Challah Buns

I love bread in every form and size. I love to make bread, and I love to eat bread. So, naturally, I try to play as much as possible with dough and see what I can create out of flour, water, yeast, and maybe some extras.

After making my Garlic Babka, I took another Jewish bread recipe and tried to recreate it.

What I did here was to bake small challah buns instead of a big loaf. The reason for this was simple. They don't dry out as fast and are equally delicious the next day as well. This being said, here is what you need to do.

• In a bowl, mix the flour with the yeast, water, sugar, oil, salt, one whole egg, and one egg yolk. Don't throw away the remaining egg white because you will need it later.

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• Start kneading until you get a very elastic dough. This should take somewhere around 10 minutes. You can also do this using a standing mixer with a hook. Regardless of how you knead your dough, it should look something like this.

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• Put in a greased bowl and let it cover for 2 hours to proof.
• After 2 hours, take the dough out, knead it for another 2-3 minutes. Then, put it back in the bowl and let it proof for extra 30 minutes.
• When the second proof is over, cut the dough into 4 equal pieces. Each piece should be around 95-100 g.
• Take each piece and start rolling it with your hands. Most probably, they won't be very stretchy right from the start. If so, cover them and let them sit for 10 minutes.

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• Roll out each piece some more and make a knot. Grab the ends and tie them up at the back.

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• Put the buns in a tray covered with baking paper.
• Mix the remaining egg white with a tbsp of milk. Grease the buns with the mixture every 30 minutes. You will need to repeat the process 4 times because the buns need to stay for their last proof another 2 hours. Don't cover the buns for this proof. When greasing them for the last time before the bake, sprinkle the sesame seeds on them.
• Bake the buns in the preheated oven at 160 degrees Celsius (320 F) for 40-45 minutes.

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• When they are ready, take them out of the oven and let them cool on a wire rack before serving.

As I said at the beginning of this article, Challah is a traditional braided bread recipe brought to the world by Jewish cuisine. It is usually served at ceremonial events such as Shabbat.

Truth be told, I grew up eating a similar bread and found out only recently that it has Jewish origins. In Romania, our braided bread is called colac and is shaped like a circle.

* I love to eat these buns with butter. Furthermore, they make the perfect sandwiches and also the best French toast.

** I only make 4 at a time, so we won't eat too many, but feel free to double the ingredients for more.

*** Don't forget to tag us on Instagram when making our Challah Buns.