Challah Lab · Calculator

Design your own challah

The sliders start at the typical loaf: the median of 72 recipes for each ingredient, in grams per 100 g of flour. Move any of them within the range that 90% of recipes use (the 5th to the 95th percentile) and the grams update, with where your choice sits among the recipes and what that ingredient does.

This scales ratios; it is not a tested recipe. Each ingredient moves on its own against the flour, and a combination no recipe uses may not bake the way you expect. For the method, pan and oven, follow the real recipes nearest your numbers.

Flour

Flour weight (g)

500 g, about 4 cups, makes one typical loaf.

Start from a recipe

Load a real recipe's percentages into the sliders. Search by title or site.

Grams per 100 g of flour

Egg
130 g · 26%about 2 1/2 large eggs
In the middle: 50% of recipes use more, 50% less.
Eggs and extra yolks give challah its color and richness; the egg wash on top is counted as an extra.
Oil
60 g · 12%about 1/4 cup
In the middle: 48% of recipes use more, 50% less.
Oil rather than butter, traditionally, so the bread is dairy-free.
Sweetener
65 g · 13%about 1/3 cup
In the middle: 47% of recipes use more, 50% less.
Honey or sugar; sweeter for Rosh Hashanah, less for everyday loaves.
Water
205 g · 41%about 3/4 cup
In the middle: 47% of recipes use more, 51% less.
Less water than a lean loaf because the eggs carry liquid too; a firmer dough braids cleanly.
Salt
9 g · 1.8%
In the middle: 48% of recipes use more, 41% less.
About 1.5 to 2%.
Yeast
7 g · 1.4%
In the middle: 43% of recipes use more, 36% less.
Instant or active dry yeast for two rises.

Your challah

Your challah in grams, with approximate volumes
Ingredient	Grams
Flour	500 gabout 4 cups
Eggwhole eggs, yolks and whites	130 gabout 2 1/2 large eggs
Oilbutter, oil and shortening	60 gabout 1/4 cup
Sweetenerwhite sugar, brown sugar, honey and syrups	65 gabout 1/3 cup
Watermilk, buttermilk, yogurt, cream and water	205 gabout 3/4 cup
Salt	9 g
Yeast	7 g
Total	976 g

976 g in all from 500 g of flour, counting only the groups above.

Closest real recipe: Challah (leitesculinaria.com).

BakeThe median of 63 recipes is 350°F (175°C), most for 23 to 33 minutes at their own size. A bigger or smaller batch, or a different pan, changes the time.

The 3 real recipes nearest your numbers

Measured on egg, oil, sweetener, water, salt and yeast at once. These are published, tested recipes: follow one for its method, pan and timing, or load its percentages and adjust from there.

1
Challah · leitesculinaria.com
egg 25% · oil 9% · sweetener 11% · water 39% · salt 2% · yeast 1.2%
2
Four-Strand Braided Challah · kingarthurbaking.com
egg 25% · oil 9.3% · sweetener 13% · water 45% · salt 2% · yeast 1.1%
3
Molly's Challah · kingarthurbaking.com
egg 26% · oil 15% · sweetener 15% · water 38% · salt 1.5% · yeast 1.6%

How the calculator works

Every recipe is reduced to baker's percentages: grams of each ingredient group per 100 g of flour. The starting point is the median of all 72 recipes for each group separately, so no single recipe is exactly the starting loaf. Grams are your flour weight times each percentage, rounded to the nearest 5 g above 50 g and the nearest gram or half gram below.

“More than 80% of recipes” counts the recipes with strictly less of that ingredient per gram of flour. The nearest recipes are measured on every ingredient at once, each scaled by how much recipes vary on it, so a wide-ranging ingredient does not outweigh a narrow one.

Only the groups listed are counted. Vanilla, spices, mix-ins and toppings are left out unless they have their own slider. Volumes are approximate: flour at 125 g a cup, sugar 200 g, butter or oil 225 g, milk and other liquids 240 g, a large egg 50 g.