Bagels Lab150 recipes
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What goes into bagels

The main ingredient list of all 150 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

  • Oil is the most common fat, in 29% of bagel recipes; 15% use butter.
  • For sugar, 42% use barley malt or honey (with or without sugar), 38% white sugar alone, and 8% no sugar at all.
  • Of the recipes with yeast, 51% call for instant or rapid-rise yeast, 19% active dry yeast, and 17% fresh yeast.
  • For the liquid, 78% use water alone, 8% water and milk together, and 7% milk alone.
  • 12% add spice, 7% fruit and 5% cheese, herbs or other savory; 81% 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 batch. The recipe named under each group is the one in it closest to the typical batch on every ingredient.

Butter, oil or both

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

  • No butter, oil or shortening

    closest to typical: Rozijn-kaneel bagels recept (rutgerbakt.nl)

    57%86 recipes

  • Oil only

    median 19 g fat · closest to typical: Bagels met zongedroogde tomaat (rutgerbakt.nl)

    27%41 recipes

  • Butter only

    median 40 g fat · closest to typical: Bagels (chefnini.com)

    12%19 recipes

  • Everything else

    2%4 recipes

Oil includes olive oil (8%).

White, brown or a syrup

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

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

Instant or active dry yeast

Among the 123 recipes with yeast, by the type the ingredient list names.

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

Water, milk or something richer

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

Whole eggs, yolks or whites

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

  • No egg

    closest to typical: Bagels met zongedroogde tomaat (rutgerbakt.nl)

    66%100 recipes

  • Whole eggs only

    median 50 g egg · closest to typical: Best Ever Bagel Recipe (yummytummyaarthi.com)

    21%32 recipes

  • Egg whites only

    median 26 g egg · closest to typical: Bagels (annarecetasfaciles.com)

    6%9 recipes

  • Everything else

    6%9 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: Bagels met zongedroogde tomaat (rutgerbakt.nl)

    44%67 recipes

  • Bread flour only

    closest to typical: Homemade Bagel Recipe (africanbites.com)

    36%55 recipes

  • All-purpose flour and bread flour

    closest to typical: Bagel (soniaperonaci.it)

    4%6 recipes

  • Everything else

    14%22 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%. 81% add none of these.

  • Spice12%

    cinnamon 10%

  • Fruit7%

    raisins 5% · blueberries 1%

  • Cheese, herbs or other savory5%

    cheese 2% · onion or chives 2% · herbs 1%

How often each ingredient appears

Share of the 150 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%

    150 recipes · median 9 g

  2. Water92%

    138 recipes · median 286 g

  3. Yeast82%

    123 recipes · median 7 g

  4. All-purpose flour54%

    82 recipes · median: all of the flour

  5. Granulated sugar52%

    78 recipes · median 20 g

  6. Bread flour45%

    68 recipes · median: all of the flour

  7. Eggs23%

    35 recipes · median 50 g (about 1 large egg)

  8. Vegetable oil21%

    32 recipes · median 27 g

  9. Barley malt18%

    28 recipes · median 20 g

  10. Honey18%

    27 recipes · median 38 g

  11. Milk16%

    25 recipes · median 193 g

  12. Seeds16%

    24 recipes · median 36 g

  13. Butter15%

    23 recipes · median 35 g

  14. Sourdough starter15%

    23 recipes · median 119 g

  15. Brown sugar14%

    21 recipes · median 19 g

  16. Cinnamon10%

    15 recipes · median 5 g

  17. Egg whites8%

    13 recipes · median 33 g

  18. Olive oil8%

    13 recipes · median 18 g

  19. Whole wheat flour6%

    10 recipes · median 49% of the flour

  20. Baking powder5%

    8 recipes · median 12 g

  21. Raisins5%

    8 recipes · median 108 g

Toppings and extras

56% of recipes (84 of 150) 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:

  • Water32% (49)
  • Seeds24% (36)
  • Baking soda22% (33)
  • Barley malt10% (16)
  • Egg whites10% (16)
  • Honey10% (16)
  • Salt10% (16)
  • Eggs10% (15)
  • Granulated sugar10% (15)
  • Cornmeal4% (7)

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 (1 of them). 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.