Learn how to make delicious gluten free challah bread that everyone will love. Serve this delicious enriched, braided bread at the holiday table, or any day!
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What makes this gluten free challah recipe special?
This recipe is unlike many other gluten free challah bread recipes you'll find. It can hold its shape as a true, braided bread without being stiff and dry. It has the most beautiful, moist, and tender open crumb.
Most gluten free challah recipes you'll find are made in a molded loaf pan that mimics the shape of braided bread. If you search the web for “gluten free challah bread,” you'll often find recipes that ask you to expect that your bread will be “heavier” or more “dense.”
The texture, flavor, aroma, and crumb of your gluten free bread should be no different from whatever conventional bread you've come to expect. And this gluten fee bread hits all the right notes, so keep those expectations high, where they should be!
What is the taste and texture of good challah?
Challah bread is a highly enriched bread, made with plenty of oil, egg yolks, and some sugar, too. That's how you get that thin, tender, dark brown crust and the rich aroma of deeply browned bread.
Challah is not a high-rising, fluffy bread. Instead, it's meant to hold its shape after being braided, and to have a more closed, chewy crumb. It tastes slightly, but not overly, sweet and tastes pleasantly eggy, like a cross between Hawaiian rolls and brioche.
Handling the dough without too much flour
Challah dough must be handled quite a lot, since it's separated into 3 parts, each part is rolled into a long strand, and then all 3 strands are braided together. This isn't a very wet dough, since wet batter-style gluten free bread dough can't be shaped, so it's very important not to add much more of any type of flour when you shape the dough.
The dough is prepared properly by being chilled well in a tightly sealed container, and then dusted very very lightly with tapioca starch. Both of these steps are designed to make the dough easier to handle without kneading in more flour.
When you're preparing bread dough and you add more flour, the more you add, the lower the hydration ratio of the bread is. If the bread dough is not properly hydrated, it won't rise well.
If this dough were too wet, you couldn't possibly handle it enough to braid it. Plus, the dough would never hold its shape during rising and baking. We need to find that sweet spot, where you can handle and shape the bread with a light touch aided only by a little bit of extra starch.
If the dough seems too hard to handle and you're tempted to add even more starch, place it back in the container and let it chill in the refrigerator for at least another hour. The dough will absorb more of the moisture, but it will still be locked inside. Plus, cold dough is less sticky by nature.
Braiding gluten free challah bread strands into a loaf
You can braid gluten free challah bread in a 3-strand, 4-strand, or even a 6-strand loaf. The braiding technique begins the same way as any braided bread recipe—but the handling of the dough requires some special care.
I've used a 3-strand braid here because it's the simplest (if you can braid a ponytail, you can braid a 3-strand challah!). If the three strands side by side (by side) are in places 1, 2, and 3, the braiding process is:
- 1 over 2, and return old 2 to 1 spot;
- 3 over 2, and return old 2 to 3 spot;
- Repeat until you reach the end of the braid.
Do not ever pull on the strands, though. They must not fray. Place them where you want them, overlapping them carefully and with intention.
Of course, if you'd prefer, you can use a challah mold pan and place the unshaped dough into the pan to rise and then bake.
Tips for making the best gluten free challah
Start with room-temperature ingredients
Unlike many gluten free yeast bread recipes that call for warm ingredients to activate the yeast quickly, this recipe calls for ingredients at room temperature. We then let the bread rest in the refrigerator so that the liquids are absorbed into the flour.
Use the right amount of sugar
Sugar in baking isn't just for sweetness. In fact, it's most valuable here in this recipe, and in many others, for tenderizing the bread, and keeping it fresh for longer.
The sugar here feeds the yeast so that it can grow. It also helps aid the browning and results in that deep brown challah crust.
Refrigerate your gf challah bread dough for easier handling
Refrigerating the raw dough in a tightly sealed container makes handling the dough easier.
First, it allows the flours time to absorb the liquid. You don't sacrifice any liquid, which the bread needs for rising and for texture, but the dough is less sticky. Second, refrigerating the dough makes it colder, making it easier to handle.
If you don't have time to refrigerate the dough, you can still work with it. It will just be a bit harder to handle and more fragile.
Give your gluten free challah bread dough time to rise
Yeast bread dough rises faster in warm (not hot) temperatures closer to 80°F that aren't drafty. It rises more slowly in colder temperatures.
It also must be covered properly as it rises, so the moisture in the dough doesn't evaporate. If the moisture evaporates, the dough will be too stiff and the yeast will not grow properly.
Add an egg wash before baking
An egg wash is just a beaten egg with either water or milk. Here, we're using water to keep it dairy-free easily.
After the braided raw dough has risen, we brush the egg wash on top of the braids and all along the perimeter. The egg wash helps the braids brown beautifully and keeps the dough from breaking through the surface during its oven rise.
Avoid letting the egg wash pool in the space between the braids. We want that portion to rise freely.
How to serve this challah bread substitute
This challah bread is amazing in the center of your Jewish holiday meal. But you don't have to celebrate Jewish holidays to enjoy this gluten free challah!
Sliced thickly, this challah makes rich, eggy, lightly sweet gluten free French toast. You'll find yourself snatching some slices from the loaf to ensure there are leftovers for gluten free bread pudding, too.
Try toasting a generous slice and topping it with light and fluffy scrambled eggs. Or just a big schmear of cream cheese and a light sprinkling of chives.
How to store and freeze your gluten free braided bread
If you're not planning to serve your bread right away, you can keep it fresh for about 8 hours at room temperature. Just wrap it tightly in plastic and eliminate as much air as possible.
For any leftover bread, be sure to slice it how you'd like to serve it, wrap it tightly in the same manner, and freeze it. Defrost it one slice at a time in the microwave or at room temperature, and refresh it in the toaster oven.
I don't recommend freezing raw yeast bread, only baked yeast bread. If the temperature drops too low, you may kill the yeast and waste all that hard work and delicious bread!
Gluten free challah bread ingredient substitution suggestions
This challah is already dairy-free. Let's talk about suggestions for making other substitutions.
Can you make this gluten free challah bread without eggs?
It isn't as easy to replace egg yolks as it is to replace whole eggs. You can try using three tablespoons of vegan butter in place of the three egg yolks to replace the fat of the yolks.
Can you make vegan gluten free challah?
If you replace the egg yolks with vegan butter successfully, you'll need to replace the honey to have a recipe for gluten free vegan challah bread. In place of honey, try using light corn syrup.
Does it matter which gluten free flour blend you use in this gf challah recipe?
Yes! It matters a lot which gf flour blend you use. And it matters that you add the additional 75 grams of tapioca starch/flour.
I highly recommend using Better Batter (or our DIY mock Better Batter style blend) as the all purpose gluten free flour blend. It took me years to develop a reliable gluten free challah bread recipe without using our gluten free bread flour to make it easy and dairy free.
Don't use Cup4Cup gluten free flour here, even though it is one of my favorite blends. It's simply too high in starch to produce proper bread that holds its shape as intended (it would make a paler, fluffier, and more out-of-shape loaf)—and browns properly here.
This recipe relies even more than usual on true precision in ingredient selection, and in measurement accuracy. For reliable results like the photos that taste amazing, you must use the flours specified, and you must measure by weight.
FAQs for this challah recipe
No. Traditionally, challah bread is made with wheat flour, along with lots of dairy-free enrichments like egg yolks, oil, and honey or other sugars.
This bread is what you might think of as a challah bread substitute, since it's made wheat-free. But it's a substitute that tastes just as it should—and no one will know that it's made with an all purpose gluten free flour blend.
No. Both brioche and challah are enriched breads, but they're not at all the same.
Brioche is a richer, heartier bread than challah, and challah is best made without butter, so it's pareve (neither milk nor meat, which can't be mixed in kosher meal) and can be served with any holiday meal.
Resist the urge to add much more flour or starch! Try returning the dough to its sealed container and placing it in the refrigerator to chill for at least another hour.
There are many reasons that you might have trouble getting a yeast bread to rise. Here are some questions to ask yourself:
Did you use one of my recommended flour blends, measured by weight?
Did you add more than a light dusting of extra flour on your dough during shaping?
Is your yeast fresh?
Did you wait long enough? Overproofing is not a matter of too long a rise, but too much of a rise. Sometimes a rise takes much longer than anticipated depending on the temperature and humidity in your kitchen.
Yes, this gluten free challah bread is already dairy-free. It's made with olive oil instead of butter, and water instead of milk. If you want to replace the olive oil, I recommend using vegan butter. Do not use a flavorless oil like canola or vegetable oil, or the flavor will suffer.
The Best Gluten Free Challah Bread Recipe
Equipment
- Stand mixer with paddle attachment (See Recipe Notes)
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups (245 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend (I used Better Batter and recommend it highly here; please click thru for appropriate blends you must choose carefully for results!)
- ¾ teaspoon xanthan gum omit if your blend already contains it
- ⅝ cup (75 g) tapioca starch/flour plus more for sprinkling
- 1 ⅔ teaspoons (5 g) instant yeast (See Recipe Notes)
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons (6 g) kosher salt
- ¾ cup (6 fluid ounces) lukewarm water plus a teaspoon or so more if necessary
- 4 tablespoons (56 g) extra virgin olive oil
- 3 (75 g) egg yolks at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons (42 g) honey
- Egg wash 1 large egg, at room temperature, beaten with 1 tablespoon water
- Poppyseeds or sesame seeds for sprinkling (optional)
Instructions
Make the challah bread dough
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, place the flour blend, xanthan gum, tapioca starch/flour, instant yeast, and granulated sugar. Whisk to combine well.
- Add the salt, and whisk again to combine.
- Add a bit more than 1/2 cup of the water, olive oil, egg yolks, and honey. Using the paddle attachment, beat vigorously.
- With the mixer running, add as much of the remaining water as necessary for the dough to smooth out. In a warm, humid environment, it may take a bit less than the full 3/4 cup of water. In a dry, cold environment, it may take less. Watch the texture very carefully.
- The dough mixture will come together in a clump and then smooth out and stick to the sides of the bowl. Keep beating until it begins to look whipped, and the color lightens a bit (about 6 minutes total).
- Transfer the mixture to a lightly oiled bucket or bowl with a very tight-fitting lid. Place the container in the refrigerator, tightly sealed, for at least an hour and up to 2 days.
Shape the braided gf challah
- When you’re ready to bake, turn out the chilled dough onto a surface very very lightly dusted with tapioca starch/flour.
- Sprinkle the top very very lightly with more starch, and divide the dough into 3 equal portions. Do not add much starch, or your bread will not rise properly.
- If the dough seems too hard to handle and you're tempted to add even more starch, place it back in the container and let it chill in the refrigerator for at least another hour.
- Working with one piece at a time, knead the dough in your clean, dry hands, without adding any additional flour of any kind, pinching any seams that separate.
- Begin working the dough into a cylindrical shape, pinching any gaps together, fanning your hands out toward the edges to lengthen the strand.
- Rolling back and forth, create strands about 15 inches long from end to end that taper slowly from the center to each end, with very tapered ends. Sprinkle each strand lightly with more tapioca flour on the outside of the cylinder to smooth the surface, then set it aside.
- Place the 3 strands on a lightly floured surface parallel to one another and about 5 inches apart from one another. Gather the tapered ends on one side together, pinch them securely and tuck the very end under the knot.
- Plait the 3 strands as you would any 3-strand braid. Do not pull the strands, as they’ll fray. Just place them on top of one another as you work toward from one end to the other.
- Beginning as close as possible to the bound end, place one outside strand across the center strand, exchanging the center for the outside strand you just moved to the center.
- Repeat with the other outside strand and center strand. Repeat the process, alternating one side and then the other until you reach the end. Tuck the end under as you did the other side.
- Placing your hands carefully under each side of the braided loaf, carefully lift the braid onto a lined baking sheet. Press the finished braid gently on each ends toward center to shorten the length a bit.
- Sprinkle the top of the braid lightly with more tapioca starch and brush off excess from the valleys between braids.
Let the bread rise.
- Cover the braid securely with plastic wrap, and place the loaf in a warm, draft-free location. Allow the loaf to rise until it’s at least 150% its original size (anywhere from 45 minutes to hours).
- If any of the tops of the strands begin to separate from one another as the dough rises, try to smooth and pinch them closed. When the dough is nearing the end of its rise, preheat your oven to 350°F.
Bake the bread.
- Uncover the risen bread and brush the tops and sides of the braids very generously with the egg wash. Avoid letting the egg wash pool in between the braids. Sprinkle the top evenly with the optional seeds.
- Place the baking sheet in the center of the preheated oven. Bake for 30 minutes, rotate the baking sheet 180° and reduce the oven temperature to 325°F.
- Continue to bake for about 15 minutes, or until the bread bounces back when pressed on a center braid and the internal temperature is at least 190°F on an instant read thermometer.
- Remove the bread from the oven and allow it to cool on the baking sheet for at least 20 minutes before transferring to a wire rack too cool completely. Slice and serve.
Notes
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Thanks for stopping by!
Hi, I’m Nicole. I create gluten free recipes that really work and taste as good as you remember. No more making separate meals when someone is GF, or buying packaged foods that aren’t good enough to justify the price. At Gluten Free on a Shoestring, “good, for gluten free” just isn’t good enough! Come visit my bio!
Galia Cohen says
Can I make this with an egg replacer?
Nicole Hunn says
I’m really not sure, Galia. Please see the text of the post under the heading “Can you make this gluten free challah bread without eggs?” for my best educated guess.
Louise Gagne says
Hi Nicole, I need to make this a day before eating. What is the best way to keep it “fresh”?
Ykank you for all you do.
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Louise, since this is a highly-enriched bread, it does tend to go stale more quickly. Homemade bread should definitely never be refrigerated, but if you want it to last, as soon as it’s cool, you can easily freeze it either sliced or whole. Wrap it very tightly in freezer-safe wrap and in a freezer-safe ziptop bag. Then, let it defrost about halfway at room temperature, run it under water, and then refresh it in a 275°F oven before serving. The added water will absorb into the bread just enough to moisten it, and then evaporate and make it taste fresh and a little crispy on the very outside of the crust. Oh, and you’re very welcome! ☺️
Tilly says
I have always wanted to make a gf Challah bread. Thank you so much for this recipe. I love it and will make it at our next meeting. ❤️
Suanne Goldberger says
I made this twice. Made it incorrectly both times. This just to let you know that if anyone adds too much water so you can’t shape it put it in a lined 9” round cake pan and bake for about 28-30 minutes at 350 and you still get a nice tasting edible bread. Comes out more like a cornbread texture but the flavor is still great.
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Suanne, I really really appreciate your being so forthcoming with how you added too much water (which I think is very, very common!) and how you made it work anyway. Happy New Year!
Claire says
What would you change to bake this challah at high altitude? I live in Denver.
Nicole Hunn says
I’m afraid I don’t know what changes to make for altitude baking, Claire, since it’s the one condition I can’t replicate at all. I have heard from other readers that their usual altitude adjustments tend to work in my recipes, but particularly since this is yeast bread, I hesitate to give any advice.
Carly Schain says
Can I use a blender?
Nicole Hunn says
I’m afraid you definitely can’t make bread dough in a blender, no, Carly. You might be able to use a food processor, but even then you run the risk of overprocessing and heating the dough.
Dara Glikmann says
Can I use maple honey or date syrup instead of cane sugar
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Dara, no I’m afraid you can’t use a liquid sugar in place of a granulated sugar. The moisture balance is completely different.
Megan says
I have made this recipe several times using the original Cup4Cup flour (not the new top allergen free) recipe and it comes out amazing! One shabbat dinner my family and friends opted to finish this loaf instead of the regular loaf because it was so good.
My one question is I have only used this in my cuisinart breadmaker without braiding. If I want to braid, when should I take it out of the machine?
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Megan, I’m really glad that you’ve had success making this recipe in a bread maker. I haven’t tried that myself and it’s definitely not something I could have promised you would work at all! Since I don’t know anything about your particular bread maker and haven’t tried making the dough in one myself, I’m afraid I don’t really know what might work. I would imagine you should only use the bread maker for mixing the dough, and then take it out right after that?
Bonnie says
My son has an egg allergy. Can you suggest a replacement?
Nicole Hunn says
I’m afraid I can’t promise results, but I make a suggestion in the text of the post under the heading “Can you make this gluten free challah bread without eggs?”
Arlyce says
There are 4 different Better Batter gluten-free flour blends: Artisan, Original, Bread, and Cake flour. Which one did you use when you developed this recipe?
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Arylce, good question! I only ever use the original blend. I can recommend against their artisan blend as it doesn’t work well at all in my rcipes. The other 2 blends are newer and I haven’t tried yet.
Ella says
Hi, am I able to make it sweeter in any way?
Nicole Hunn says
I don’t recommend adding more sugar, no, but you could brush the rising dough with an egg wash sweetened with powdered sugar if you like.
Bonnie says
I made the challah this week. I think it turned out how it should be… but it does seem a little dry and after one day in a plastic bag, it is hard as a rock. I will heat it up for shabbat dinner tonight. Is it possible to double the recipe to either double the size or make 2 at the same time? Thank you! Bonnie
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Bonnie, if you didn’t make any ingredient substitutions and measured by weight, not volume, my guess is that you incorporated too much flour into the dough during shaping. It’s a tempting, and common, thing to do, but will make the bread go stale more quickly. That being said, it will never be as fresh as the day it’s baked, and if you are going to store it, I’d always do it wrapped very tightly in the freezer to ensure that holds its moisture. I don’t recommend doubling the recipe when making yeast bread unless you have a very large stand mixer since a 3.5 quart stand mixer or something similar has a very hard time mixing fully double the dough. You can easily make two batches of the dough one right after the other without cleaning the equipment, though.
Sally schwartz says
Amazing! I followed the instructions very closely. Had to leave the dough in the fridge for 18 hours to be ready. But it is so worth it! Turned out perfectly! Cant wait to eat it this shabat! Tku so much! All the way from Panama City, Panama❤️
Nicole Hunn says
I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe, Sally. The precision required can be annoying, but the results are worthwhile! Thanks for sharing your experience.
Aya says
One of the worst Challah dough I ever made. I’m baking GF for years. I am a great baker and making challah every Friday. I followed your instructions to the letter. Dough is sooooo sticky and yes, I let it rise in the fridge! I couldn’t do anything with it. Shaping a challah….. big NO WAY, even had hard time to just pour it onto the pan. Sorry if I’m harsh. Such a disappointment. No Challah for us this Friday.
Nicole Hunn says
That sounds very frustrating. You didn’t mention anything about the flour blend you used, and it sounds like you didn’t use Better Batter, or my mock Better Batter. It’s crucial, especially with a shaped yeast bread, to the right blend, and the recipe simply won’t work otherwise, which I try every way to make as clear as possible since it can be frustrating when a recipe doesn’t turn out. Please see the text of the post under the heading “Does it matter which gluten free flour blend you use in this gf challah recipe?” and see the text in the recipe card itself about the flour blend. I wish there were more good blends that are readily available, but I’m afraid there simply aren’t.