Einkorn Challah Bread Recipe (Egg Bread – Dairy Free)
A fresh take on a classic recipe, this Einkorn Challah Bread is both delicious and versatile! Tender and lightly sweet, it’s perfect with honey or jam, toasted, sliced for a sandwich, or made into French toast! It uses nutritious einkorn flour, contains no dairy, and is sweetened naturally with honey – it’s a bread you can feel good about eating!
What is Challah?
Challah is a loaf of (typically) braided bread of Jewish origin made from simple ingredients. From what I understand, it is enjoyed on the Sabbath and festival occasions and holds a lot of symbolism. I’m not well versed enough on the subject to expound upon it here. In case you are wondering, I am not Jewish – I just really love and appreciate Challah!
Why Einkorn Challah?
The reason I chose to develop a recipe for Einkorn Challah Bread was out of necessity: I have a sensitivity to modern wheat and cannot tolerate dairy well. I also wanted a recipe that used a healthy oil and sweetener as opposed to canola oil and refined sugar. I’m hoping this recipe will serve you well if you have similar wishes and needs!
About Einkorn Flour
You can buy milled einkorn flour or whole berries that you mill yourself. I purchase my milled all-purpose einkorn flour, by Jovial Foods, from several places: Thrive Market, Amazon, and my local grocery store (I’m so pleased they carry it!). Please note this recipe is for the all-purpose einkorn, not the whole wheat.
You may be wondering why I chose einkorn for this recipe – what is einkorn, even? Einkorn is considered to be the “original wheat.” Modern wheat and flour we use today has been greatly altered and bred over the centuries and is a different product than wheat used to be. Einkorn is generally considered more nutritious, lower in gluten, and it’s incredibly delicious too! That being said, you can’t always just substitute it one-for-one in place of modern all-purpose flour as it handles a little differently.
Measuring Ingredients for Einkorn Challah
I’ve included both imperial (e.g. teaspoon) measurements as well as metric (e.g. grams) measurements for your convenience. I fully recommend weighing your ingredients on a food scale such as the one I have, as it will give you the most consistent outcome.
How to Make Einkorn Challah Bread
Ingredients
530 grams all-purpose einkorn flour (4 cups)
13 grams salt (2 teaspoons)
14 grams active dry yeast (1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon)
200 mL warm water, plus extra for brushing (¾ cup + 2 Tablespoons)
55 grams coconut oil, melted, plus extra for prepping bowl (¼ cup)
75 grams honey (3 Tablespoons)
2 large eggs + 1 yolk (save the white for brushing the bread!)
poppy seeds, optional
How to Make Einkorn Challah
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the einkorn flour, salt, and yeast.
- In a separate bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together the warm (not hot!) water, melted coconut oil, honey, eggs, and yolk. Be sure to set aside the extra egg white in a bowl in the refrigerator for later.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. With dough hook attached, knead on low speed for several minutes until a wet and sticky dough forms. You will want to pause once or twice to scrape down the bowl with a spatula. Be sure to check under the dough for unincorporated flour.
- Once the ingredients are fully combined, let the dough rest in the bowl for 10 minutes. This gives the einkorn a chance to absorb more of the liquid.
- While the dough is resting, grease a medium-large bowl with coconut oil. This will be the bowl for your dough’s first rise.
- Once the dough has rested, lightly flour a clean surface with einkorn flour. Turn the dough out onto the floured surface using a spatula to scrape it out of the bowl. Don’t worry that it’s so sticky – it will be okay!
- Lightly flour the top of the dough as well. Gently form the dough into a round and place it in the greased bowl. Flip it over once so that both the top and bottom of the dough are now greased. Cover with a cotton tea towel or plastic wrap and place in a warm (not hot!) location. Let rest 1.5-2 hours. It should double in size.
- Once the dough is finished resting, turn it back out onto a lightly floured surface. Using a bench scraper (dough scraper), divide the dough into 3 even portions.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Gently pull each section of dough into a long strip (no longer than the baking sheet) and place on the parchment lined baking sheet parallel to one another.
- Braid the 3 sections. I find it helpful to start in the middle and work my way toward the ends. When finished braiding, tuck the ends under.
- Cover with a cotton tea towel or plastic wrap and let rise 1 hour in a warm location.
- When 1 hour is nearly finished preheat oven to 350 °F.
- Take the saved egg white out of the refrigerator and whisk it together with 1 Tablespoon of water. Gently brush the mixture all over the top of the dough using a pastry brush. Sprinkle the dough with poppy seeds, if desired.
- Bake for about 18-20 minutes or until bread is golden. Internal temperature should be about 180 °F
- Transfer to a wire cooling rack and let cool before slicing. Enjoy!
Get the recipe!
Einkorn Challah Bread (Egg Bread)
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Dough Hook (Can mix by hand, but it will increase prep time.)
Ingredients
- 530 grams all-purpose einkorn flour (4 cups)
- 13 grams salt (2 teaspoons)
- 14 grams active dry yeast (1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon)
- 200 mL warm water, plus extra for brushing (¾ cup + 2 Tablespoons)
- 55 grams coconut oil, melted, plus extra for prepping bowl (¼ cup)
- 75 grams honey (3 Tablespoons)
- 2 large eggs + 1 yolk (save the white for brushing the bread!)
- poppy seeds, optional
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the einkorn flour, salt, and yeast.
- In a separate bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together the warm (not hot!) water, melted coconut oil, honey, eggs, and yolk. Be sure to set aside the extra egg white in a bowl in the refrigerator for later.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. With dough hook attached, knead on low speed for several minutes until a wet and sticky dough forms. You will want to pause once or twice to scrape down the bowl with a spatula. Be sure to check under the dough for unincorporated flour.
- Once the ingredients are fully combined, let the dough rest in the bowl for 10 minutes. This gives the einkorn a chance to absorb more of the liquid.
- While the dough is resting, grease a medium-large bowl with coconut oil. This will be the bowl for your dough's first rise.
- Once the dough has rested, lightly flour a clean surface with einkorn flour. Turn the dough out onto the floured surface using a spatula to scrape it out of the bowl. Don't worry that it's so sticky – it will be okay!
- Lightly flour the top of the dough as well. Gently form the dough into a round and place it in the greased bowl. Flip it over once so that both the top and bottom of the dough are now greased. Cover with a cotton tea towel or plastic wrap and place in a warm (not hot!) location. Let rest 1.5-2 hours. It should double in size.
- Once the dough is finished resting, turn it back out onto a lightly floured surface. Using a bench scraper (dough scraper), divide the dough into 3 even portions.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Gently pull each section of dough into a long strip (no longer than the baking sheet) and place on the parchment lined baking sheet parallel to one another.
- Braid the 3 sections. I find it helpful to start in the middle and work my way toward the ends. When finished braiding, tuck the ends under.
- Cover with a cotton tea towel or plastic wrap and let rise 1 hour in a warm location.
- When 1 hour is nearly finished preheat oven to 350 °F.
- Take the saved egg white out of the refrigerator and whisk it together with 1 Tablespoon of water. Gently brush the mixture all over the top of the dough using a pastry brush. Sprinkle the dough with poppy seeds, if desired.
- Bake for about 18-20 minutes or until bread is golden. Internal temperature should be about 180 °F
- Transfer to a wire cooling rack and let cool before slicing. Enjoy!
Notes
Did you enjoy this recipe? Try these other einkorn recipes!
hi
is this a small or a medium challah?
do you bake it in a loaf pan?
https://jovialfoods.com/recipes/einkorn-hamburger-buns-recipe/
this recipe looks so similar. just the flour in your recipe is less and your recipe has way more yeast.
do you think less flour and more yeast makes it more challah like and this jovial one is more bread like?
have you gotten feedback for this recipe at all from people who tried it?
also you advise to let the dough rise till double? i always knew that einkorn may only rise till 50 % cos of the type of gluten- it can collapse?
thanks so much
Thanks for your questions! This is a relatively large loaf of challah and I bake it on a baking sheet, not in a loaf pan. (I braid it right on top of a parchment lined baking sheet.) I’m not familiar with the Jovial foods recipe, so I can’t speak particularly to the taste or texture of their bread. I used to make challah dough using a bread machine recipe, which is how I first encountered challah and developed an einkorn recipe from there. I played around with it quite a bit until I found what I felt worked the best for einkorn. I’ve not had anyone tell me they’ve tried this recipe (alas, I do not have the ability to have ratings on my recipes – that feature has a hefty price tag for a premium upgrade on my blog), but I’ve made it numerous times myself. Einkorn usually doesn’t rise quite as much as modern wheat, but this still puffed up well as I recall – if not double, at least pretty close. I hope that helps!
I just made this last night, the bread was so soft, and the texture was amazing! The flavor was beautiful! I don’t think I will use another color recipe again, this one was so perfect! Thank you for sharing it.
Aww I’m so glad you liked it! Thank you for your kind comment!
I followed instructions exact – with about 10 mins left in last proofing it spread out on cookie sheet – no obvious braid any longer – just a big blob of dough. Where did I go wrong? Was it too warm? Thanks!
I’m sorry to hear that happened, Kelley. The dough may have been too warm in its second proofing spot and melted/spread. Did the dough seem manageable while you were shaping the braid? How tightly did you braid it? I find that if I make sure to do the braid fairly tightly it holds its shape better than if its loose. Adequately flouring the work surface while cutting and shaping the three strands helps keep the shape too – that way the dough has some flour on the outside of the strands. The warmth of the proofing spot seems the most likely scenario.
Baked tonight and will serve tomorrow. I bake challah with bread flour all the time so that’s my experience. As my first time using einkorn for challah, I followed recipe exactly and measured by weight to ensure the best experience. The result was that during my braiding, the rolls broke apart a bit but not beyond repair. After the bake, the challah never turned golden & I even let it bake a few extra minutes. Do you recommend a certain brand of einkorn? I used young living brand
Checking back in after eating challah. Although I did follow instructions, the dough was cracking apart while rolling it , then, – after baking, it’s extremely dry and it crumbles. I am interested in using einkorn flour but won’t use this recipe again. Unless perhaps it’s the type of einkorn I used? I used young living brand. Please reply your thoughts because my recipe that’s made with bread flour is phenomenal and I make it weekly if I’m lucky enough to have time. I am disappointed but not criticizing- wondering what may have gone wrong . Thanks in advance for your input
I am so sorry for my incredibly late reply, Stephanie! I took a bit of a break from the blog for awhile. I’m also sorry it didnt’ turn out better for you. I always used Jovial brand einkorn and am not familiar with Young Living. A few thoughts on what could have caused it – too much flour added during handling can cause dry and cracking dough (it’s going to be a pretty sticky dough. If so much flour is added that it’s no longer sticky then it will probably be quite dry). Did you cover the bread while rising to help prevent drying? Also, how did you determine doneness when baking? Internal temperature is probably the most surefire way. Did you brush with the egg wash before baking (for a more golden hue)? Was your oven rack set in the middle of the oven or farther down (which would also affect golden-ness)? Einkorn challah will definitely be a little more brittle than challah made with modern flour just because of the low levels of gluten, but it shouldn’t be overly crumbly. I hope this is somewhat helpful! I plan to review this recipe soon with frequently asked questions I’ve received and give it an update when I can.
Been working with Einkorn for about a year and half now. I exclusively make all our bread (none comes from the store). Finding a fluffy/tender sandwich bread has been so HARD! Most turns out dense. I’ve tried many recipes for bread/rolls and many end up feeling like a lead brick and you can’t finish cause it’s just so heavy! I have a recipe I was using and I gave up and did 1/3 organic bread flour mixed with my einkorn to try and get it to rise better and be more fluffy. Today I tried this recipe and we are thrilled! My husband said that this can be the sandwich bread recipe we use from now on. The only thing I want to do is try to get it to raise UP instead of spread OUT. It is nice and fluffy, but the shape of the slices isn’t conducive to a toaster/cheese slices/etc. Gonna have to experiment to figure that out and make sure it doesn’t deflate itself due to it’s own weight. If you have figured that out, I’d love to hear!
Thank you so much for your kind compliment, Stacey! My sincere apologies for not replying sooner – I took a bit of a break from the blog for awhile. I’m so glad you are enjoying the bread. My first thought would be to bake it in a loaf pan instead of braiding it in order to force it to rise upward. I will have to try this to confirm. 🙂
Do you have this in a sourdough? Ive been trying to find an einkorn sourdough challah recipe but cant find any.
Unfortunately I’ve never tried this with sourdough. (I have very limited sourdough experience.) I know Lisa over at Farmhouse on Boone has a guide to adapting anything to sourdough so that may be helpful? Best wishes! 🙂