Challah Lab72 recipes
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What goes into challah

The main ingredient list of all 72 recipes, with names merged so one choice counts once: unsalted and salted butter are butter, light and dark brown sugar are brown sugar, kosher and table salt are salt. Different flours stay apart. Frosting, glaze and other extras are counted on their own at the end.

In short

  • Most challah recipes use oil (86%); 18% use butter.
  • For sugar, 58% use white sugar alone and 41% honey or molasses (with or without sugar).
  • Of the recipes with yeast, 49% call for instant or rapid-rise yeast, 33% active dry yeast, and 7% fresh yeast.
  • For eggs, 61% use whole eggs alone, 29% whole eggs and egg yolks together, and 4% whole eggs and egg whites together.
  • 9% add fruit and 5% cheese, herbs or other savory; 87% add none of these.

The main choices

Each block sorts every recipe into one group by a single decision. Amounts are the median among recipes in that group, scaled to 500 g of flour, the size of a typical loaf. The recipe named under each group is the one in it closest to the typical loaf on every ingredient.

Butter, oil or both

Each recipe counted once, by the fats in its main ingredient list.

Oil includes olive oil (13%).

White, brown or a syrup

Each recipe counted once, by the sweeteners in its main ingredient list.

  • White sugar only

    median 52 g sugar · closest to typical: Challah (leitesculinaria.com)

    58%42 recipes

  • With honey or molasses

    median 85 g sugar · closest to typical: "Seeduction" Challah (kingarthurbaking.com)

    41%30 recipes

"With honey or molasses" means any liquid sweetener (honey and molasses), with or without dry sugar.

Instant or active dry yeast

Among the 69 recipes with yeast, by the type the ingredient list names.

  • Instant or rapid-rise

    median 8 g yeast · closest to typical: Four-Strand Braided Challah (kingarthurbaking.com)

    49%34 recipes

  • Active dry

    median 7 g yeast · closest to typical: Challah (leitesculinaria.com)

    33%23 recipes

  • Fresh (cake) yeast

    median 21 g yeast · closest to typical: Brioche Challah (cuisineaz.com)

    7%5 recipes

  • Type not stated

    closest to typical: Easy Challah Bread Recipe (yummytummyaarthi.com)

    5%4 recipes

  • Either (the recipe names both)

    closest to typical: "Seeduction" Challah (kingarthurbaking.com)

    4%3 recipes

Rapid-rise, quick-rise and bread machine yeast count as instant.

Whole eggs, yolks or whites

Each recipe counted once, by the parts of the egg it uses.

  • Whole eggs only

    median 122 g egg · closest to typical: "Seeduction" Challah (kingarthurbaking.com)

    61%44 recipes

  • Whole eggs and egg yolks

    median 131 g egg · closest to typical: Molly's Challah (kingarthurbaking.com)

    29%21 recipes

  • Whole eggs and egg whites

    closest to typical: Four-Strand Braided Challah (kingarthurbaking.com)

    4%3 recipes

  • Everything else

    5%4 recipes

A large egg is about 50 g out of the shell, a yolk about 18 g, a white about 32 g.

Which flour

Each recipe counted once, by the flours it combines.

  • All-purpose flour only

    closest to typical: "Seeduction" Challah (kingarthurbaking.com)

    72%52 recipes

  • Bread flour only

    closest to typical: Challah (leitesculinaria.com)

    16%12 recipes

  • All-purpose flour and bread flour

    closest to typical: Sourdough Challah (theperfectloaf.com)

    4%3 recipes

  • Everything else

    6%5 recipes

Add-ins

Share of recipes that add at least one of each. A recipe can add several, so the shares do not sum to 100%. 87% add none of these.

  • Fruit9%

    raisins 4% · pumpkin 1%

  • Cheese, herbs or other savory5%

    black pepper 2% · herbs 1% · onion or chives 1%

How often each ingredient appears

Share of the 72 recipes that list it at least once, for every ingredient in 5% or more of them. The median amount is among recipes that use it and give a weighable amount, scaled to 500 g of flour; for a flour, it is that flour's share of all the flour in the recipe.

  1. Salt100%

    72 recipes · median 9 g

  2. Water98%

    71 recipes · median 201 g

  3. Eggs97%

    70 recipes · median 102 g (about 2 large eggs)

  4. Yeast95%

    69 recipes · median 7 g

  5. All-purpose flour77%

    56 recipes · median: all of the flour

  6. Granulated sugar73%

    53 recipes · median 48 g

  7. Vegetable oil72%

    52 recipes · median 54 g

  8. Honey40%

    29 recipes · median 84 g

  9. Egg yolks34%

    25 recipes · median 33 g

  10. Seeds29%

    21 recipes · median 15 g

  11. Bread flour23%

    17 recipes · median: all of the flour

  12. Butter18%

    13 recipes · median 70 g

  13. Olive oil13%

    10 recipes · median 64 g

  14. Egg whites8%

    6 recipes · median 30 g

  15. Orange juice5%

    4 recipes

  16. Sourdough starter5%

    4 recipes

Toppings and extras

41% of recipes (30 of 72) list something beyond the main recipe: a frosting, glaze, filling, crumb topping, a boiling bath or a sprinkle on top. None of it is counted above. The most common extra ingredients, as a share of all recipes:

  • Eggs19% (14)
  • Seeds16% (12)
  • Egg yolks6% (5)
  • Water5% (4)

How the ingredients are counted

A recipe uses an ingredient when any line of its main ingredient list names it. Names are merged by the words in them, so “1 cup unsalted butter, softened” and “salted butter” are both butter, and a line that offers a choice (“walnuts or pecans”) counts as the first one named. Canola, vegetable and other neutral oils are one oil; coconut and olive oil are listed on their own.

Lines only for greasing the pan are left out. Lines for brushing, sprinkling or serving, and lines that belong to a frosting, glaze, filling or topping, count as extras.

Amounts come from the grams on each recipe page: printed by the source, or converted from cups and spoons with standard densities. Scaling them to 500 g of flour lets a small recipe and a double batch line up. Percentages are rounded down.