No-Knead Bread Lab136 recipes
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What goes into no-knead bread

The main ingredient list of all 136 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, 68% use no sugar at all, 17% white sugar alone, and 12% honey or molasses (with or without sugar).
  • Of the recipes with yeast, 59% call for instant or rapid-rise yeast, 17% fresh yeast, and 13% active dry yeast.
  • For flour, 51% use all-purpose flour alone, 13% bread flour alone, and 8% all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour together.
  • 11% add cheese, herbs or other savory, 4% nuts and 4% fruit; 82% 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 400 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 molasses" means any liquid sweetener (honey, molasses and barley malt), with or without dry sugar.

Instant or active dry yeast

Among the 127 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.

  • All-purpose flour only

    closest to typical: No knead kaas-ui brood (ohmyfoodness.nl)

    51%70 recipes

  • Bread flour only

    closest to typical: No-Knead Salami Bread (foodnetwork.com)

    13%19 recipes

  • All-purpose flour and whole wheat flour

    closest to typical: No-Knead Bread (wellplated.com)

    8%12 recipes

  • Bread flour and whole wheat flour

    closest to typical: No-Knead Whole-Wheat Bread (leitesculinaria.com)

    6%9 recipes

  • Everything else

    19%26 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%. 82% add none of these.

  • Cheese, herbs or other savory11%

    herbs 5% · cheese 5% · onion or chives 2%

  • Nuts4%

    walnuts 2% · pecans 1%

  • Fruit4%

    dried cranberries 2% · raisins 1%

How often each ingredient appears

Share of the 136 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 400 g of flour; for a flour, it is that flour's share of all the flour in the recipe.

  1. Salt100%

    136 recipes · median 8 g

  2. Water99%

    135 recipes · median 316 g

  3. Yeast93%

    127 recipes · median 2.7 g

  4. All-purpose flour69%

    94 recipes · median: all of the flour

  5. Bread flour27%

    37 recipes · median: all of the flour

  6. Whole wheat flour20%

    28 recipes · median 25% of the flour

  7. Granulated sugar17%

    24 recipes · median 7 g

  8. Olive oil13%

    18 recipes · median 14 g

  9. Honey11%

    15 recipes · median 22 g

  10. Sourdough starter7%

    10 recipes · median 64 g

  11. Herbs5%

    8 recipes · median 14 g

  12. Cheese5%

    7 recipes · median 204 g

  13. Seeds5%

    7 recipes · median 42 g

Toppings and extras

8% of recipes (11 of 136) 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.

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