Bialys Lab · Decision tree
Find your bialy
One question sort all 22 recipes into 2 groups. Each question is about one of the ingredients recipes disagree on most, and splits the recipes in front of it at their own median, so each answer keeps about half of them. Every group ends with its median recipe in grams and the real recipes nearest it.
The questions
Question 1
More yeast than most, or less?
Less yeast and a slow or overnight rise is the traditional route; the center is pressed flat before baking so it does not puff.
All 22 recipes: median 0.5% of the flour weight, 2.5 g per 500 g of flour; middle half 0.4% to 0.8%; 18% use none.
The key
Read left to right: pick an answer to question 1, then follow its row to a group. Each cell gives the answer, its bound in grams per 100 g of flour, and how many recipes give it.
The 2 groups
Each median recipe is the median of every ingredient over the group's recipes, scaled to 500 g of flour, beside the typical batch of all 22. Bold rows are the ingredients the questions asked about.
Group A · 10 recipes · 45% of all
More yeast
Yeast over 0.5% of the flour weight.
| At 500 g flour | Group A | All |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 500 g | 500 g |
| Water | 320 gabout 1 1/3 cups | 315 g |
| Salt | 10 g | 10 g |
| Yeast | 4.5 g | 2.5 g |
| Sugar or malt | 7 gabout 1 2/3 tsp | none |
| Fat | none | none |
Bake450°F (230°C) for about 15 minutes, the medians of the 8 recipes here that state a temperature and the 7 that state a time.
Nearest the middle of group A
Closest to the group's median on every ingredient at once.
- Meet the Bialy: The Nearly Forgotten Cousin of the Bagel · tasteofhome.comyeast 0.9%
- Bialy Recipe: Classic Jewish Onion Rolls from Białystok · kosherbreadpro.comyeast 0.8%
- Onion & Poppyseed Bialys · baking-sense.comyeast 1.2%
- Homemade Bialy Recipe · whatjewwannaeat.comyeast 1.1%
- Bialys · feelingfoodish.comyeast 0.7%
Group B · 12 recipes · 54% of all
Less yeast
Yeast 0.5% or less of the flour weight. 4 of the 12 use no yeast.
| At 500 g flour | Group B | All |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 500 g | 500 g |
| Water | 310 gabout 1 1/3 cups | 315 g |
| Salt | 10 g | 10 g |
| Yeast | 2 g | 2.5 g |
| Sugar or malt | none | none |
| Fat | none | none |
Bake475°F (245°C) for about 13 minutes, the medians of the 11 recipes here that state a temperature and the 12 that state a time.
Nearest the middle of group B
Closest to the group's median on every ingredient at once.
- Classic Bialys · kingarthurbaking.comyeast 0.5%
- Classic Polish Bialy Recipe - ChainBaker · chainbaker.comyeast 0.5%
- Bialys with Traditional Fillings and Beyond · biscuitsandburlap.comyeast 0.5%
- Sourdough Bialy Recipe, Polish Bread - ChainBaker · chainbaker.comyeast 0%
- How To Make Bialys · panningtheglobe.comyeast 0.5%
How the questions are chosen
Each ingredient is ranked by how much recipes disagree on it: the width of the middle half of recipes (25th to 75th percentile) divided by the median, less 4% for each place it sits down this lab's list of ingredients, so the ones that define the dish win near ties. For bialys the order is yeast (0.80) and water (0.13), and the first 1 are asked. Salt is never asked about: recipes differ on it mostly by brand and taste. Sugar or malt and fat are left out because most recipes use none.
Every split is at the median of the recipes in front of it, rounded to the percentage shown. Recipes exactly at the median go to whichever side leaves the two halves more even. No answer may keep fewer than 5 recipes; a group that could not be split further says so.
The recipes listed under each group are the 5 nearest its median on every ingredient at once, each scaled by how much recipes vary on it. Every recipe page links to the original for the method.