Asiago Challah

Inspired by the Panera Bread asiago loaf, this easy challah bread recipe is filled and topped with shredded asiago cheese.

It’s been a good, long while since I shared a bread recipe on here so today is bread day! I get in a mood in the summertime where I don’t love bread-making as much as I do during other months. Maybe it’s the heat and the fact that I would prefer to live on cocktails, guzzle-able wine, and ice cream, and avocados from May to September. So when I do make bread in the summer, it can’t be a whole production. No preferments or overnight cold proofs allowed. This means that my summer glutens come from focaccia, flatbreads, and of course, challah.

If you’ve been around the blog for any length of time, you’ve probably heard me talk about how much I love challah. But in case you missed it, here are seven reasons why challah is the very best bread.

why challah is the best

1. It makes the best toast. Really, the best toast. I like to keep loaves in my freezer and pull them out when I have overnight guests so that they wake up to warm challah toast.

2. You can make a batch in one day (No overnight resting needed!) As I noted before, no overnight resting = year round bread in my book.

3. It's enriched with eggs and fat, but not as decadent as brioche. Ok, so challah is an enriched dough, meaning it has eggs and fat (butter or oil) added to the dough. This gives us a luxurious, soft bread, but without the heaviness and richness of other enriched breads, like brioche.

4. It's the most versatile--use it for cinnamon rolls or garlic knots. Case in point, this recipe is just a little riff on my Favorite Challah recipe.

5. It's fun to braid and shape. I’ve gotten lost down many Youtube/TikTok rabbit holes of challah braiding tutorials. You can literally google “how to braid challah” and find a million different step-by-step videos and they are so much fun to play around with. Challah Prince is one of my favorites.

6. It freezes like a dream. Remember earlier when I said that I keep a loaf in my freezer for guests? Just pop your cooled loaf in a freezer bag and defrost it whenever you need it!

7. You don't need a mixer or any fancy equipment. I discovered in all my challah making that I actually prefer to make challah with my hands. The dough amount is a tad too much for my standing mixer and I find it takes too long and I spend too much time scraping it off the hook. I prefer to mix my dough with a wooden spoon and give it an old-fashioned hand kneading. As Ina Garten would say, “how easy is that?”

about the asiago challah

This recipe is simply a twist on a classic challah, with shredded asiago cheese mixed into the dough and sprinkled on top. You can sub asiago for a different type of cheese, but I would stick to another hard cheese, like parmesan, so you don’t end up adding too much moisture to the dough. Because it has a mix-in, this loaf may take a few more minutes to bake and it needs to cool completely before slicing or the inside will be gummy. If the tops are getting too browned, you can always tent it with a piece of foil while it finishes baking.

Yield: makes two loaves

Author: Anna Ramiz

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Asiago Challah

Prep time: 30 MinCook time: 35 MinInactive time: 2 H & 30 MTotal time: 3 H & 34 M

My very favorite everyday challah recipe with shredded asiago cheese folded into the eggy dough.

Ingredients

• 400 g (3 cups) all purpose flour
• 280 g (2 cups) bread flour
• 285 g (1 1/4 cups) buttermilk
• 2 tsp active dry yeast
• 2 whole eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 110 g (1/3 cup) honey
• 90 g (1/2 cup) oil, like avocado*
• 1 tbsp kosher salt
• 1 cup (80 g) asiago cheese, shredded, plus more for topping
• more flour for dusting
• one egg, for egg wash

Instructions

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine 1/2 cup buttermilk, warmed, and yeast. Stir and let rest for about 5 minutes, until foamy.
2. When yeast is ready, add eggs, egg yolks, honey, oil, and the rest of the buttermilk. Whisk to combine.
3. Add all purpose flour, bread flour, and salt to the bowl and use a wooden spoon or a rubber spatula to stir until all of the flour has been moistened and a shaggy dough begins to form. Add the asiago cheese and stir to mix in.
4. Turn dough onto lightly floured work surface and then sprinkle the top of the dough with a little more flour. Knead dough on the countertop for 3-5 minutes, until smooth and the dough passes the window pane test.
5. Wipe a small amount of oil around a large bowl. Place the dough into the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let proof for 1-1 1/2 hours, until the dough is doubled in size.
6. When proofed, punch the dough down and turn onto a lightly floured work surface. Use a bench scraper and a kitchen scale to divide the dough into eight equal pieces. Shape dough into small rounds, cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 20 minutes.
7. Shape each dough round into a rope, about 8” in length. You should now have eight ropes, four for each challah loaf.
8. My go-to shape is a four-strand challah braid. If you want to do a three or five strand braid, just divide your dough into the appropriate number of pieces. Shape the challah loaves: I started to type out all of the steps for braiding, but I find that it is SO MUCH EASIER to watch a video that shows exactly where each strand should go. Here’s a great one that I’ve used often.
9. Place braided challah loaves on a parchment lined baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for another 30-45 minutes.
10. When there is 10 minutes left in the final proofing time, preheat the oven to 375°F. Brush the tops of the challah with egg wash and sprinkle with remaining asiago cheese.
11. Bake for 20 minutes, rotate the pans, and bake for another 15 minutes until challah is deeply golden brown.

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Pesto-Filled Challah Snails

Last fall, I started making challah on a bi-weekly basis. I tried different recipes, different seed toppings, an array of fillings all in the name of recipe development. We had a continual rotation of challah in the freezer, which I quickly learned is a fantastic hosting move. You never know when a guest or friend is going to drop in and having fresh challah on hand is always a win. I tried challah recipes with honey and sugar, debated the differences between olive oil and neutral oil (both are great) and practiced every type of challah braiding technique I could find on the internet. After months of testing, I’ve finally perfected my own challah recipe and I’m sharing it with you, along with a very versatile pesto filling and some shaping ideas today.

First, let’s talk about challah. Challah is an bread, enriched with fat, sugar, and lots of eggs. It’s similar to a brioche in ingredients and categorization, but leans a little more toward the savory side. Challah bread is synonymous with Jewish culture and cuisine and is often eaten as part of special celebrations or rituals. (Once, while at the restaurant, we made a big, giant challah loaf for a 200 person wedding. It was very impressive.) Because the dough is so smooth and easy to work with, it lends itself well to fun shaping and braiding. You can use challah dough for pretty much anything you want, you can make and bake a batch in one day (no overnight proofing needed), and you can fill it and top it with whatever your heart desires.

Now, let’s move on to pesto. For me, making pesto is a personal experience and should not be made with a recipe. It’s more intuitive than scripted and really it should be made with anything and everything that you have on hand. So instead of providing you with a very specific pesto prescription, I’m going to give you some general guidelines so that you are able to make a great pesto to suit any mood.

I normally follow this idea when pesto-ing:

-about 4 cups of greens (4 large handfuls)—I use spinach, kale, arugula, basil, parsley…anything goes! For a more traditional pesto, try to use basil leaves as half of your green count. For this particular batch, I used half basil and half spinach.

-1-2 garlic cloves

-about 1/4 cup (a small handful) of nuts— pine nuts are traditional and make for a creamier pesto. Walnuts are my favorite, but you can use any nut that you have on hand. Kale and walnuts are the most popular pesto combination in our house.

-about 1/4 cup (another small handful) of freshly grated parmesan cheese

-lemon juice—either half of a large lemon, or a whole small lemon

-salt and pepper

*Combine all of this in a food processor, pulsing until everything is broken down and a paste begins to form. With the food processor running, slowly stream in olive oil until the paste begins to loosen into a sauce. The consistency is up to you, but I usually use between 1/4-1/2 cup of olive oil. Taste and adjust by adding more salt, pepper, lemon juice.

My Favorite Challah 

Yield: 2 loaves

Ingredients: 

400 g (3 cups) all purpose flour

280 g (2 cups) bread flour

285 g (1 1/4 cups) warm water

2 tsp active dry yeast

2 whole eggs

1 egg yolk

110 g (1/3 cup) honey 

90 g (1/2 cup) oil, like avocado*

1 tbsp kosher salt 

• more flour for dusting

• one egg, for egg wash

• optional: flaky salt, za’atar, poppy seeds, everything but the bagel seasoning, for topping

Procedure: 

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine 1/2 cup water and yeast. Stir and let rest for about 5 minutes, until foamy. 

2. When yeast is ready, add eggs, egg yolks, honey, oil, and the rest of the water. Whisk to combine. 

3. Add all purpose flour, bread flour, and salt to the bowl and use a wooden spoon or a rubber spatula to stir until all of the flour has been moistened and a shaggy dough begins to form. 

4. Turn dough onto lightly floured work surface and then sprinkle the top of the dough with a little more flour. Knead dough on the countertop for 3-5 minutes, until smooth and the dough passes the window pane test.

5. Wipe a small amount of oil around a large bowl. Place the dough into the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let proof for 1-1 1/2 hours, until the dough is doubled in size. 

6. When proofed, punch the dough down and turn onto a lightly floured work surface. Use a bench scraper and a kitchen scale to divide the dough into eight equal pieces. Shape dough into small rounds, cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 20 minutes. 

7. Shape each dough round into a rope, about 8” in length. You should now have eight ropes, four for each challah loaf.

8. These are the instructions for shaping a four-strand challah braid. If you want to do a three or five strand braid, just divide your dough into the appropriate number of pieces. Shape the challah loaves: I started to type out all of the steps for braiding, but I find that it is SO MUCH EASIER to watch a video that shows exactly where each strand should go. Here’s a great one that I’ve used often.

9. Place braided challah loaves on a parchment lined baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for another 30-45 minutes. 

10. When there is 10 minutes left in the final proofing time, preheat the oven to 375°F. Brush the tops of the challah with egg wash and sprinkle with salt, poppy seeds, za’atar, etc. 

11. Bake for 20 minutes, rotate the pans, and bake for another 15 minutes until challah is deeply golden brown. 

Pesto Challah Snails

Yield: 3 large snails

Ingredients:

1 batch challah dough, recipe above

1 cup fresh pesto

egg wash, for brushing

grated parmesan cheese, optional

Procedure:

1. Follow challah steps #1-5 in the recipe above.

2. After the bulk proof, turn the challah dough out onto a lightly-floured work surface and divide into three equal parts.

3. Working with one piece of dough at a time, roll out into a 12x10” rectangle, about 1/2” in thickness. Use a spoon or an offset spatula to spread 1/4 cup of pesto in an even layer over the dough, reaching all the way to the edges. Then, starting with the horizontal edge in front of you, begin to roll the dough into a tight spiral to form a log and pinch the edges to seal. Take one end of the log and begin twisting it into itself to form a spiral and tuck the edge underneath. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking. sheet, cover, and let rest for 30 more minutes. Repeat with the other two pieces of dough.

4. Preheat oven to 375° F. When the spirals are finished resting, brush the tops with a little beaten egg and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bake for 30-35 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through, until challah is deeply golden.