Pumpkin Challah combines two holiday traditions into one delicious, beautifully braided treat! This lightly sweet, pumpkin-scented bread is the perfect centerpiece for an autumn holiday table.
With autumn upon us and squash decorating lining the aisles of the produce section, my mind keeps drifting to pumpkins… or, more specifically, to Pumpkin Challah Bread. A few years ago, Rob Eshman of the Jewish Journal’s Foodaism blog sent me his Sukkot recipe for pumpkin challah. Subsequently, I decided to try my own creative spin on his inspired idea. I wanted to add more sweetness and spice to the dough to give the bread a pumpkin pie essence while still retaining that wonderful eggy challah texture. I started with my standard challah recipe, added pumpkin puree, and played with the ingredients until I came up with the right balance of sugar, spice, and everything nice.
This recipe is the result of my little baking experiment. It’s sweet, but not cloying, and would make a unique and beautiful addition to the Sukkot or Thanksgiving table. It’s really tasty dipped in hot tea or cocoa, and makes a wonderfully cozy fireside snack. Top it with melty butter and honey for extra deliciousness. And here’s the best part—it makes mind-blowingly delicious Challah French Toast.
Wow. I’m making myself hungry.
For challah braiding instructions, click here. Enjoy!
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Pumpkin Challah
Ingredients
Challah Ingredients
- 2 packages active dry yeast
- 1 cup lukewarm water, divided
- 3 tablespoons white sugar
- 1 large egg (white and yolk)
- 6 large egg yolks
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil (you may substitute canola oil - I prefer avocado oil for its health benefits)
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon ginger
- Pinch cloves
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 cups pumpkin puree (homemade or canned)
- 7-9 cups all-purpose baking flour
Egg Wash Ingredients
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 tablespoon water
NOTES
Instructions
- Pour ½ cup of the lukewarm water (about 110 degrees) into a large mixing bowl. Add 2 packets of Active Dry Yeast and 1 tbsp of sugar to the bowl, stir to dissolve. Wait 10 minutes. The yeast should have activated, meaning it will look expanded and foamy. If it doesn’t, your yeast may have expired, which means your bread won’t rise—go buy some fresh yeast!
- Once your yeast has activated, add remaining ½ cup lukewarm water to the bowl along with the rest of the sugar, egg, egg yolks, honey, canola oil, salt and spices. Use a whisk to thoroughly blend the ingredients together. Whisk in the brown sugar and pumpkin puree to form a thick liquid.
- Begin adding the flour to the bowl by half-cupfuls, stirring with a large spoon each time flour is added. When mixture becomes too thick to stir, use your hands to knead.
- Continue to add flour and knead the dough until it’s smooth, elastic, and not sticky. The amount of flour you will need to achieve this texture varies—only add flour until the dough feels pliable and “right.”
- Place a saucepan full of water on the stove to boil. Meanwhile, remove the dough from your mixing bowl and wash out the bowl. Grease the bowl with canola oil. Push the dough back into the bottom of the bowl, then flip it over so that both sides are slightly moistened by the oil.
- Cover the bowl with a clean, damp kitchen towel. Place the bowl of dough on the middle rack of your oven. Take the saucepan full of boiling water and place it below the rack where your dough sits. Close the oven, but do not turn it on. The pan of hot water will create a warm, moist environment for your dough to rise. Let the dough rise for 1 hour.
- Take the dough bowl out and punch it down several times to remove air pockets. Place it back inside the oven and let it rise for 1 hour longer.
- Take the dough out of the oven. Flour a smooth surface like a cutting board. Punch the dough down into the bowl a few times, then turn the dough out onto the floured surface. Knead for a few minutes, adding flour as needed to keep the dough from feeling sticky.Now your dough is ready to braid. If you plan to separate and bless the challah, do it prior to braiding. Separate the dough into two equal portions; each portion of dough will be enough for a large loaf of challah. Click here to learn How to Braid Challah.
- After you’ve braided your challah loaves, place them on two separate cookie sheets lined with parchment paper (this will catch any spills from your egg wash and keep your challah from sticking to the cookie sheet).
- Prepare your egg wash by beating the egg yolks and water until smooth. Use a pastry brush to brush a thin layer of the mixture onto the visible surface of your challah.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Let the braids rise 30 to 45 minutes longer. You’ll know the dough is ready to bake when you press your finger into the dough and the indentation stays, rather than bouncing back.The challah will need to bake for about 40 minutes total, but to get the best result the baking should be done in stages. First, set your timer to 20 minutes and put your challah in the oven.
- After 20 minutes, take the challah out of the oven. Turn the tray around, so the opposite side is facing front, and put the tray back into the oven. Turning the tray helps your challah brown evenly—the back of the oven is usually hotter than the front.The challah will need to bake for about 20 minutes longer. For this last part of the baking process, keep an eye on your challah—it may be browning faster than it’s baking. Once the challah is browned to your liking, take the tray out and tent it with foil, then place it back in the oven. Remove the foil for the last 2 minutes of baking time.
- Take the challah out of the oven. You can test the bread for doneness by turning it over and tapping on the bottom of the loaf—if it makes a hollow sound, it’s done. Let challah cool on the baking sheet or a wire cooling rack before serving.
Nutrition
This recipe looks awesome. Is there anyway to let the dough rest in a fridge (or countertop) overnight so one could bake it first thing in the morning?
Thanks!
Hi Sophie! You can do the second rise (step 7) in the refrigerator overnight.
I just made this recipe and this bread is absolutely delicious! Its light and moist and perfectly spiced. I did double each spice only because I love pumpkin spices! They are huge and gorgeous. I am definitely making this for the holidays. Thank you!
HI,
OMG!!! I Made the pumpkin challah for the first time and its AWESOME!!!! I didn’t realize how big the two challahs were going to be. Any idea on how to divide the dough in 4 and make 4 small? Could you do 4 small in a round? Its awesome, I’ve done the plain and apple and by far this is the family’s favorite!!! Also can you freeze?
Hi Robin! Yes, challah can be frozen. I would think you could simply divide the dough into four equal sections, then following the braiding instructions for each section — knowing that they will bake faster because they are smaller. Three sections might work best if you’re wanting more “medium”-sized challot. Dividing by four will make them pretty small. Good luck!
I made the Apple Challah for Rosh Hashanah OMG the BEST!!! I did find that I used the 3 granny smith apples but didn’t use all of them maybe the ropes were not long enough? Besides that it was amazing, actually made it twice!! Going to try the pumpkin this weekend……
This looks beautiful! I can’t wait to try it! I love the way the one in your picture looks and I checked out your instructions on braiding challah so hopefully mine can look like yours – did you use the 4 strand or 6 strand braid for this loaf?
This is a four strand. 🙂 Enjoy!
This recipe is amazing and so easy to follow. The flavor of this bread is excellent: I think it has a perfect blend of sweetness and spices. This was actually my first time making bread from scratch and I think it turned out really well. I was happy that the recipe makes two loaves because by the time I got to the second loaf my challah braiding skills had already improved, thanks to the link to the challah braiding instructions. My success with this recipe has inspired me to try more and make pumpkin challah again soon. Thank you!
I halved the recipe and doubled the spice, worked out perfectly. If you are making the full recipe, I highly recommend quadrupling the spice measurements. A pinch of cloves and 1/4 tsp of ginger for 2 entire loaves of bread is not enough, may as well leave them out.
I like it as written, as have many other readers – but you can certainly add more spice if you prefer. 🙂
Hi Tori, last week I stumbled on to your site. That was a lucky day for me. I made several of your receipts and for Rosh Shana. I made your: Brisket with a twist of adding beer & onion soup mix and teaspoon of sugar and lots of veggies with small multi colored potties & onions and it came out a 10. I also made your honey apple cake (fantastic), I made the honey butter I put into my home made round braided challah ( thank you for how to do that).( I used the butter and left over challah for french toast today )The jeweled black rice salad. And to top it off I made the apple honey challah which will be a staple in our home. I use a bread machine and the first time I made it, it came out to sticky and I didn’t know what to do, so I threw it away and make my usual challah bread and rolled it out and put the cut apples mixed with honey and cinnamon and it came out perfect. I’m planning on making more of your receipts for Yom Kippur. But not sure which ones so many to choose from but…for sure the shawarma. My question is how do I convert the ratio of liquid with the pumpkin puree for my 2lb bread maker?
I would like to make this for Yom Kippur and the coming fall holidays.
Thank you
Debra Kamerinr
Hi Debra! So glad to hear you enjoyed the recipes and that you had a nice holiday. I wish I could help on the bread machine, but I don’t own one, have only used one a few times in my life, and I don’t want to steer you wrong! If you read through the comments you may find someone has tried this and shared their method, often readers will report back on things like this. Wish I could help more! Shana tova.
We really enjoyed this pumpkin challah (especially with honey butter)! I halved the recipe and used a stand mixer. It was fantastic and a real conversation piece! Thank you for the recipe and your easy to follow braiding instructions.
Made my first attempt at Challah today – (braiding & all), and very happy with how it turned out! Nearly too pretty to eat 😉 I got a bit nervous, as I only had a small can of pumpkin, so was a bit short, but added in a Tbsp or so of butter, and it’s turned out tender, sweet, and so so beautiful! Easy enough to make with toddler help, but super special. The rating stars aren’t working for me, but a 5 for sure. Will be making this again!
Hi Sarah! Star rating came through. 🙂 Can you let me know what browser you’re on, so I can see what kind of error it’s showing you? Glad you enjoyed the challah!