Braided Challah Buns (Homemade Roll Recipe)

These challah rolls are the perfect festive addition to the dinner table. Whether it be for major Jewish holidays like Chanukah or Rosh Hashanah, weekly Shabbat or just a special delight for any day of the year - fresh baked challah is always amongst the best breads.

These buns are made using a simple four strand braid that results in lovely, intricate looking dinner rolls. Their beautiful golden brown exterior paired with their soft and fluffy interior make this one of my all time favorite bread recipes.

To see how we braid these buns, check out the step-by-step how to photos below. Oh, and be sure to save room for dessert! My Jewish Apple Cake with Cider Glaze is a Rosh Hashanah favorite!

Ingredients

Braided Challah Buns are made from a simple enriched bread dough. Whole eggs, egg yolks, oil and a touch of honey are the ingredients that give this classic challah recipe its signature soft, rich, and slightly sweetened crumb.

If you would like, a sprinkle of sesame seeds or poppy seeds can be added to the buns, as well.

• Bread flour - This recipe works best with bread flour, which creates a stronger gluten. However, in a pinch, all-purpose flour can be substituted for slightly different results.
• Sesame Seeds - Totally optional! Add a sprinkle of sesame or poppy seeds to your buns for a little added texture and flavor.
• Butter - Simply for serving! Challah dough is made with oil, not butter. However, if you're not kosher, we recommend serving the rolls warm with a schmear of soft butter!
• Egg Wash - Not pictured but essential to these challah buns shiny, soft and golden brown crust. Simply whisk one egg with a splash of cream, milk, or water and glaze the buns prior to baking. (Just use water for a kosher loaf!)

Mixing The Dough

This challah bread recipe is easy to make by hand or in a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment.

1. First, dissolve the honey in warm water. Then, add the active dry yeast and set aside to allow the yeast to bloom (hydrate). The yeast mixture will become frothy - indicating that the yeast is alive and activated. In a separate bowl, lightly whisk the eggs, yolks and oil together and set aside, also.
   
2. Then, in a the bowl of a stand mixer (or medium mixing bowl) whisk the flour and salt together. With the mixer on its lowest speed (or with a wooden spoon), slowly mix the dry ingredients as you add in the yeast mixture and the egg and oil mixture.
   
   Stir until a shaggy mass of dough forms and then increase the speed (or turn out onto a lightly floured work surface) to knead until a smooth and elastic dough forms. (You may need to add a couple teaspoons, or so, of warm water to fully incorporate any dry flour mixture at the bottom of the stand mixer.)
   
   After mixing, challah will start as a sticky dough. However, after proper kneading the challah dough should be smooth, and a little tacky but not stick to your hands.
   
3. Knead the dough into a round ball and transfer to an oiled bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a clean, damp towel and begin to proof in a warm place. The proofing (rising) process for this challah dough is very important and requires more time than other bread recipes. Read more about perfect proofing below.

Proofing Makes Perfect

The KEY to pillow soft challah dinner rolls is a long proofing time! The addition of whole eggs, egg yolks and oil all slow down yeast activity in the bread. Because of this, challah dough takes much longer to rise and become fully proofed and ready-to-bake. Don't rush the process!

This type of yeast bread needs the extended proof time to create it's characteristic soft and fluffy texture. The exact times will rely on many factors including the temperature of your warm water and the temperature of your kitchen. Try and keep your proofing dough at a constant 70° Fahrenheit in a place free from drafts. Here is a sample timeline to get your bread on the table for a 6pm dinner time! (I included a little extra time to account for a little additional proofing time, if needed.)

Braiding The Buns

Now for the fun part! These Challah Buns have a beautiful, intricate look but the process is actually pretty simple and quite repetitive. While the shaping process might take a little getting used to, you'll be a pro by your third or fourth bun. Here is a step-by-step photo guide to help you. This process begins after the first proof (or around 2pm on the provided timeline above).

If you are just going to make traditional round rolls, go ahead and skip straight to the Tips & Tricks.

1. The first step is to transfer your challah dough (after the first rise) to a clean work surface. Do not flour the work surface! Your dough should be slightly tacky and the tackiness will help create tension needed during this shaping process.

2. Punch down the dough to deflate. Press dough into a rectangle shape.

3. Divide dough into 16 equal pieces. For consistency, I recommend weighing each pieces of dough on a kitchen scale to equal 2 ounces (56 grams). Keep pieces covered with plastic or a damp kitchen towel to avoid drying out.

4. Working with one piece of dough at a time, use a bench scraper to divide the roll into 4 equal parts.

5. Use your hands to roll each of the 4 pieces into a rope about 6 - 7 inches (15 - 17 centimeters) long.

6. Arrange the strands in a hashtag or grid pattern so that two parallel strands are horizontal and two parallel strands are laid on top, vertically. The strands should cross perpendicularly in their center.

7. Now, arrange the strands so they create a lattice pattern. To do this, cross the vertical strand on the left underneath the LOWER horizontal piece. Then, cross the vertical piece on the right underneath the UPPER horizontal piece. Keep an inch, or so, of space between each strand of dough.

8. At this stage, I will refer to the pattern as if it were a compass where North refers to the two strands at the top of the image, East refers to the strands of dough at the right of the image, South refers to the strands at the bottom of the image and West refers to the strands at the left of the image.

At each point of the compass (North, South, East and West) there will be one strand of dough that is going OVER its perpendicular piece and another strand that is going UNDER its perpendicular strand.

9. Cross the strand going under, OVER its parallel strand on each point of the compass. (Here I am doing East, North & West and finally, South).

10. Your bun should now look like this with X's of dough at each of the North, East, South and West points.

11. Next you will join strands of dough together to connect the bun. Start by pinching the closest strands of the North and East sides together.

Then continue around the bun by joining the closest strands of the East and South sides together. Then the South and West sides and finally the West and North sides. All of the strands should be pinched together at one end.

12. Next, gather all of the pinched ends of dough together. Pinch the ends to connect the roll.

13. Finally, flip the Braided Challah Bun over so that the pinched ends are at the bottom of the roll. Place the shaped bun onto a prepared baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

The buns should be loose and still have space between each strand of dough. This space will be filled as the dough rises and create a plump roll. Proceed with the remaining pieces of dough.

Frequently Asked Questions

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