olive oil. Add dough, and cover with a wrap or damp dishcloth. Place in a warm place (I like to put it in my oven with the light on), and let it rise for 1 hour, or until it’s almost doubled in size.
  7. After it’s doubled in size, punch down the dough, and cover again. Let rise for another half an hour.
  8. This will make 2 loaves, so cut your dough in half. Next braid your Challah.
  9. To make a 6-braid challah:
  10. Take half the dough and form it into 6 balls.
  11. With your hands, roll each ball into a strand.
  12. Place the 6 strands in a row, and pinch the tops of the strands together.
  13. Then, follow my favourite video tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=Tm76H25lLwQ
  14. Then place a large baking mat on top of baking sheet and grease the mat.
  15. Place braided loaves on the greased baking mat with at least 2 inches in between.
  16. To make a 3-braid Loaf:
  17. Take half the dough and form it into 3 balls.
  18. With your hands, roll each ball into a strand.
  19. Place the 3 strands in a row, and pinch the tops of the strands together.
  20. Braid as you would a hair in your hair. Tuck ends under the loaf.
  21. Place braided loaves on a greased baking sheet with at least 2 inches in between.
  22. Brush both loaves with 3 tbsp aquafaba or more as needed to cover completely, and allow to rise for another hour.
  23. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375F.
  24. When ready to bake, brush loaves with additional aquafaba and then leave as is, or sprinkle with sesame seeds, if you’re feeling crazy, everything bagel seasoning.
  25. Bake on middle rack for 30-35 mins, or until golden brown, turn halfway through for even baking.
  26. Cool loaves on a wire cooling rack.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 1 slice Calories: 215 Fat: 4.9g Saturated fat: 1g Trans fat: 0g Carbohydrates: 35.5g Sugar: 4.9g Sodium: 329.36mg Fiber: 1.6g Protein: 4.9g Cholesterol: 0g

 

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If you make this Challah vegan recipe, let me know what you think by leaving a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ star rating & comment below. It truly helps me & I really appreciate any support! Feel free to share your food creation on social and tag me @edgyveg on your photo so I don’t miss it!

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  • This isn’t “water challah”. It is a vegan challah, yes, but not all vegan challahs are water challahs. Water challah by their definition aren’t using either egg in the dough, nor egg substitutes. This is why egg challah and water challah have their respective names. While it is acceptable to some to use egg wash or to substitute egg wash on top to create sheen, the whole reason water challah exists is to be bread in the purest Jewish legal sense and not “cake” or mezonot. By adding aquafaba into the dough, the extra ingredient or ingredients invalidate the status of bread. It is surely mezonot, not water challah. This is properly a vegan challah, not a water challah.

  • Hi there! I saw you told someone that the dough could be made and frozen before rising, does that mean you freeze after step 5? Then do you thaw overnight in frig or on the counter? Finally, do you then follow rest of steps according to instructions? (From 6 down.) Thank you! Very excited to make for my vegan kids!

  • This challah is PHENOMENAL – first I’ve made since I was a child, first that’s been vegan, and the only one I will ever make from now on! Thank you for this recipe, it’s my new Friday tradition! My husband is in love with it too! We are absolutely obsessed – the two of us finished a whole loaf on the first night we made them! Thank you, thank you, thank you! We used everything seasoning, 10/10.

  • With your Challah Bread recipe can it be made with just enough sugar to activate the yeast? My husband is diabetic.

  • Samantha Mitchell says:

    Listen, this is the best challah I ever had and I live in Israel. My Israeli boyfriend said I should bring this to Friday night dinner because it’s THAT good. 100/10 would HIGHLY recommend.

  • Fantastic recipe! I bake this in place of the Ukrainian-style egg bread that I remember from my childhood. I do sometimes add a pinch of turmeric to make it a bit more “eggy” looking, but it’s incredible with or without

  • I made this recipe, and I used Bob’s Red Mill 1-1 Gluten Free Flour instead of all-purpose wheat flour. The dough did not rise, but I thought it was fine and did not think much of it. When I took it out of the oven it smelled incredible and looked like the picture. However, after cooling I went to try it and it had a strong chickpea and bitter taste. Maybe this was due to the chickpea flour in the flour I used or something in that realm. But, I do recommend using regular flour if you do make this bread.

  • Recipe came out great!! Hardest part was doing the 6 strand braid, but that turned out great too.

  • A big thanks to EdgyVeg for this fantastic recipe! I use the hand kneading method which gives me a good feel for the dough. I learned not to add flour even though the dough felt sticky for the first few minutes of kneading (just floured my hands a bit and the counter) the dough soon became beautifully smooth with a total of 8-10 mins kneading. I’ve made it many times now and it’s the BEST vegan challah recipe that I’ve tried. My daughters thank you as they hadn’t had challah since becoming vegan a few years ago. To quote them ‘best challah ever, vegan or otherwise’.’ Well done🎉

  • Hannah Russell says:

    This is my go to recipe- it always turns out amazing!!

  • Esther says:

    Great recipe. I have been using your recipe to bake aquafaba challah bread for some time and it always come out great. Easy to follow and the flavor is fantastic. Thank you
    Esther

  • Tessa Zee says:

    Just made this challah for the first time! Made one 6 strand braid loaf and one 3 strand braid loaf. The video you linked for the 6 strand braid was super helpful, I had a lot of fun braiding. It tastes so good! Going to bring some to my in-laws tomorrow. I bet they’ll love it! Thanks so much.

  • What do you think of using 1:1 Gluten Free Flour or Bob’s GF Baking Flour??

    • EdgyVeg says:

      I’ve only tried it with regular all-purpose flour. If you try, please tell us how it goes!

      • Sorry to be a pain but I’m a bit confused. The recipe says all purpose flour, which is plain flour here in UK, but in your reply above you said traditional bread flour. So is that extra strong bread flour, bread flour or regular plain flour. Thanks.

  • I love this recipe! I made four three-strand challahs. I then cut them into quarters, wrapped each in plastic, and put them in a freezer bag and into the freezer. Now I have challah for Shabbat for awhile. Thank you!

  • Jessica Watson says:

    I just made this for the first time and it was SO easy and delicious. No one could believe that there was no egg in it, said it tasted like the regular stuff. Had so many requests for making more…which is good, because it makes a lot of bread!
    Would totally make this again!!!

  • Can you freeze the dough prior to letting it rise or after? If yes, how would you bake it? Many thanks.

  • I really wasn’t expecting greatness from my first time baking a vegan challah, but wow – this was amazing and very easy! I haven’t had challah in so long and now I’ll be baking it all the time. My 5-year old son said it’s the best bread ever!

  • Emily Altneu says:

    I loved this recipe. Thanks so much. I made mini challah / challah buns with it as I have no control when it comes to eating this bread! Ha!

    To make the buns I divided the mixture into 16 after the second rise. I rolled out one at a time to about 6/7 inches in length and tied a knot in it , tucked in the ends and popped on the parchment paper.

    I cooked for 17 mins in the preheated oven. I switched the trays over half way through. I have a fan assisted oven but some were browning quicker than others. I ended up turning off the oven/ opening the oven door after and leaving the slightly larger ones in for another minute or two.

    My parents adored them and usually eat egg challah. They couldn’t tell the difference at all. So light and fluffy. Thank you!

  • AMAZING!! I mixed up a few steps and it still turned out amazing! I definitely recommend 🙂

  • Incredible!! I made a half recipe and did a circle braid and it turned out great! Super easy to follow

  • Monique Jacobs says:

    The loaves turned out much larger than I expected, delicious though!

  • Can the braided challahs be refrigerated overnight and baked the next day ?

    • That should be fine, leave on the counter at room temperature for around an hour before baking

  • Can the raw braided challahs be refrigerated overnight and baked the next day ?

  • Sabrina says:

    This was sooo good. I definitely impressed the family tonight and will be making this my go-to recipe from here on out. Also, the six-part braid is super fun!

  • Fantastic recipe. Thank you. I need to work on my braiding. Did this with my 14yr old Son. His braiding was better. Lol.

  • Talia says:

    Is there something I could substitute Aquafaba with and still have it be vegan?

    • EdgyVeg says:

      I’ve only tried with aquafaba, but you could try another vegan egg replacer. I find that aquafaba gives the best buttery and fluffy texture, and it’s a cheap and easy to find alternative

  • Tasha says:

    Wow! I can’t believe how delicious and beautiful the loaves came out. This recipe is definitely a keeper.

  • Incredible challah! Literally tasted like a cloud. It was sweet and slightly salty. I was super happy with my results. It was fairly simple to make, just needed lots of time to rise. The video for braiding was very helpful. I’ll definitely be making more loaves soon! Check out my challah here: https://www.instagram.com/p/B-m2eoFD1RA/?igshid=yinwxrt45uoc

  • This recipe turned out AMAZING!! I’m not a great baker…and the recipe was very easy to follow. I made 1 with bagel seasoning and the other with cinnamon sugar. DELISH!

  • This challah recipe is amazing! I made half of the recipe today, just wanted one loaf, and it turned out perfect! I topped mine with sesame seeds. It was perfectly brown and the inside of so soft & delicious! I’ll definitely be making this again. Check out my Instagram @the.lentil.mermaid for pictures!

  • Bread was amazing. I added 6 cups of flour and then slowly added more until the consistency was right. Made 2 loaves, one with cinnamon sugar like Cinnabon. There are pictures on my Instagram if you want to see (@addtotaste). Thank you for a great recipe

  • The instructions were super easy to follow, and the bread was delish! I’m going to try with bread flour next time! Thanks!

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