I’ve been using this challah recipe for years, but decided to make a twist on the classic with this Nutella swirled challah after I was inspired by Challah for Hunger. They are not only a fabulous organization, but they make the most amazing chocolate challah! I had a bite of one the other day and immediately went home to make some of my own! I decided that that it would be a little easier to spread the Nutella (or Nutella copycat – I actually used the trader joes version) than to deal with sprinkling chocolate chips or chopping up bars of chocolate, and I was right.
The Nutella packs a punch in flavor, is easy to use, and keeps the challah super moist and delicious. Please note that this recipe makes A LOT of challah. The first time I made this, I didn’t know better and split the dough into 2 loaves. This made two monster challahs that were so big that they were hard to bake! Now I usually split this dough into4 pieces, and I end up with 4 pretty hefty loaves of bread, but you could easily make this into 8 slightly smaller challahs and no one would know the difference. Share these with your friends and they will love you forever. Making challah is a long process, but it’s worth it, and makes enough for a crowd!
Ingredients:
- 2 ½ cups warm water at about 110 degrees F. You DO NOT want the water hot or it will kill the yeast
- 1 packet active dry yeast
- 1 tsp sugar
- ½ cup honey
- 4 tbs vegetable oil + more for oiling the bowl
- 1 whole egg + 3 egg yolks (set aside and save the whites for later)
- 1 tsp salt
- 8 cups of all-purpose flour
- 1 jar Nutella or some sort of chocolate spread
In the bowl of a standing mixer, sprinkle the yeast and the sugar over the warm water, and let it sit for about 5 minutes until it gets foamy. If it doesn’t get foamy in 5-10 minutes, your yeast has gone bad and the dough won’t rise.
Next, attach the dough hook and beat in the honey, oil, eggs, and salt. Add the flour in one cup at a time until all the flour is added and a dough forms. Next, let the standing mixer do the work with the dough hook attached, kneading the dough for a minute or two. You want the dough to start to form a ball and not stick to the sides of the bowl.
Remove dough from the mixer and form into a ball. Place in a well-oiled bowl to rise for 1 ½ hours. Make sure you use a big bowl, because like I said, this makes a lot of dough. Cover the bowl with a slightly damp towel and set it in a dry place. I find the best way to do this is to wash my hands, then use a clean towel to dry them off, and use that to cover the dough. If the towel is too wet, the dough will pick up too much moisture and get sticky.
After the dough has risen, turn it out onto a well-floured surface and divide the dough into 4 equal pieces, working with one at a time. Keep the pieces you aren’t working with covered in the bowl. Next, divide the piece of dough you’re working with into thirds, rolling each piece into a long, flat rectangle. Spread with Nutella, (spread it about 1/8 – 1/4 inch thick) then roll the dough up along the long side to make a long roll that you can use as 1/3 of the challah braid. Repeat with each third of dough until you have three long snake looking pieces. Pinch the ends together and braid the dough as you would braid your hair, pinching the ends together to seal it at the end. I chose to take my braid and make it into a circle, but you could leave it as is, or really do whatever you want with it.
Place the challah on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and sprayed with cooking spray, then repeat this process with the rest of the dough. Make sure that while the challah is sitting on the baking sheet, you cover it with a dry towel to make sure it doesn’t dry out. You can leave the dough out for up to 2 more hours if needed prior to baking, or can bake right away.
At this point, you can also freeze the challah to use another time. To freeze, put challah on lined baking sheet and freeze for about 4 hours until frozen solid, then wrap in plastic wrap and place inside a zip top freezer bag.
Before putting the challah in the oven, brush it with the egg whites you set aside from before, and bake at 375 degrees F for 28-30 minutes. When the challah is ready, it should be golden brown and sound hollow when you tap it. Enjoy this Nutella swirled challah bread warm, at room temperature, or toasted with cream cheese on top! This would also make some exceptional French toast, but what you do with it is up to you!
