English Muffins Lab76 recipes
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What goes into English muffins

The main ingredient list of all 76 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 english muffin recipes use butter (59%); 19% use oil.
  • For sugar, 60% use white sugar alone, 32% honey (with or without sugar), and 5% no sugar at all.
  • Of the recipes with yeast, 60% call for instant or rapid-rise yeast, 20% active dry yeast, and 9% either (naming both).
  • For the liquid, 42% use milk alone, 35% milk and water together, and 14% water alone.
  • 5% add spice; 94% 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 450 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.

Oil includes coconut oil (1%) and olive oil (3%).

White, brown or a syrup

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

  • White sugar only

    median 14 g sugar · closest to typical: How to Make Easy English Muffins (theviewfromgreatisland.com)

    60%46 recipes

  • With honey

    median 31 g sugar · closest to typical: English Muffins (savingdessert.com)

    32%25 recipes

  • No sugar

    closest to typical: English Muffins (thebakingexplorer.com)

    5%4 recipes

  • Everything else

    1%1 recipe

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

Instant or active dry yeast

Among the 63 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.

Which flour

Each recipe counted once, by the flours it combines.

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%. 94% add none of these.

  • Spice5%

    cinnamon 5%

How often each ingredient appears

Share of the 76 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 450 g of flour; for a flour, it is that flour's share of all the flour in the recipe.

  1. Salt100%

    76 recipes · median 7 g

  2. Yeast82%

    63 recipes · median 6 g

  3. Milk80%

    61 recipes · median 297 g

  4. All-purpose flour72%

    55 recipes · median: all of the flour

  5. Granulated sugar61%

    47 recipes · median 14 g

  6. Butter59%

    45 recipes · median 34 g

  7. Water52%

    40 recipes · median 113 g

  8. Honey32%

    25 recipes · median 31 g

  9. Eggs25%

    19 recipes · median 42 g (about 1 large egg)

  10. Bread flour22%

    17 recipes · median: all of the flour

  11. Sourdough starter22%

    17 recipes · median 129 g

  12. Baking soda19%

    15 recipes · median 2.2 g

  13. Cornmeal18%

    14 recipes · median 8% of the flour

  14. Whole wheat flour15%

    12 recipes · median 42% of the flour

  15. Vegetable oil14%

    11 recipes · median 17 g

  16. Semolina11%

    9 recipes

  17. Baking powder7%

    6 recipes · median 6 g

  18. Cinnamon5%

    4 recipes

Toppings and extras

32% of recipes (25 of 76) 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:

  • Cornmeal19% (15)
  • Semolina6% (5)
  • Butter3% (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. 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 450 g of flour lets a small recipe and a double batch line up. Percentages are rounded down.