“pumpkin”
22 recipes vs 233Recipes with “pumpkin” in the title: less liquid (41% vs 54%).
“pumpkin” (22)the rest (233)middle half of all
Liquidrecipes with pumpkin in the title 41% vs the rest 54%
Cinnamon Rolls Lab
Cinnamon Rolls: what 364 recipes agree on
The dough under the swirl: milk, butter, sugar, egg and yeast per 100 g of flour.
364 recipes from 131 sites, each reduced to grams and written as baker's percentages: grams of each ingredient per 100 g of flour, so a small recipe and a double batch line up. Below: the typical pan, how far recipes stray from it, and a page for every recipe with a link to the original.
Recipes
364
from 131 sites
Typical flour
500 g
about 4 cups
Oven
350°F
175°C · median of 322
Bake time
25 min
most 20 to 30 min
The typical pan of cinnamon rolls
The median of all 364 recipes for each ingredient, scaled to 500 g of flour. No single recipe is exactly this: each line is the middle of its own distribution. “Most recipes” means the middle half, from the 25th to the 75th percentile.
| Ingredient | Grams |
|---|---|
| FlourThe scale for everything else | 500 gabout 4 cups |
| LiquidMost recipes use 225 to 310 g | 265 gabout 1 cups |
| ButterMost recipes use 65 to 105 g | 80 gabout 1/3 cup |
| SugarMost recipes use 55 to 100 g | 70 gabout 1/3 cup |
| EggMost recipes use 41 to 90 g | 55 gabout 1 large egg |
| YeastMost recipes use 7 to 10 g | 8 g |
| SaltMost recipes use 2.5 to 7 g | 5 g |
Bake350°F (175°C) for about 25 minutes.
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.
Every recipe, ingredient by ingredient
Each dot is a recipe, placed by grams of the ingredient per 100 g of flour (100% would be as much as the flour). The shaded band is the middle half of recipes and the line is the median.
Liquid
median 53% · most 45 to 62%
Warm milk, sometimes with water; a softer, wetter dough bakes into a fluffier roll.
Each dot is up to 6 recipes. range 26 to 114%
Butter
median 16% · most 13 to 21%
Butter in the dough (not the filling) makes it rich and tender, closer to brioche at the top of the range.
Each dot is up to 6 recipes. range 5.1 to 58%
Sugar
median 14% · most 11 to 20%
Sugar feeds the yeast and softens the crumb; the filling's brown sugar is counted separately as an extra.
Each dot is up to 6 recipes. range 3.3 to 40%
Egg
median 11% · most 8.3 to 18%
Eggs enrich the dough; some recipes use none.
Each dot is up to 7 recipes. range 0 to 43% · 14% use none
Yeast
median 1.6% · most 1.3 to 2%
More yeast is a faster rise; overnight recipes use less.
Each dot is up to 6 recipes. range 0 to 5% · 2% use none
Salt
median 1% · most 0.5 to 1.3%
Around 1 to 2%, as in most enriched breads.
Each dot is up to 4 recipes. range 0 to 2.9% · 8% use none
Where recipes disagree
Measured by how far apart the 25th and 75th percentile recipes are. The widest gaps are where the choice of recipe matters most.
- Salt. The middle half of recipes use 0.5 to 1.3% of the flour weight in salt, so a recipe at the 75th percentile has 2.6 times as much as one at the 25th.
- Egg. The middle half of recipes use 8.3 to 18% of the flour weight in egg, so a recipe at the 75th percentile has 2.1 times as much as one at the 25th.
Recipes agree most on liquid and yeast: liquid 45 to 62%, yeast 1.3 to 2% for the middle half.
Around the world
347 of the recipes come in 4 languages with enough of each to compare: English 255, German 41, French 33, Dutch 18.
- Dutch recipes use 59% more butter than English ones (24% against 15% of the flour weight) and 92% more sugar (25% against 13%).
- French recipes use 42% more butter than English ones (21% against 15% of the flour weight), 85% more sugar (24% against 13%) and about half as much salt (0.5% against 1.1%).
What the words in titles mean
English recipes whose titles use a word, against the ones that do not. What recipe writers do when they pick the word, not proof that it makes the texture.
Recipes called “overnight” (17), “homemade” (16) or “best” (14) use about the same amounts as the rest on every ingredient measured here.
The most-reviewed recipes
70 cinnamon roll recipes have 50 or more reader ratings. A rating count says how many people rated a page, which follows its traffic more than its quality. Against the other 294, medians per 100 g of flour, compared within each language:
On no ingredient do the most-reviewed recipes differ from the rest by more than chance would explain.
50+ ratings (70)the rest (294)middle half of all
Liquidthe most-reviewed recipes 52% vs the rest 53%
Butterthe most-reviewed recipes 16% vs the rest 16%
Sugarthe most-reviewed recipes 14% vs the rest 13%
Eggthe most-reviewed recipes 11% vs the rest 11%
Yeastthe most-reviewed recipes 1.6% vs the rest 1.6%
Saltthe most-reviewed recipes 1% vs the rest 1%
Most reviewed
- Homemade Cinnamon Rolls Recipe · archanaskitchen.com4.9 from 3,531 ratings
- Eggless Buttermilk Cinnamon Rolls Recipe · archanaskitchen.com5.0 from 1,463 ratings
- Best Homemade Cinnamon Rolls Ever · thestayathomechef.com4.9 from 957 ratings
- Easy Cinnamon Rolls (from scratch) · sallysbakingaddiction.com4.7 from 945 ratings
- Best Cinnamon Rolls Recipe (Better than Cinnabon)! · joyfoodsunshine.com5.0 from 784 ratings
Oven temperature and time
322 of 364 recipes state an oven temperature, and 64% of those bake at 350°F (175°C). The middle half bake at 350 to 375°F. The other 42 do not say.
- 350°F207 recipes
- 375°F55 recipes
- 400°F34 recipes
- 325°F10 recipes
- 425°F7 recipes
- 475°F4 recipes
348 recipes state a bake time. Taking the middle of any stated range (“55 to 65 minutes” counts as 60), the median is 25 minutes and the middle half bake 20 to 30 minutes.
Temperature and time together
The single most common pairing is 350°F for 20 to 30 minutes, with 97 of the 315 recipes that state both.
475°F 245450°F 230425°F 220400°F 205375°F 190350°F 175≤325°F 165020406080
Recipes to start with
Closest to the typical pan
Nearest the median on every ingredient at once.
- The Best Ever Overnight Cinnamon Rolls Recipe · iamafoodblog.comliquid 48% · butter 15%
- 90-Minute Cinnamon Rolls · 12tomatoes.comliquid 60% · butter 14%
- Cinnamon Roll Recipe · iamafoodblog.comliquid 50% · butter 16%
- Tres Leches Cinnamon Rolls · isabeleats.comliquid 62% · butter 14%
- Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls · shugarysweets.comliquid 60% · butter 14%
Most liquid
- Cinnamon rolls healthy : recette allégée · cuisineaz.comliquid 114% · butter 7.1%
- Erdbeer-Zimtschnecken · oetker.deliquid 110% · butter 19%
- Kaneelbroodjes · leukerecepten.nlliquid 109% · butter 26%
Least liquid
- Simnel cinnamon rolls · bbcgoodfood.comliquid 26% · butter 20%
- Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls · natashaskitchen.comliquid 26% · butter 34%
- Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls · thestayathomechef.comliquid 26% · butter 12%
Go deeper
- DiscoverEvery recipe plotted on any two ratios.
- CalculatorStart from the typical recipe, move the ratios, get grams.
- IngredientsWhich ingredients recipes use, and the choices they make.
- RatiosWhich ingredients rise and fall together.
- TimelineRecipes by publication year and how the typical one shifted.
- Around the WorldThe typical recipe in each language, and where French, German or Italian recipes part from English ones.
- All RecipesEvery recipe, sortable, with a page each.
- ClustersThe styles the numbers fall into.
- Decision TreeA few questions that narrow the recipes to the ones you want.
Top sources
- 10cuisineaz.com
- 10zuckerzimtundliebe.de
- 912tomatoes.com
- 8bromabakery.com
- 8crazyforcrust.com
- 8gutekueche.at
- 8mybakingaddiction.com
- 7chefsimon.com
- 7iambaker.net
- 7joythebaker.com
- 7lecremedelacrumb.com
- 7melskitchencafe.com
In 7 languages: English 255, German 41, French 33, Dutch 18, Spanish 7, Portuguese 5, Italian 5. Lines in other languages are read in their own units and words, and each recipe page links to the original. 131 sites in all. No site contributes more than 12 recipes.
How the numbers are made
Every ingredient line is converted to grams and grouped (butter and oil count as fat; white, brown and liquid sweeteners as sugar), then divided by the flour weight. That baker's percentage is the only comparison that holds across recipes of different sizes.
98% of the 3,286 ingredient lines got a weight. 34% of those weights were printed by the source; the rest were converted from cups and spoons with standard densities, so treat single recipes as close, not exact. Frosting, glaze, streusel and other toppings are listed on each recipe page but left out of the percentages.
A recipe outside the plausible range for any ingredient is left out rather than allowed to stretch every chart; it is usually a different dish with the same name or a misread line. Of the pages fetched, 423 were left out: 204 outside the plausible range on some ingredient (sugar 94, liquid 71, yeast 21, butter 18), 133 with no flour, or none that could be weighed, 60 with a title that names a different dish, 14 duplicates of other pages, 6 made from a boxed mix, 4 too many lines without an amount, and 2 a listing page, not a recipe page.
Every recipe page links to the original, which is where the method is. Recipe Lab does not republish instructions or photos.