As anyone who has been reading this blog knows, my godson has a deathly allergy to eggs. So I am always challenged to find or develop recipes for holiday treats that he can enjoy and where no one else feels cheated. I developed this vegan challah recipe a few years ago and now my niece (his mother) makes it every week. For the directions, just follow the previous recipe for my regular challah except where I have noted a few changes. I have not yet been able to get quite the same look for the glaze that I get with an egg-wash and have tried many different things. I would love to hear from any of you who has been successful in getting a beautiful glaze without eggs. The glaze I use is “okay” but I am still working on finding the perfect look.

UPDATE: I went to make this challah this morning and it suddenly occurred to me that because I use honey, this is really not vegan. For me the issue is eggs and dairy and I hadn’t focused on the honey. I have never made this with other vegan sweeteners such as sorghum or date syrup, but you could certainly try. You want a sweetener that has the texture of honey, is dark to lend color where there are no eggs and that also lends a rich, sweet taste. The amount used should not really change. It is simply a matter of finding the sweetener that you like.

Lisa’s Vegan Challah

Yield: One large braided loaf

Ingredients

1.25 cups of warm water

1/2 cup of granulated sugar

1 Tablespoon active dried yeast

1/4 cup Canola oil

A generous 1/8 cup of buckwheat honey (it lends color and richness when there is no egg)

1/8 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 generous teaspoon Kosher salt

3.5 to 4 cups of bread flour

Soy milk mixed with a vegetable yellow food coloring or mix with a small amount of turmeric for the glaze

Directions

Follow all of the directions of Lisa’s regular challah that precedes this, but use the soy milk glaze instead of the egg wash. If you wish,  you can add 6 ounces of raisins to the dough after the first addition of flour.