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Delicious Vegan Challah with wild garlic cream cheese filling.
This Vegan Challah is soft, fluffy, with flaky layers, just like the original version with eggs. Its slightly sweet taste pairs so well with the wild garlic cream cheese. It is not a 5-minute recipe, but it worth all the work, trust me! Serve hot to pull apart, or at room temperature sliced with your favorite bread spread.
Challah is a traditional braided bread in Jewish cuisine. And Kalach is a traditional braided bread in Eastern European cuisine. Which one did I make? Honestly, I don’t know.
I grew up eating Kalach (Kalács in Hungarian) a lot, especially around Easter and spring time, and I tried Challah a few times as well, and to me they are the same things. A delicious, slightly sweet braided bread originally made with flour, milk and eggs.
I really tried my best to figure out what’s Kalach and what’s Challah, but it seems like nobody really knows the answers, and whether Kalach was inspired by Challah or not. So I keep calling this recipe Kalács when I talk about it in Hungarian, and Challah, when in English.
Either way, I have a delicious recipe for you! 😉
As I mentioned above, it’s not a super quick bread to make, but there’s also not much work with it. If you are looking for a quick bread to make, try my No Yeast Soda Bread!
Since most of us are at home nowadays anyway, I think it’s the perfect time to try such recipes. I normally rarely make any food that takes longer than 30 minutes to make, but these days I find myself trying more complicated recipes constantly. It’s fun to spend time in the kitchen!
Vegan Challah (or kalács) is something I wanted to make for a very long time. In Hungary it’s a must for Easter, but it’s also very popular all year around. I was not sure whether a vegan version would work, since eggs and often heavy cream or yogurt is used for the dough, but luckily I found the perfect vegan subs for those.
As a vegan egg I use a mix of baking powder, water, and oil, (the idea comes from this recipe), and for extra softness I added coconut cream to the dough. These work wonderful in the recipe! The rest is all pretty traditional: flour, yeast, sugar, (plant) milk, and oil.
The key to a great, fluffy and flaky challah is proofing the dough multiple times. It’s long, and the waiting time is annoying, but you can’t skip this step.
What you can skip, is the wild garlic cream cheese part, though I have to say it’s a pretty good addition to this Vegan Challah. Yes, it will make the dough crack in places, but the taste is so so so great, you won’t mind the look!
Speaking of cracking: liquid fillings tend to do this to the dough. So if you go for a prettier look than mine, make sure your cream cheese filling is as thick as possible. Mine was a bit more on the wet side (as you can see on the pictures in the background), so it cracked the dough a bit. With a thicker cream it won’t happen. Also, your braids should be not too tight (especially when using a filling), so your dough has enough place to rise.
If you wanna try a sweet version, you can also stuff your challah with things like vegan nutella, jam, peanut butter or ground sugary walnuts.
If you try this recipe, let me know! I would highly appreciate if you could leave a comment and rate it. Also don’t forget to take a picture and tag it on Instagram (use the hashtag #greenevi) or post it on Facebook! I love seeing what you come up with! ♥︎
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Wild Garlic Cheese Stuffed Vegan Challah
- Yield: 1 Challah 1x
Ingredients
500 g/1.1 lbs flour
125 ml/4.2 oz lukewarm plant milk
3 tbsp sugar
10 g/0.3 oz instant yeast
75 g/2.6 oz coconut oil
75 g/2.6 oz coconut cream (the thick part of a coconut milk)
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vegetable oil
salt
For the wild garlic cheese:
100 g/0.5 cup of vegan cream cheese (store-bought or homemade)
small bunch of wild garlic (about 3/4 cup)
salt, pepper
For brushing:
plant milk
turmeric
Instructions
- In a large bowl mix together milk, sugar, and yeast. Let stand for 5 minutes.
- In a small pot heat up coconut oil and coconut cream, until both melted. Don’t boil.
- In a small bowl mix together baking powder, vegetable oil, and 3 tablespoons of water.
- Add coconut oil and cream, baking powder mix, and a good pinch of salt to yeasty milk, and mix to combine.
- Gradually start to add flour, kneading the dough as you go. You can use a stand mixer with a dough hook, or your hands. Keep adding flour and kneading dough until dough holds together.
- Transfer dough to a floured surface, and knead on, until dough is smooth and shiny (5-10 minutes).
- Grease a large, clean bowl with oil, and place dough into the bowl. Place in a warm place, cover with a kitchen towel, and let rise for 1.5-2 hours, until doubles in size.
- Punch down the dough, and divide into 3 portions (or 4-5, depending on what braiding you want to do. Shape each portion into a small ball on a floured surface, then cover with a kitchen towel and let rise again for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile prepare filling. Add cream cheese, wild garlic, and a bit of salt and pepper to a blender, and blend until smooth.
- After 30 minutes of proofing dough again, roll each portion into a rectangle, about 30 cm/12 inch long and 15 cm/6 inch wide. Use your fingers to pat and stretch the dough, or a rolling pin. Spread 1.5-2 tablespoons of wild garlic cheese over each rectangle, then roll them up to get 30 cm/12 inch long ropes.
- Pinch the ropes together on the top, then braid the challah. Tuck the ends under the challah. Place challah on a parchment paper lined baking tray, then cover with a kitchen towel and let rise for 30-45 minutes.
- Meanwhile preheat oven to 175°C/350ºF. Whisk together plant milk and turmeric for brushing.
- After 30-45 minutes of proofing, brush challah generously with milk-turmeric mix. Place in the oven, and bake for 35-45 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool challah a bit on a wire rack, before serving. Enjoy!
That’s a very soft and fluffy looking vegan challah. Just the other day a friend was asking if I have a bread recipe without eggs. I will share this post with her. It looks so beautiful with wild garlic in it.
Thank you, Balvinder 🙂
Your challah looks really soft and fluffy…I adore wild garlic. This is definitely a winner, Evi.
Thanks, Angie!! 🙂
It looks so good and lush. I love the idea of brushing the bread with milk and turmeric. I will keep that in mind.
Thanks, Anca! I brush pretty much everything baked with turmeric, I love the color so much 😀
Is there anything I can replace the wild garlic with? I don’t know where to get it.
Hi!
I would suggest using greens or herbs like spinach, basil, or parsley with a few cloves of garlic, if you can’t get wild garlic. But you can also completely omit the filling part, or try something else like a green or red pesto, or shredded vegan cheese, or hummus 😉
Girl, I am loving your vegan recipes.
Thanks, Priya 🙂
Any tips for making this with 100% whole wheat flour (which is how I always make my challot).
I have only tried this with about half white and half whole wheat flour, that worked well. Unfortunately I never made it with only whole wheat flour.
However I can imagine that 100% whole wheat would work too. Most likely you would have to play around a little bit with the ratios to get a perfect result, but it could worth a try 😉
Is this recipe Kosher?
Hi,
Yes, as far as I know this recipe should be kosher. 😊