Japanese Milk Bread Lab73 recipes
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What goes into Japanese milk bread

The main ingredient list of all 73 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, 78% use white sugar alone and 16% honey or sweetened condensed milk (with or without sugar).
  • Of the recipes with yeast, 56% call for instant or rapid-rise yeast, 23% active dry yeast, and 10% fresh yeast.
  • For the liquid, 61% use milk and water together, 20% milk alone, and 4% milk, water and cream together.
  • For eggs, 72% use whole eggs alone and 21% no egg.
  • 4% add spice; 95% 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 350 g of flour, the size of a typical loaf. The recipe named under each group is the one in it closest to the typical loaf on every ingredient.

White, brown or a syrup

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

"With honey or sweetened condensed milk" means any liquid sweetener (honey, sweetened condensed milk and maple syrup), with or without dry sugar.

Instant or active dry yeast

Among the 69 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.

Evaporated milk counts as milk. Cream includes heavy cream, whipping cream and half-and-half.

Whole eggs, yolks or whites

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

  • Whole eggs only

    median 55 g egg · closest to typical: Japanese Milk Bread (theflavorbender.com)

    72%53 recipes

  • No egg

    closest to typical: Vegan Shokupan (tarasmulticulturaltable.com)

    21%16 recipes

  • Everything else

    5%4 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.

  • Bread flour only

    closest to typical: Japanese Milk Bread (theflavorbender.com)

    57%42 recipes

  • All-purpose flour only

    closest to typical: Japans Melkbrood (24kitchen.nl)

    32%24 recipes

  • Everything else

    9%7 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%. 95% add none of these.

  • Spice4%

    cinnamon 2% · cloves 2% · nutmeg 1%

How often each ingredient appears

Share of the 73 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 350 g of flour; for a flour, it is that flour's share of all the flour in the recipe.

  1. Salt100%

    73 recipes · median 6 g

  2. Butter94%

    69 recipes · median 45 g

  3. Yeast94%

    69 recipes · median 7 g

  4. Milk90%

    66 recipes · median 174 g

  5. Granulated sugar89%

    65 recipes · median 38 g

  6. Eggs76%

    56 recipes · median 54 g (about 1 large egg)

  7. Water75%

    55 recipes · median 71 g

  8. Bread flour61%

    45 recipes · median: all of the flour

  9. All-purpose flour35%

    26 recipes · median: all of the flour

  10. Milk powder24%

    18 recipes · median 14 g

  11. Cream9%

    7 recipes · median 47 g

  12. Honey9%

    7 recipes · median 59 g

  13. Sourdough starter9%

    7 recipes · median 14 g

  14. Sweetened condensed milk6%

    5 recipes · median 84 g

Toppings and extras

31% of recipes (23 of 73) 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:

  • Eggs16% (12)
  • Egg yolks6% (5)
  • Butter5% (4)
  • Milk5% (4)

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 (3 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 350 g of flour lets a small recipe and a double batch line up. Percentages are rounded down.