Vegan pumpkin challah bread - this lightly spiced eggless challah bread is made using pumpkin puree which gives it a gorgeous colour and flavour. It is soft, fluffy and absolutely delicious! Includes step-by-step instructions to make a beautiful six strand braid.
This vegan pumpkin challah bread is perfectly soft, fluffy and delicious; it looks impressive and makes your house smell incredible while it bakes!
I made some tweaks to my basic vegan challah bread recipe to make this pumpkin challah instead and it worked out amazingly well.
It is a really fragrant bread thanks to the addition of the pumpkin puree and pumpkin spice, but it is not overly sweet so it works well served alongside savoury foods as well as toasted and spread with jam. (It makes amazing toast!).
It may look like it is complicated to make because it is so impressive looking, but it is actually very simple. It does take some time but it is mostly hands-off and the effort is so worth it!
What Is Challah Bread?:
Challah bread is a traditional Jewish bread that is often baked for the Sabbath and holidays. It is usually enriched with eggs and oil and shaped into an intricate braid.
While egg challah may be the more commonly known variety; water challah, which does not contain any egg, is actually also a thing and is naturally vegan as challah does not contain dairy anyway (although water challah is often still glazed with egg).
It is especially popular in Israel, while egg challah is the more common variety in the US.
This vegan eggless challah is a water challah so there is no need to use any kind of egg replacer. It is a beautifully soft, fluffy, flavourful, slightly sweet bread.
Note that I am not Jewish, and cannot claim to be an expert on the subject of challah; but I think (hope) that my recipe is a good one. We certainly can’t stop eating it and it has become a regular bake in my house.
How To Make Vegan Pumpkin Challah Bread:
(For ingredients and full instructions see the recipe card below)
You can make this vegan pumpkin challah bread all in one day if you start in the morning, or you can make it over the course of two days.
Place white bread flour or plain flour in a large bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the yeast to one side and the pumpkin spice and salt to the other. Mix to combine.
Add the pumpkin puree, maple syrup, oil and half of the water and stir to form a rough dough, adding the rest of the water as needed to bring it together.
Knead the dough for about 10 minutes by hand on an unfloured surface, or for about 5 minutes in a stand mixer.
While I do often leave the kneading to my stand mixer when it comes to bread, for challah I actually prefer to knead it by hand as I find it is easier to get a feel for when the dough is the right texture.
After a bit of kneading the dough should become silky smooth and supple and should pull away from the worktop or sides of the bowl cleanly. It should be slightly tacky to the touch but not sticky. If it is too sticky then knead in more flour, a spoonful at a time until it reaches the desired texture.
Place the dough in a large lightly oiled bowl and cover (I use a shower cap). At this point you have two choices; if you are baking the bread in the same day, let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 ½ – 2 ½ hours.
If you are baking the bread the following day, let the dough rise at room temperature for ½ an hour then place the bowl in the fridge to finish rising overnight.
The following morning, or once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down to knock out most of the air.
How To Shape Challah:
There are many ways to shape challah – 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 strand braids as well as various round designs, rolls etc etc.
There are a lot of tutorials on YouTube for different designs so have a look around and find one that you like, or follow my instructions below for how to shape a six strand challah braid.
This recipe will make one large loaf, or two smaller ones.
Divide the dough into six even pieces, you want them to be as equal as possible, I use a scale to make sure they are all the same weight. If you are making two smaller loaves rather than one big one, divide the dough in half first, then each half into six.
Roll one of the pieces of dough out into a thin square, it doesn’t need to be exactly square shaped. If the dough is sticking you can lightly oil the worksurface and rolling pin.
Starting at whichever side is shortest, roll the dough up tightly into a sausage. Roll over the sausage with your hands, starting from the middle and working outwards, to form a long, thin strand.
Increase the pressure from your hands at the ends to taper them. You want the ends to be pointy and the strand to be thicker in the middle.
Repeat with the rest of the portions of dough, making sure that all of the strands are the same length.
On a lightly floured surface, arrange the six strands parallel to each other. At one end, gather the tips of the strands together and pinch them tightly so they stick together.
To make a six strand braid you just have to follow four repeating moves. First, take the second from the right strand and move it over to the far left.
Then, take the far right strand and move it over two strands to the middle (spread the strands apart if needed to make room). (The middle is in the centre of the four strands, not including the strand you just moved to the far left.)
Then, take the second from the left strand and move it over to the far right, then move the far left strand over two to the middle.
Repeat these four moves – second right to far left, far right to middle, second left to far right, far left to middle. Carry on going until you have braided the whole loaf then pinch the end together and tuck any stray bits underneath.
If the loaf is too long and thin, you can use your hands to lift and compact it a bit to make it shorter and fatter.
Place the loaf on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment and repeat the steps above if you are making two loaves.
Loosely cover the loaf(ves) and set aside in a warm place to rise until they are about doubled in size, 1 – 3 ½ hours depending on how warm it is.
The bread is ready to bake when when it has visibly almost doubled in size and if you gently poke it with a finger it springs back slowly most of the way but leaves a small indentation. If it springs back quickly and fills in completely then it isn’t ready yet.
When the challah is ready to bake, gently brush it all over with some maple glaze. Bake for 20 minutes then brush with more glaze (if you want to sprinkle it with sesame or poppy seeds do it now) and return to the oven for 15 minutes for a large loaf, or 10 minutes for two smaller ones.
Top Tips:
For the best results make sure that you follow the recipe closely. As always, I highly recommend using the gram measurements (with a digital scale), rather than the cup conversions. Cup measurements are simply not accurate enough for baking and I cannot guarantee the best results if you use them.
For the oil I generally use either olive or sunflower, but vegetable or canola would be fine too. I don’t recommend using coconut oil here as it is solid at room temperature and therefore may make the bread feel more dense.
You can use either bread flour or plain flour. Bread flour will give the vegan challah a slightly more chewy texture but both are good. You can also use a combination of the two.
If you are using tinned/canned pumpkin puree, make sure that it is 100% pumpkin, NOT pumpkin pie filling.
The recipe will make one large challah, or two smaller ones. Totally up to you.
The rising time of the dough will vary depending on how warm it is; on hot days it will rise much faster than on cold ones.
If you want, you can give the dough it’s first rise overnight in the fridge rather than at room temperature. This breaks up the workload and gives the bread an even better flavour.
I glaze the challah with a maple syrup and water or milk mixture which gives it a lovely shine, especially if you glaze it twice – once before it goes in the oven and again after it has been baking for 20 minutes.
The glaze does become a bit sticky after a few hours at room temperature so if you prefer you can brush the bread with milk or aquafaba instead; it won’t be shiny in this case however.
The best way to tell if a loaf of bread is cooked in the middle is to use a probe thermometer. It is impossible to give a one-size-fits-all baking time as ovens vary so much. The bread is ready when it measures 94°C/201°F in the middle
What Kind Of Yeast?:
I always use fast action yeast which is also known as instant or easy yeast as it doesn’t need to be activated first, you just add it straight to the flour.
If you only have active dried yeast then you can still use it, but you will need to mix it with some of the warm water and a dash of the maple syrup first. Let it sit for 10-20 minutes until it has become bubbly then proceed with the rest of the recipe as written
How To Make Pumpkin Puree:
I used tinned pumpkin puree to make this vegan pumpkin challah bread which I get from Sainsbury’s; it can also be found in some Tesco’s, Waitrose and on Ocado and Amazon. In the supermarkets it is often hidden away in a little ‘American section’ in the world foods aisles.
If you can’t find it however it is also really easy to make your own; you just need to halve, de-seed and roast an eating pumpkin (NOT a carving one) or a butternut squash until it is tender then scoop the flesh out of the skin and puree it until smooth.
Roast it at around 200C/400F/gas mark 6. The time it takes will very much depend on how large the pumpkin/squash is so just cook it until the flesh can easily be pierced with a fork.
I don’t recommend boiling the pumpkin to cook it as that will make the puree too wet.
How To Make Your Own Pumpkin Pie Spice:
Pumpkin pie spice blend isn’t readily available outside of the US. In the UK the closest thing we have is mixed spice, but it is a different blend of spices to pumpkin spice so it’s not the best thing to use if you want a true pumpkin spice flavour.
The good news is that it is really easy to make your own using a few common spices – cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and allspice.
To make it, just mix together 3 Tbsp ground cinnamon, 2 tsp ground ginger, 2 tsp ground nutmeg, 1 tsp ground cloves and 1 tsp ground allspice.
You can easily halve the recipe if you only want to make a small jar of it, but the homemade pumpkin pie spice will keep in an airtight container for ages and is perfect for using in all your autumnal and festive bakes.
How To Store Vegan Pumpkin Challah Bread:
As with most home-made bread, this vegan pumpkin challah is best eaten on the day it is baked. It is still good the next day however and for 2-3 days after that it makes great toast or French toast.
Store it in an airtight container or bread bin at room temperature. It should not be placed in the fridge as that can make it go stale faster.
Can I Freeze Vegan Pumpkin Challah Bread?:
Yes! You can freeze this vegan pumpkin challah either whole or in slices. Place it in a ziplock bag and freeze for up to three months. Ideally it should be frozen on the day it is baked to preserve freshness (allow it to cool completely first).
You can toast slices of it straight from the freezer; or if you have frozen a whole loaf then allow it to defrost at room temperture then refresh in a low oven for 5-10 minutes to restore it to it’s former glory.
I like to bake the recipe as two smaller loaves rather than one big one; eat one of the loaves and freeze the other for another day.
More Vegan Bread Recipes:
Sea salt and rosemary focaccia
If you tried this recipe let me know how it went! Rate it, leave a comment or tag @domestic_gothess on Instagram and hashtag it #domesticgothess
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Vegan Pumpkin Challah Bread
Ingredients
- 485 g (4 cups) white bread flour or plain (all-purpose) flour (plus extra as needed)
- 10 g (2 ½ tsp) fast action/instant yeast*
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- 2 ½ tsp pumpkin spice (see post above for details to make your own)
- 60 ml (¼ cup) maple syrup
- 240 g (1 cup) pumpkin puree** (see post above for details to make your own)
- 80 ml (⅓ cup) oil (olive, sunflower, vegetable or canola)
- 120 ml (½ cup) water
Glaze:
- 1 Tbsp non-dairy milk
- 1 Tbsp maple syrup
Instructions
- Start fairly early in the morning if you want to make this bread all in one day, or you can make it over the course of two days.
- Place the flour in a large bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the yeast to one side and the pumpkin spice and salt to the other. Mix to combine.
- Add the pumpkin puree, maple syrup, oil and half of the water and stir to form a rough dough, adding the rest of the water as needed to bring it together.
- Knead the dough for about 10 minutes by hand on an unfloured surface, or for about 5 minutes in a stand mixer.
- After a bit of kneading the dough should become silky smooth and supple and should pull away from the worktop or sides of the bowl cleanly. It should be slightly tacky to the touch but not sticky. If it is too sticky then knead in more flour, a spoonful at a time until it reaches the desired texture.
- Place the dough in a large lightly oiled bowl and cover (I use a shower cap). At this point you have two choices; if you are baking the bread in the same day, let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 ½ - 2 ½ hours.
- If you are baking the bread the following day, let the dough rise at room temperature for ½ an hour then place the bowl in the fridge to finish rising overnight.
- The following morning, or once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down. Now it is time to shape your challah; you can either find a tutorial for a shape you like, or follow my instructions (and step-by-step photos above) to make a six strand challah. You can make one large loaf or two smaller ones.
- To make a six strand challah, divide the dough into six even pieces. You want them to be as even as possible, I use a scale to make sure they are all the same weight. If you are making two smaller loaves rather than one big one, divide the dough in half first, then each half into six.
- Roll one of the pieces of dough out into a thin square, it doesn't need to be exactly square shaped. If the dough is sticking you can lightly oil the worksurface and rolling pin.
- Starting at whichever side is shortest, roll the dough up tightly into a sausage. Roll over the sausage with your hands, starting from the middle and working outwards, to form a long, thin strand. Increase the pressure from your hands at the ends to taper them. You want the ends to be pointy and the strand to be thicker in the middle.
- Repeat with the rest of the portions of dough, making sure that all of the strands are the same length.
- On a lightly floured surface, arrange the six strands parallel to each other. At one end, gather the tips of the strands together and pinch them tightly so they stick together.
- To make a six strand braid you just have to follow four repeating moves. First, take the second from the right strand and move it over to the far left. Then, take the far right strand and move it over two strands to the middle (spread the strands apart if needed to make room). (The middle is in the centre of the four strands, not including the strand you just moved to the far left.)
- Then, take the second from the left strand and move it over to the far right, then move the far left strand over two to the middle.
- Repeat these four moves - second right to far left, far right to middle, second left to far right, far left to middle. Carry on going until you have braided the whole loaf then pinch the end together and tuck any stray bits underneath.
- If the loaf is too long and thin, you can use your hands to lift and compact it a bit to make it shorter and fatter.
- Place the loaf on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment and repeat the steps above if you are making two loaves.
- Loosely cover the loaf(ves) and set aside in a warm place to rise until they are about doubled in size, 1 - 3 ½ hours depending on how warm it is. The bread is ready to bake when when it has visibly almost doubled in size and if you gently poke it with a finger it springs back slowly most of the way but leaves a small indentation. If it springs back quickly and fills in completely then it isn’t ready yet.
- While the challah are rising make the glaze - mix together the maple syrup and milk in a small bowl and set aside. Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/400°F/gas mark 6.
- When the challah is ready to bake, gently brush it all over with some of the glaze. Bake for 20 minutes then brush with more glaze (if you want to sprinkle it with sesame or poppy seeds do it now). Turn the oven down to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/gas mark 4 and return the challah to the oven for 15 minutes for a large loaf, or 10 minutes for two smaller ones.
- The best way to tell when a loaf of bread is cooked through is to use a probe thermometer, it should reach 94°C/201°F when poked into the middle of the loaf. If you don't have a probe thermometer then the challah should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.
- Slide the baked challah onto a wire rack and leave to cool before slicing.
Notes
- For the best results make sure that you follow the recipe closely. As always, I highly recommend using the gram measurements (with a digital scale), rather than the cup conversions. Cup measurements are simply not accurate enough for baking and I cannot guarantee the best results if you use them.
- *If you only have active dried yeast then you can still use it, but you will need to mix it with some of the warm water and a dash of the maple syrup first. Let it sit for 10-20 minutes until it has become bubbly then proceed with the rest of the recipe as written.
- **If you are using tinned/canned pumpkin puree, make sure that it is 100% pumpkin, NOT pumpkin pie filling.
- The glaze does become a bit sticky after a few hours at room temperature so if you prefer you can brush the bread with milk or aquafaba instead; it won’t be shiny in this case however.
Albertina
Beautiful your pumpkin challah looks great! It has been very long that when I made challah, and it is one of my favorite things ever. Need to make this one. Thanks alot for sharing the recipe