Bialys Lab22 recipes
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What goes into bialys

The main ingredient list of all 22 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

  • For sugar, 59% use no sugar at all, 27% white sugar alone, and 13% honey or barley malt (with or without sugar).
  • Of the recipes with yeast, 50% call for instant or rapid-rise yeast, 16% active dry yeast, and 16% fresh yeast.
  • For flour, 54% use bread flour alone, 22% all-purpose flour alone, and 9% bread flour and all-purpose flour together.
  • 13% add cheese, herbs or other savory; 86% 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.

White, brown or a syrup

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

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

Instant or active dry yeast

Among the 18 recipes with yeast, by the type the ingredient list names.

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

Which flour

Each recipe counted once, by the flours it combines.

  • Bread flour only

    closest to typical: Classic Bialys (kingarthurbaking.com)

    54%12 recipes

  • All-purpose flour only

    closest to typical: How To Make Bialys (panningtheglobe.com)

    22%5 recipes

  • Bread flour and all-purpose flour

    closest to typical: Homemade Bialy Recipe (whatjewwannaeat.com)

    9%2 recipes

  • Everything else

    13%3 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%. 86% add none of these.

  • Cheese, herbs or other savory13%

    onion or chives 9% · cheese 4% · black pepper 4%

How often each ingredient appears

Share of the 22 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%

    22 recipes · median 10 g

  2. Water100%

    22 recipes · median 316 g

  3. Yeast81%

    18 recipes · median 4 g

  4. Bread flour68%

    15 recipes · median: all of the flour

  5. All-purpose flour36%

    8 recipes · median: all of the flour

  6. Granulated sugar27%

    6 recipes · median 8 g

  7. Sourdough starter18%

    4 recipes

Toppings and extras

81% of recipes (18 of 22) 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:

  • Onion or chives81% (18)
  • Seeds68% (15)
  • Salt59% (13)
  • Olive oil31% (7)
  • Vegetable oil27% (6)
  • Black pepper22% (5)
  • Jalapeño or chile18% (4)
  • Butter13% (3)
  • Cornmeal13% (3)

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 (2 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.