Simple Challah Bread Recipe Cards

I talk a lot about our family’s rhythm of slowing down to observe the Sabbath each week. It’s a habit we’ve built over the last decade together and easily the best part of our week, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a hard-fought-for tradition. Coming to a complete stop at the end of a string of long, busy days calls for a commencement, a celebration, a recognition of some kind.

Our family marks the end of another work week with a fresh loaf of challah bread and four fancy-ish cups of grape juice. Cyrus reads a passage out of Matthew and River blesses and breaks the bread for us. It’s simple and wildly imperfect, but it helps us to transition from hurried and distracted to unrushed and present.

You can read more about Why We Sabbath, here.

When we made the decision to start doing communion as a family on Friday evenings, I decided to hop on Pinterest for a challah bread recipe. Why not go all in and kick it old-school, right? Well, I found a recipe that seemed to be foolproof (even for me) and after several weeks of tiny hands asking to help, wondered if I could make it even more foolproof.

It was a bit of an experiment, but I created simple recipe cards with pictures that my 4-year-old could decipher. And it’s now something my boys and I do together every Friday afternoon. In between folding laundry and sweeping floors and putting toys away, we measure the flour and roll out the dough and mix up the glaze. Some weeks, the boys can’t wait to crack some eggs and braid the dough and other times I (probably lovingly) remind them that it’s time to bake bread and prepare for the Sabbath.

I share this because it has been an incredibly life-giving activity for our family and I’d absolutely love it if it could be a blessing for your family, too.

I’m currently sharing these recipe cards for free, but I can’t promise they will stay that way forever.

Maybe you’re not in a season where this feels even remotely possible. I get that. Honestly, it was a bit clunky and awkward for us at first. But looking back, I can say with complete honesty that it has been one of the most important habits we have cultivated this year.

So maybe it’s something you do on special occasions. Start there. You don’t have to be a baking expert or Old Testament enthusiast to begin prioritizing intentional moments with your kids. This is the season I am in—we are busy and life is hectic and I am a tired mom of three young kids, but one night a week, we power down the crazy for a few minutes and gather around our kitchen island to break bread and give thanks.

If you’d like to join us on the journey toward slowing down, you can snag these fun recipe cards here.

Who knows, maybe I’ll get really crazy and make a recipe for apple-baked challah french toast. (Yes, that is what we made with the leftover challah bread last Friday, and yes, it was divine.)