Feeling lazy? Make challah bread in a bag.
We’ve made some updates to the preparation. The recipe is now officially foolproof. The easiest no mess challah on the planet, anyone can do it.
This Jewish challah recipe just happens to have no eggs, so its vegan too!
Learn more about Challah and get shaping ideas here.
The Lazy Cook’s Challah In A Bag Recipe Is So Easy and Delicious
Servings
1 Servings
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoons of active dry yeast
- 1 cup warm water
- 3 tablespoons white sugar
- ½ tablespoon salt
- ⅓ cup canola oil
- 3 cups all-purpose flour + ¼ cup
- 1 egg for basting Optional. For vegan challah, substitute olive oil
- Sesame seeds for topping
Instructions
- In a 1 gallon plastic ziplock bag, add the yeast, water, sugar, salt, oil and 3 cups of flour.
- Give the bag a little shake. Don’t work too hard- remember, it’s a lazy challah!
- Place the bag in a bowl of warm water for 30 mins.
- Remove from bowl, shake, release air from bag, and place on the table for 1 hour. Flip bag every 20 mins. The dough should be very wet. It will start to bubble and self-knead. WHOA.
- After the 1 hour, add ¼ cup flour and give the bag another shake. This makes the dough not stick to the bag.
- Leave the bag for 1 hour and 30 mins to rise. It should still be a wet dough. If it’s not rising, flip it over and knock it down. If the dough is wet, the recipe will turn out amazing.
- Preheat oven to 300℉/150°C.
- On a well-floured surface, separate the dough and stretch out 3 strands. Braid.
- Baste with egg and sprinkle sesame seeds (optional for vegan challah, substitute olive oil). Leave to rise for 15 mins before it goes in the oven.
- Bake on a non stick tray for 40 mins or until golden on top.
Can anybody tell me how to change the recipe for high altitude baking?
Wonderful! Thanks so much.
I don’t think it will work, sorry.
Can you substitute Almond flour even if partially?
It came out beautiful and was both fun and easy to make. I do have a few issues with the final version, though. It smelled a bit too yeasty, but this did improve the next day. I’d rather have a super fresh, great smelling and tasting bread the day baked. My other issue is this may have looked like a challah on the outside, but not so much on the inside. I guess I prefer a slightly sweeter and eggier challah. This was too bready for me. Finally, I think I should have used bread instead of all-purpose flour. It fell apart a bit too easily. I don’t think I will make again.
I like the taste. It comes out a little heavier than some challah but overall is ok. There are always tiny pockets(?) of what I think is flour that doesn’t knead fully. Once baked they remain and so the challah kind of looks ‘ugly’ compared to other ones.
Thanks so much I am not sure how that happened the video is back.
like the recipe. need to the change the email or fix the video. no video on webpage. Happy Friday.
About 110 degrees F should be right
What is the temperature of warm water, for the yeast, and for the rising bowl?
Hmm, could be the kind of flour or using too much flour.
I found the end result very dense and heavy. Any suggestions?
Also no video. Only photo, no link to click
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What do you mean? The video is at the top of the page it should start playing right away. If not please let me know.
Just a large black box, no video. I clicked on a different recipe just to see if maybe it was me, or maybe it takes a long time to load…the other video was perfect.
The video is no longer posted?
Sometimes we make updates if we find things will improve the resutls after the video is live, so always follow the recipe
So great to hear, thanks so much for sharing.
I love this recipe. My kids love it too, although they said it tastes more like bread than challah. So I made the dough into bagels it’s so good. I’m going to try half spelt next batch iy”h
Hmm, are you sure about that?
I just rewatched the video. The video shows the 1/4 cup flour afterthe 30 minutes in the bowl of water. The instructions say after the hour of rising. Then it rises another 1hr and 1/2.
Its a great recipe. However the video is not the complete recipe there are several steps missing from the written recipe that are important, not sure why that is but I realized this after only following the video
We have not tested that, so I can’t say how it will work, but 50% spelt should for sure be fine.
Ok so I just wanted to update about using spelt, I did half spelt half regular. My daughter Brocha Miriam is into spelt. And it didn’t rise like the regular white but it looks very nice. The white definitely comes out better.
Thanks so much, great to know.
Can I use spelt flour in this recipe
Ok just came out of the oven and it looks normal and tastes pretty good. I think I added the extra 1/4 cup in the beginning to the first 3 cups by mistake. I made a second batch that looks much better it’s in the oven now.
Thanks for the great recipe
Great to hear
It doesn’t have to be very wet, but more wet than you might expect, it should still be okay
Ok trying this out, bit after the first 30 minutes my dough was not very wet. What did I do wrong
When I made this it wasn’t rising after adding the 1/4 cup of flour so i out the bag back in the warm water, any tips or ideas to make this work?
can you share your secrets with us what you do????
Closed
from step 4 should the bag be open or closed?
Sorry for the delay, hope yours came out okay, if you see bubbles that is a good sign, it should have grown at least a little but it is best to follow the guidelines.
How do I know when it is time to remove from the bag? Almost 2 and a half hours and flat. I can see some bubbles but I am afraid to remove it. Should I? Thanks!
Made it for my third time and each time it turns out perfect! This time I added 2 eggs and substituted honey for the sugar. Fantastic and thank you!
Sorry, it might not rise much but you should see bubbles, if it’s not wet it not need the extra flour.
Can this recipe be multiplied to make, let’s say, four challahs? How would that work with the yeast, sugar and water measurements? It’s so good!
no rising and not wet after 1 hr in the bag. Reluctant to add more flour at this point for the final “rising”. Any quick advice?
Yes they can be used interchangeably in this recipe.
Hi! Can I use instant yeast instead of active dry yeast? If so, how would I modify the recipe?
Maybe your yeast wasn’t good? Or if it is too cold it will take longer.
Mine didn’t rise either. My yeast is brand-new from the store (Publix). It’s flat as a pancake.
It actually came out to be an oversized biscuit. Same texture.
Mine doesn’t seem to be rising in the bag.
Sometimes we update things from feedback so it’s best to fool the written.
The video instructions are different from the written recipe. On the video there is no 1 hour and 30 minutes extra…Please help thanks
LOL love this comment.
I don’t know how people are having problems with this recipe. I’ve made it a few times now and it’s come out perfect every time. I don’t use cup measurement I convert them to grams. The only different thing I do is add it all to my mixer and let it knead for a few minutes. As lazy as I am I can’t be bothered with the plastic bag either 😅
You can wash it out and use the plastic bag again. I do this all the time
Hey, thanks for sharing this! Can’t wait to try it, but my daughter’s in Hospital right now, so time is limited. Will try before Shabbat next week? Thanks!
This challah is a bit tricky so add the raisins at the end when shaping.
Its in the oven and will see… didn’t seem to combine ingredients as well as I hoped but I believe in following the recipe completely first time through so will see what the results are!
Gee, lets waste some more plastic…
I actually have used the same plastic bag for nearly a year. I just washed it out and reused
It may not be a lot of “work” but it does take almost constant attention for a longer period of time than just making my regular (no-fail) recipe.
Well, this was a complete disaster. Although I followed directions very carefully, the dough was so wet when it came out of the bag that it soaked up what I had laid down for it on my counter instantly. I added more flour so that I could get it to a basic consistency where I could create a braid. Because the flour was never properly kneaded no gluten had developed, and the dough couldn’t possibly hold together. I tried creating a braid – it simply fell apart. I finally added some flour, kneaded it as usual and left it to rise – as usual. But, the mess it created in my kitchen was just awful. It will take me an hour to get the glue-like wet dough off of my counter. So – definitely a pass from me on this one.
This is fantastic! Any ideas on how to adjust for high altitude?