Vegan Aquafaba Challah – Sweet and Savory version

This traditional Jewish bread called Challah is veganized and made with Aquafaba instead of eggs. A sweet and a savory version to try for Easter.


To be honest, I stumbled upon this expression challah and was curious what kind of bread it is. When I dug deeper I found out that I actually already knew it because it is so similar to the traditional Swiss bread called „Zopf or „Züpfe“. I used to eat Züpfe like crazy when I was a kid! So, veganizing such a traditional and authentic recipe seemed quite hard and especially the question of eggs gave me a hard time.

My plan was the following:

1. Substituting the number of eggs with Aquafaba* (If you are not familiar with aquafaba, find out what it is in this post and since you are there make the chocolate mousse and thank me later :))
2. Further, I wanted to make the „egg-brush“ with an aquafaba-arrowroot mixture
3. Replacing the sugar with Yacon syrup (can regulate blood sugar levels, lower blood pressure, improve the health of the liver, boost digestive health, less calories than sugar)
4. I kept the plain flour as I wanted to stay as close to the original as possible. By taking a „fancy“ flour I thought the bread would turn out different. But feel free to experiment on your own.
5. I wanted to make a sweet and a savory version with the same basic dough
6. I wanted my grandma to love it (damn this is a tough one!)

Spoiler Alert: The Challah’s turned out really nice and I am very happy with the sweet and the savory version. At the bottom of this post you’ll find the basic dough recipe. As for the filling, I simply blended some herbs, oilve oil and miso paste for the savory one, and I’ve put broken dark chocolate pieces into the sweet one. The method and ingredients for the „Aquafaba-brush“ are also in the recipe box below.

Oh and if you wonder about the zero-calorie comment. After 20 minutes of intense kneading, you’ll have burnt all the calories that this bread actually contains 🙂

If you have time make them for easter, or you can save the picture below to Pinterest and find the recipe later 🙂 You can find me under my name Vanillacrunnch

I am looking forward seeing your creation on Instagram (Tag me @vanillacrunnch ) or you can the hashtag #bakingwithvanillacrunnch or and leave a comment here and put a smile on my face.

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Vegan Aquafaba Challah - Sweet and Savory version

 

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Prep time

3 hours

Cook time

40 mins

Total time

3 hours 40 mins

 

Serves: 2

Ingredients

• 4 cups plain flour
• 1 cup warm water (not too hot otherwise you'll kill the yeast)
• 2 tbsp dry active yeast
• ¼ cup yacon syrup (substitute with maple, agave etc)
• ⅓ cup coconut oil
• ½ cup "Aquafaba" (chickpea brine)
• 1 tsp salt
• -
• Additional "Aquafaba" from the can + 1 tbsp arrowroot flour

Instructions

1. Combine the yeast with 1 tbsp yacon syrup and the 1 cup of water and allow yeast to activate for about 8 minutes.
2. Add the remaining syrup and the coconut oil
3. In your blender whisk the chickpea brine until white and stiff
4. Add to the mixture above.
5. Add the salt to the flour and spoon after spoon add to the liquid mixture until a homogenous dough forms. Add more warm water but only if you really need!
6. Now, this needs a little bit of patience and force while you need to knead the dough for at least 10 minutes until smooth. In the beginning, it looks horribly crumbly but you'll get there.
7. Make a ball and put the dough back into the bowl where you cover it with a towel and let rise for 1 hour at a warm place.
8. After one hour take out the dough and knead again for 2 minutes.
9. Put the dough back and let rise again for 1 hour.
10. Separate each ball into three ropes and roll them out a little just so you can add the filling.
11. Close the edges on the length of the strings so the filling can't run out. You should have ropes again now.
12. Bread the ropes according to your preference and place on the baking sheet.
13. Let rise again for 15 minutes
14. Preheat the oven to 350F
15. For the Aquafaba brush, heat the aquafaba, together with the arrowroot until well combined. Brush your challah bread with the mixture and then bake for about 35-40 minutes.

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