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Grain-Free Challah – 1st edition

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This past week, I was chatting with my friend Jennifer of Predominantly Paleo about the Jewish food we missed from our childhoods and pre-paleo days, and challah was at the top of the list.

paleo challah
paleo challah

Paleo Challah that has the texture and taste of real challah? It’s a Rosh Hashanah miracle

Since I have compulsive recipe developing issues, I basically RAN to the kitchen to play mad scientist. It was one of those recipes that I decided to lock myself in the kitchen for until I perfected. I do that sometimes. (And we don’t have a dishwasher, so just imagine what it looks like in here a lot of the time.) In this case, I realized that Rosh Hashanah was coming up in a matter of days, so I had to get it right by then. HAD. TO.

Speaking of Jennifer, her and I are doing some fun collaborations these days, and she’s got a recipe up on her site that’s another Rosh Hashanah must-have. Apple Kugel! Go make it. And keep your eye out for more creations from the #YiddishKitchen.

paleo challah

An important note about this recipe, and most grain-free doughs: They’re different than the gluten containing doughs you remember, and even different than gluten-free versions. The “dough” for this challah is more like cake batter, even though it’s a yeast dough. It will rise due to the yeast, but it won’t be kneadable. It’s pourable, like cake batter. Because of this, you won’t be able to braid this bread like you would traditional challah. So you’ll need to pour it into loaf pans instead.

BUT WAIT! Because there is apparently nothing that you can’t buy on Amazon, you could, instead, buy a challah mold. (Yes, of course I bought one) I got this one, which it turns out is a braided loaf pan, but not necessarily a challah mold. The finished bread looked a bit like a caterpillar, or as people said on Instagram, a baby’s butt (in a good way), or perhaps even boobies. (I’m quoting here, don’t judge).

paleo challah

There’s also this option, which I believe yields a more traditional challah shape. I’m not completely sure of the volume of it though, but will report back when I know more. (I mean, a girl needs more than one challah mold, right?!) It looks deeper, so you might need to adjust the cooking time.

It’s also important to note that this recipe makes either 2 8″ loaves OR 1 large braid (like the one I got, above) plus about 9 “rolls”, which you can make in a muffin tin. It’s sort of random, I know, but to make the recipe yield just one large braid, I would have had to cut the recipe back to 3/4, which would have made the measurements kind of difficult.

One last thing! Please get a kitchen scale. The cup measurements are not nearly as reliable as the weights provided. There are a huge variety of them available, and they’ll up your kitchen game like whoa. Trust me.

Regardless of the shape you wind up making it, this challah is off the chain, real deal challah. As my Jewish sista from another mista Jennifer says: “It’s so good it will make you challah“

paleo challah

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paleo challah

Grain-Free Challah

  • Author: zenbelly
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes + time for the dough to rise
  • Cook Time: 20-25 minutes
  • Total Time: 2 hours
  • Yield: 2 8″ loaves or 1 large braid + 9 muffins/ rolls 1x
  • Category: breads
  • Method: bake
  • Cuisine: jewish
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Description

Challah isn’t off the table just because you’re grain-free!

Scale

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup warm water (warm enough to feel warm on the inside of your wrist, but not burn)
  • 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 8 eggs
  • 12 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 150 grams almond flour (about 1 1/2 cup)
  • 200 grams tapioca starch (about 1 3/4 cup)
  • 200 grams potato starch (about 1 1/4 cup)
  • 2 tablespoons psyllium husk
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Instructions

  1. In the bowl of your stand mixer, or a large bowl if using hand beaters, whisk together the warm water, honey, and yeast. Set aside for 5 minutes; it should get foamy and active.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, melted butter, and honey.
    Set aside 1 tablespoon of this mixture to use as your egg wash. 
  3. Whisk the egg mixture into the yeast mixture, and then add the almond flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, psyllium husk, and salt.
  4. Allow it to rise for 60-90 minutes, until the dough is at least doubled in size (the warmth of the room will determine how long this takes). It still won’t be the consistency of a traditional bread dough, it will be more like cake batter. Once risen, preheat your oven to 350.
  5. If using loaf pans: Grease with butter. Pour half of the dough into each, and bake for around 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, brush with the egg wash you had set aside. Bake for another 10, or until golden brown and it bounces back when you lightly push on the top.If using a challah mold: Brush the inside of the mold with the egg wash you have set aside and pour in the dough so it reaches to about 1 inch below the top. Pour the rest into parchment lined muffin tins, about 3/4 full. Bake the muffins for 10 minutes, and the loaf for about 25. Allow to cool before removing from pans.

Keywords: challah, paleo challah

Grain-free Challah

Makes: 2 8″ loaves or 1 large braid + 9 muffins/ rolls

In the warmed bowl of your stand mixer or large bowl whisk together:
1/2 cup warm water (warm enough to feel warm on the inside of your wrist, but not burn)
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 tablespoon honey

In a medium bowl, whisk together:
8 eggs
12 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1/4 cup honey

Once the eggs, butter and honey are well beaten, remove 1 tablespoon of the mixture and set aside in a small bowl. This will be your egg wash.

In a large bowl combine:
150 grams almond flour (about 1 1/2 cup)
200 grams tapioca flour (about 1 3/4 cup)
200 grams potato starch (about 1 1/4 cup)
2 tablespoons psyllium husk
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

After about 5 minutes, your yeast mixture should be foamy and active. (If this doesn’t happen, you should throw it out and start over, either the yeast was bad, or the water not warm enough)

To your foamy yeast mixture, add the egg mixture and the flour mixture and beat with the paddle attachment (or beaters if using a hand help mixer) for 2 minutes, scraping down the sides a few times.

The dough will NOT appear to be the dough you’re used to, but will be more like cake batter. This is okay. Don’t panic. It’s just the nature of grain-free dough. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and set in a warm place.

Allow it to rise for 60-90 minutes, until the dough is at least doubled in size (the warmth of the room will determine how long this takes)

Once risen, preheat your oven to 350.

If using loaf pans: Grease with butter. Pour half of the dough into each, and bake for around 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, brush with the egg wash you had set aside. Bake for another 10, or until golden brown and it bounces back when you lightly push on the top.

If using a challah mold: Brush the inside of the mold with the egg wash you have set aside and pour in the dough so it reaches to about 1 inch below the top. Pour the rest into parchment lined muffin tins, about 3/4 full. Bake the muffins for 10 minutes, and the loaf for about 25. Allow to cool before removing from pans.

L’Shanah Tova!


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Comments

  4. Wow! So excited to try this! If I do not have psyllium husk do you think I could substitute ground flax meal?? I was reading somewhere that it could be swapped out, but have also run into comments about it not producing the same results. Thank you for being so committed to producing recipes like these that allow us to experience those memories long gone with lifestyle changes!

    Reply

    • It’s worth a shot but I can’t say for sure how it would come out… The psyllium is very absorbent and helps the texture be more bread-like. But the flax might do something similar! My guess would be it might be a big different, but should still work. Let me know how it goes!

      Reply

      • I made it today and it was a great success! I used the ground flax meal instead of psyllium husk. Thinking of the difference in the behavior of the two ingredients I upped the flax to a generous 3 tbls. I was a bit short on the potato starch so I made up the difference with tapioca flour. In with trying to make sure I was following the recipe I accidentally poured all of the egg mixture into the dough (Oy!) so I just stirred a little honey into some heavy cream. It made two fairly light, fine crumbed loaves that were compared to cake by my kids. Was very popular with an extra drizzle of honey ;0) Thank you again for doing all the footwork to encourage us all to persevere in adapting to a healthier us!

  5. Is there a substitute for psyllium husk, which I can’t find locally? Might xanthan gum work? Thank you for this timely recipe!

    Reply

  7. i have a serious nut and dairy allergy, and man oh man does this look great. maybe i’ll give this a shot with sunflower seed flour and coconut oil and hope it works out! ps wouldn’t 12 tablespoons be 6 oz/ .75 cup? wondering for the coconut oil measurement is all 🙂

    Reply

  9. I am not Jewish but I fell in love with Challah when I was in culinary school. I LOVE making it and love eating it. SOOOOOOOO excited to try a grain-free version that my body will love me eating as well. 🙂 YAY!!! Thanks!

    Reply

  10. My sister-in-law made this for me in a large muffin pan. AMAZING! We all loved it. I’m not sure anyone could even tell it was grain-free!

    Reply

      • SOLD. I was never a big bread eater, but I would throw myself into oncoming traffic for some great french toast. Can’t wait to try it!

      • I think so! The texture is so close to regular bread, I’m guessing it would work. Maybe don’t try with a giant batch the first time, though- just to be sure! And please let me know how it turns out if you try it!

  17. Just curious if you ever tried this recipe with the other Challah mold and if so, which mold did you like better? I’m looking forward to making this!

    Reply

    • I only tried it with regular bread pans, and the longer, skinnier metal mold. I need to try it with the silicone one, too. I like the shape of that one better. As far as actual result, I think you’d be good either way, just keep an eye on it, in case the shape difference = different thickness.

      Reply

  18. Thank you for this recipe! I can’t wait to buy the silicone mold and give it a try! I love making traditional challah, but I recently discovered that I have a wheat allergy. Two of my nieces have celiac disease, and I can’t wait to surprise them with this!!

    Reply

  19. I split the recipe in half and made one loaf as an experiment. It came out less egg-y than I’d have thought, but the resulting product was quite good. Even my “I don’t understand why you had to ruin everything by going Paleo” daughter liked it. I’m not sure if one more egg would fix that or if I should leave it as is. Even better, the bread toasts well, as I discovered this morning. This is great since my plan is make toasted bread cubes to use in chestnut stuffing for Thanksgiving. Thank you!

    Reply

  20. Have you tried freezing extra rolls and/or loaves? We probably wouldn’t consume the whole recipe, so I wonder if it’d work to freeze and defrost…

    Reply

  21. Also, I was looking at the silicone challah molds, and there is a large 13×7 or a smaller 9×5….do you think you could do two 9×5, or would it be too thin?

    Reply

  22. Looks great! I’m with KarraLynn, I have been missing french toast fiercely.

    Only one rise or do you let it rise in the pan before baking as well? Wouldn’t the dough deflate when it goes into the pans? Did I miss a second rise somewhere? 🙂

    Reply

    • It does deflate when it goes into the pans, but rises in the oven again. I was never a bread baker in my pre-paleo days, so you might have a better touch then me! It worked for me with one rise, but let me know if you try two, and who it does! 🙂

      Reply

      • I made this recipe for the second time last night so that I could use the bread to make stuffing for Thanksgiving. I too wondered about a second rise, so I gave it a try with this batch. I let the dough rise again 30 minutes after transferring it to the loaf pans. While this batch did come out a little bit lighter than the first attempt. If I have time for a second rise, I’d do it again, but if I were pressed for time, I think it’s okay without it.

        I know I complemented this loaf in an earlier comment, but I have to say again how fantastic this is and how grateful I am for the efforts that must have gone into perfecting it. Even my “I wish you’d never started this stupid Paleo diet” kids ask if they can have a slice (or two, or three) of this bread. I may have to bake it again before Thursday. It’s going fast.

      • I let one loaf rise twice, it’s thicker but not as rounded on top. The first loaf which did not have the second rise has a wonderful taste and texture and decent rise. I am familiar with making batter breads with wheat flour and it is very like.

        In fact I can already want to eat half the loaf which is my normal response to home-made bread. 🙂

        Lori– I too plan on using this for stuffing! Are you going to try yours in the bird? I love stuffing in the bird. fingers crossed.

      • Hi Mary,

        No, I’m planning to cook mine outside the bird. I’m making two types of stuffing, a regular cornbread stuffing for the non-Paleo diners at my table, and a modified chestnut stuffing recipe from BHG for myself and anyone else who cares to try it. This is the only dish where I’m planning to make two different versions. Everything else on the table will be Paleo.

      • the stuffing in the bird was not a good idea, I rescued it by combining it with the stuffing that didn’t fit and broth and egg and cooking it in oven and it was fine. the batter bread challah is first rate!

  23. Going to make this and pour it in muffin top pan and use two, one for the bottom and one for the top for a burger! Brushed with a touch of olive oil and grilled first of course! Can’t wait 🙂

    Reply

  24. I don’t have the challah pan and only own one loaf pan…. So I’ve been making it in my bundt pan! It turns out really well, though it does have to bake a bit longer. I’m making it for the 3rd time tonight – it’s my hubby’s favorite grain-free bread 🙂

    Reply

    • p.s. I used the batter today to made liege-style waffles (though without pearl sugar) and they were pretty fabulous.

      Reply

    • I do not post nutrition information, because it’s not my focus, and I don’t put much weight on nutrition labels. You could type the ingredients into a nutrition calculator if you were interested in the breakdown. .

      Reply

      • Thanks, I will do that. As a T1 diabetic, some of us have to be a little more careful than others, and having that helps.

  28. WOW!!!!! This is the best grain free bread yet! Made it tonight in two 8.5 ” pans, which were overflowing in the oven. I put a cookie sheet in to catch the overflow which kind of turned into bread-sticks. The taste and texture is awesome! Thanks for sharing this recipe!

    Reply

  29. I’m doing whole 30, but my husband objected to sweet potato in place of challah last shabbatt. This sounds fantastic, but do you think i can leave out / replace the honey with something whole 30 compliant?

    Reply

    • The honey is pretty crucial to the flavor of the challah, and I don’t think any kind of bread is whole 30 compliant, is it? Meaning even without the honey, this isn’t W30. Unless you’re making your own rules about it?(which I totally do so that’s not a judgment at all) 🙂

      Reply

  30. do you really only bake this for a total of 20-25 mins? in my experience, gf loaves take longer to bake than that…..

    Reply

  32. I am so excited to try this! I will be surprising my sister for the new year. I was wondering if you could add raisins for Rosh Hashanah? I haven’t worked too much with gluten-free batters and was curious. Thank you and Happy New Year

    Reply

  33. OMG This is soo good. My non paleo, gluten eating guests at rosh ha shana were bowled over, and me, and my family ADORED it!!! Thank you thank you. I wish you did catering in australia!!!

    Reply

  34. Might seem crazy to ask but

    … what about making this without eggs? Or what could I substitute for eggs? My husband is off grains AND eggs. 🙂 Thanks!

    Reply

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