Adorable Small-Batch Challah Bread (3-Strand Braid)

Name: Mini Challah Bread (Small Batch Challah)
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 145 min
Ingredients: 120 grams bread flour ((1 cup, aerated, lightly scooped and leveled off)); 3 grams instant yeast ((1 teaspoon)); 3 grams diamond crystal kosher salt ((1 teaspoon)); 1 large egg yolk; 10 grams olive oil ((2¼ teaspoons)); 6 grams honey ((¾ teaspoon)); 50 grams warm water ((3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon, 90°F)); 1 large egg white ((from the egg in the dough)); ¼ teaspoon water

4.69 from 22 votes

Published by Rebecca Eisenberg ⁠— February 13, 2024 (updated July 10, 2026) — 44 Comments

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Are you ready to learn how to make an itty bitty, adorable small-batch challah bread in just a couple of hours? This classic challah dough is soft and tender thanks to an egg yolk, honey, and olive oil. It's super easy to make. You don't need a mixer to make it, just knead by hand, and you can even bake it in a toaster oven.

Two hands hold a small, golden-brown braided bread roll, reminiscent of a small batch challah. A fork, knife, part of a blue cloth, and some green plants and white flowers are visible on the table in the background. — It's so cute!! Can you believe this challah recipe uses just 1 cup (120g) of flour?

5-STAR READIER REVIEW

“Best challah I've ever made. It turned out fluffy and super light. Not something I can normally say about my challahs. I may reduce the salt a little but this is my new go to recipe!!”
—Rebecca

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The Cutest Little Challah Ever

The small size of this challah is perfect if you live alone and are doing Shabbat by yourself, or simply to slice and share with one other person. The small size means there's little that goes to waste, and it's ideal if you don't want to use up all your baking ingredients to make one loaf of bread.

Unlike my full-size homemade challah recipe which can be made with all-purpose or bread flour, this mini challah really is best made with bread flour. Bread flour has a higher protein (gluten) content than all-purpose flour which gives this mini challah such a wonderfully soft texture that holds its shape well.

During recipe testing, I tried using one whole egg in the dough, but the egg white provided too much moisture to also add water to the dough, leaving the dough feeling dry. So instead, I used just the egg yolk in the dough and saved the egg white to use for the egg wash at the end. (See? Nothing goes to waste!)

A bowl of bread flour, two eggs in a carton, a small dish of instant yeast, a cup of honey, a pinch bowl of salt, a cup of water, and a cup of olive oil are arranged on a white surface—perfectly assembled for making small batch challah. — Ingredient quantities are listed at the end of the blog post. Note: You only need one egg.

Okay, fine, yes, all-purpose flour does work in this recipe; the challah just doesn't turn out quite as soft and chewy and it's harder to braid. I also found that when using all-purpose flour, I needed to dust more flour while kneading to prevent sticking, since all-purpose flour is less absorbent than bread flour. This made the challah dense.

How to Make a Small Batch Challah

I follow the basic dough mixing process for this mini challah. First, I mix the dry ingredients, then I add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. If you want, you can whisk the wet ingredients together in a separate bowl first, but I usually just add them right to the dry ingredients; it's faster and cleaner!

A hand holds a spoon, stirring flour and a yellow liquid in a beige bowl on a white textured surface—perfectly capturing the first steps of making small batch challah.

Mix until a thick, sticky paste forms in the middle, and you can't mix with a utensil anymore.

Hands mixing flour and butter in a bowl with a white plastic dough scraper against a textured white background, preparing a small batch challah.

Fold the dough over itself until all of the flour is incorporated. It might still seem quite dry.

Once the dough comes together, I switch to kneading. Kneading develops the gluten network in the dough, providing strength and structure that allows it to be shaped later.

A hand kneads a small ball of dough on a floured surface next to a metal flour sifter, preparing it for a small batch challah.

Knead the dough until smooth and supple.

A metal flour sifter and a round ball of yellow small batch challah dough are placed on a textured white surface with ample empty space around them.

Dust lightly with flour if it's sticking a lot.

Right after kneading, the mini challah dough will have a lightly pockmarked surface and might not be completely smooth. That's okay.

During the first rise, this mini challah dough will not double in size. It will hardly change in size at all. But the dough will look smoother and slightly more bright yellow in color.

Here you can see the challah dough before and after rising:

the challah dough in a small white bowl before rising, drizzled with olive oil. — Before rising

the challah dough after rising hasn't grown much in size but is smoother and slightly darker yellow in color. — After rising

If the challah dough needs more time to rise, cover it back up and check every 15 minutes again until it looks right. FWIW, I developed this mini challah in a very cold kitchen (65°F), where more often than not it needed at least an extra 30 minutes.

You can shape or braid your small-batch challah however you want, but I usually do a classic three-strand braid.

If you have my cookbook Small-Batch Breads: 50 Recipes for Loaves, Buns, and Flatbreads Made with One Cup of Flour, you'll find this mini challah recipe with instructions for doing a 4-strand round loaf.

Don't beat yourself up if braiding doesn't come naturally to you — it will become easier with practice. You can check out the video at the end of this post if you want more visual guidance!

pre-shaping a log of dough to roll a dough rope to make challah.

Roll each piece of dough into a short log to start.

two hands rolling a tapered rope of challah dough.

Roll the short logs into ropes about 10-11 inches long.

Pinch the ends of the three ropes together. I like to use a bench scraper to hold them in place while I braid the dough.

A person braids three dough strands on a white surface, crafting a beautiful small batch challah by holding two ends while a metal and wood pastry scraper secures the top ends together.

Alternate crossing the outer ropes over the middle rope to form a loose braid.

A metal dough scraper with a wooden handle has a braided piece of small batch challah dough attached to its bottom edge, arranged vertically on a textured white surface.

The more tapered the ropes, the more dramatic shape your challah will have.

Don't pull the dough strands tight as you braid. Leaving a bit of space between them gives the dough room to expand during the final rise.

a hand tucking the pointed end of the braided mini challah underneath the loaf.

Tuck the pointed ends under to round them out and prevent them from burning in the oven.

a braided mini challah on a quarter sheet pan lined with parchment paper.

Lightly spritz the challah with non-stick spray. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let it rise again at room temperature.

During the final rise, the small-batch challah will just about double in size. It should look airy and spring back if you poke it gently.

A hand uses a pastry brush to apply egg wash to an unbaked small batch challah braided loaf on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Brush with egg wash.

A single small batch challah loaf, beautifully braided, sits on parchment paper on a baking sheet, viewed from above against a white textured background.

Bake!

A cookbook titled Small-Batch Breads by Rebecca Eisenberg, featuring various loaves, buns, flatbreads, and rolls on the cover. The book promises 50 recipes made with one cup of flour.

Want more small-batch recipes?

My Small Batch Breads cookbook is now available for pre-order!

Featuring fifty easy-to-follow bread recipes made using 1 cup of flour.

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A small batch challah loaf of braided bread sits on a wooden surface in front of two potted plants and a metal canister, with a blue cloth and a knife nearby.

💭 Have More Baking Questions?

I've rounded up answers to common baking questions and how-to guides, including:

Ingredient swaps and FAQs
Why my recipes are written in grams and not cups
How to quickly bring eggs and butter to room temperature
Ingredients I use (salt, flour, yeast, etc.)
Step-by-step guides for bread and baking techniques

See my baking techniques & troubleshooting guide and ingredient swaps and FAQs for more!

TL;DR — Recipe Summary

Mix the flour, salt, and yeast. Add the egg yolk, honey, olive oil, water and mix with a fork until a sticky dough forms. Switch to a bench scraper or spatula and fold the dough over itself until combined.
Knead the dough on the counter for 2 minutes.
Cover and rest for 1-1½ hours in a warm spot.
Divide the dough into three equal pieces and roll them into tapered ropes. Braid the ropes loosely, leaving space for the ropes to expand as the loaf rises.
Cover the mini challah with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour in a warm spot until almost doubled in size.
Brush the challah lightly all over with egg wash.
Bake for 15 minutes at 350°F.

📖 Recipe

two hands holding a small braided challah bread.

Mini Challah Bread (Small Batch Challah)

Servings loaf

Author Rebecca Eisenberg

Learn how to make an itty bitty, adorable small batch challah bread in just a couple of hours! This classic challah dough is super soft and tender thanks to an egg yolk, honey, and olive oil. It's super easy to make too, you don't need a mixer and you can even bake it in a toaster oven.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 15

Total Rising Time 2

Total Time 2 25

Recipe Notes

If you are measuring with cups, it is super important that you measure the ingredients properly. See my guide to measuring as accurately as possible by volume for how to do this. If you measure with cups/teaspoons and the recipe did not turn out right, that is likely why. Try again!
You can use this dough to make a round spiral challah, four-strand braided challah, four-strand braided round challah, or any other braided challah shape without needing to adjust the baking time.
This mini challah is best eaten within the first 2 days after baking. You can store it at room temperature for 4-6 days. Storing it in an airtight container like a large resealable bag with as much air pressed out as possible works well for a soft bread like this.
If you want to scale this recipe up, I recommend using my full-size challah recipe which has the proper ratio of yeast to flour and eggs in the dough!

Ingredients

120 grams bread flour (1 cup, aerated, lightly scooped and leveled off)
3 grams instant yeast (1 teaspoon)
3 grams diamond crystal kosher salt (1 teaspoon)
1 large egg yolk
10 grams olive oil (2¼ teaspoons)
6 grams honey (¾ teaspoon)
50 grams warm water (3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon, 90°F)

Egg Wash

1 large egg white (from the egg in the dough)
¼ teaspoon water

Instructions

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Prep. In one bowl, whisk together bread flour, salt, and instant yeast. In another, whisk together water, egg yolk, honey, and olive oil.
Mix. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the center and use a fork to whisk well, gradually incorporating more flour from the sides of the bowl until a thick paste forms. Switch to your hands, a bowl scraper, or spatula and fold the dough over itself, rotating the bowl as you go until all the flour is incorporated and you have a fairly dry but cohesive mass of dough in the bowl.
Knead. Turn the dough out onto a clean countertop and knead for 2-3 minutes (set a timer!) dusting in flour lightly only if needed. The dough should feel slightly tacky to the touch but not sticky.

There's not a lot of water in this mini challah, and a lot of the other liquids aren't easy for the flour to absorb. The dough will feel dry at first, but as you work the dough and let it rest, the flour will have plenty of time to hydrate.

Rise. Shape the dough into a ball, coat lightly with olive oil, and place back in the mixing bowl. Cover the bowl and rest in a warm spot for 1-2 hours. The dough will not double in size but will look smoother and more yellow in color.

Use the fingerprint test to check if the dough is ready.

Divide and Pre-Shape. Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces using your kitchen scale (each piece should be about 70 grams). Gently flatten each piece against the counter, stacking any smaller pieces on top of larger ones. Working with one piece at a time, roll the dough into a short, thick log.
Roll Ropes. Starting with the first log of dough, roll each one into a tapered rope about 11 inches long. Try to keep the "seam" of the dough against the counter so that it seals shut.

If you're having trouble getting the dough to roll out long enough, cover it and let it rest for 1-2 minutes, then resume rolling!

Braid. Join the ends of the three ropes of dough together at one end, pinching to seal. Use the heel of a bench scraper to weigh them down against the counter and hold them in place while you braid. Braid the challah loosely, leaving room for the ropes to expand and fill in during the final rise. Pinch the other end shut, then tuck the joined ends under and place on a parchment lined sheet pan.
Rise. Lightly spritz the top of the challah with non-stick spray or brush with olive oil, then cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm spot for 1 hour. During this rise, the mini challah will double in size and should spring back slightly when you poke it.

During the final 30 minutes of the rise time, preheat the oven to 350°F with a rack in the middle of the oven.

Egg Wash. In a small bowl, whisk together the reserved egg white with the water. Brush a thin layer of egg wash all over the surface of the mini challah, making sure to get the sides and into the creases.
Bake. Bake in the center of a 350°F oven until golden brown all over, though it may still be pale where the ropes intersect, about 15 minutes. You're looking for an internal temperature of 195°-200°F for doneness.
Cool. Remove from the oven and let the mini challah cool before slicing or serving.

Video

Breads No-mixer Small batch

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Comments

4.69 from 22 votes (4 ratings without comment)