Vegan Challah with walnut and chocolate filling
Soft and tender braided babka made of four braids with two different fillings: crispy walnut cream and creamy chocolate sauce!
Step-by-step guide for Chocolate Walnut Challah.
This great pastry is perfect for a delicious breakfast or as an excellent accompaniment to the afternoon coffee! In this recipe, you’ll also learn how to braid with four strands using a simple step-by-step guide.
For the filling you prepare two different, quickly made fillings. With these you fill the four dough strands (two with walnut filling, two with chocolate filling) for the perfect combination of nutty crunchiness and chocolatey creaminess. Just try the recipe and impress your family and friends with it!
How to make a soft and tender yeast dough?
The perfect basis for a buttery and super soft plait is a good yeast dough and plenty of time! Not in the sense that the braid needs an incredibly long time to prepare, but it needs a lot of time to rise and become beautiful and fluffy. During the production of the braided babka, the dough should rest in a warmer place, so that the yeast can make the dough rise nicely. The longer the dough can rest, the better!
The ingredients for the yeast dough are vegan and simple, with them you form a smooth dough by kneading strongly. It would even be ideal if you knead the dough with your hands for up to 10 minutes – this is not only good for the dough, but also a perfect workout for your arms ; )
Then the dough should make it’s first resting phase, about an hour. Simply cover the dough with a kitchen towel to prevent it from drying out, or put it in a closable container. The place for resting should be a little warmer than the normal room temperature, around 30 degrees Celsius or 85 degrees Fahrenheit. In addition, there should be no draught. After resting, the dough is kneaded gently and then divided into four equal round balls.
Take one of the balls and place it on the floured work surface. Carefully roll it out to about 45 cm long and 10-15 cm wide dough. Then add half of one of the two fillings to the middle of the dough. But leave 3 cm space above and below. Moisten the top with some water and roll up your dough from bottom to top like a cinnamon roll.
Close the strand well at the top, so that no filling can leak out. Repeat this step with all four balls. Once you have rolled up all the braids and filled them (two with chocolate filling and two with walnut filling), place them with the seam down on the work surface. Squeeze the upper ends of the strands together, using water as glue.
Let everything rest for 30 minutes. Then take the strand on the right side and lay it over the first strand, under the second strand and then over the third strand. Now another strand is on the right side. Take this strand, place it over the first strand, under the second strand and over the third strand…
Repeat the same procedure until the strands are completely braided. Don’t forget to tighten the braid again and again to make it compact and stable. There should be no holes between the strands.
As soon as you have finished braiding the braid, press the ends at the bottom firmly together, use some water for it. Then you can let the beautiful braid rise again one last time in a warm place. As soon as it’s nice and big, bake it in the oven.
Keep the braid in an airtight container or a bread bowl until consumed. It should be stored closed so that it does not become harder with time, but remains nicely fluffy and soft.
If you make the recipe, feel free to give me a feedback or write a comment on how it turned out. And if you share your homemade dish with your friends on social media, I would be very grateful when you link me (Instagram @flavour. dreams) and set the hashtag #flavourdreams. Of course I am always available for questions. Enjoy to try the recipe!
Vegan Challah with walnut and chocolate filling
Ingredients
- 600 g wheat flour
- 240 g plantbased milk
- 130 g vegan butter or margarine soft
- 28 g fresh yeast or 1 package dry yeast
- 55 g sugar
- 5 g salt
walnut filling:
- 100 g walnuts ground
- 50 g sugar
- 20 g rum
- 50 g water
- juice and zest of ½ lemon
chocolate filling:
- 100 g dark chocolate
- 30 g vegan butter or margarine
sugarglaze:
- 50 g water
- 35 g sugar
Instructions
- Knead all the ingredients slowly to a smooth dough for 10 minutes. Then let it rest for 60 minutes, cover the dough with a kitchen towel to prevent it from drying out or put it in a container. The place for the rest time should be warmer than the normal room temperature, about 30 degrees Celsius or 85 degrees Fahrenheit. In addition, there should be no draught.
- In the mean time mix all the ingredients for the walnut filling to a paste.
- For the chocolate filling melt chocolate and vegan butter and mix it to a smooth cream. Put the cream in the fridge to cool.
- After resting, the dough is kneaded briefly and gently and then divided into four equal pieces from which you form round balls. Take one of the balls and place it on the floured work surface. Carefully roll it out to a about 45 cm long and 10-15 cm wide. Then add the half of one of the two fillings to the middle, but leave 3 cm space above and below. Moisten the top with some water and roll up your dough from bottom to top.
- Close the strand tightly with at the top and press it together so that no more filling can leak out. Repeat this step with all four balls. Once you have rolled up all the strands and filled them (two with chocolate filling and two with walnut filling), place them with the seam down on the work surface. Squeeze the upper ends of all strands firmly together, using water as glue. Let everything rest for 30 minutes.
- Braiding (see above step-by-step explanation with pictures): Take the strand on the right side and lay it over the first strand, under the second strand and then over the third strand. Thus another strand is on the right of the side. Now take this strand, place it over the first strand, under the second strand and over the third strand. Repeat the same procedure until the strands are completely braided. Don't forget to tighten the braid again and again to make it compact and stable. There should be no holes between the individual strands together, use water as glue.
- As soon as you have finished braiding the plait, press the ends at the bottom firmly together again, use some water for it. Then you can let the beautiful braid rise again in a warm place for the last time (30 minutes). As soon as it has grown nicely, heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius or 356 degrees Fahrenheit at top and bottom heat.
- Bake the braid in the oven for 30 minutes. Then slightly open the oven and wait 5 minutes. Only then should you completely remove the braid from the oven.
- Heat water and sugar for the glaze to dissolve the sugar. Then paint it with a brush over the still warm braid.
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