Potato Bread Lab100 recipes
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What goes into potato bread

The main ingredient list of all 100 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 potato bread recipes use butter (50%); 31% use oil, and 5% use both.
  • For sugar, 57% use white sugar alone, 31% no sugar at all, and 10% honey or other syrup (with or without sugar).
  • Of the recipes with yeast, 43% call for instant or rapid-rise yeast, 28% fresh yeast, and 19% active dry yeast.
  • For the liquid, 43% use water alone, 21% milk alone, and 13% water and milk together.
  • 17% add cheese, herbs or other savory; 83% 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 loaf. The recipe named under each group is the one in it closest to the typical loaf 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 (18%).

White, brown or a syrup

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

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

Instant or active dry yeast

Among the 94 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.

Whole eggs, yolks or whites

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

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.

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%. 83% add none of these.

  • Cheese, herbs or other savory17%

    herbs 7% · onion or chives 6% · cheese 6%

How often each ingredient appears

Share of the 100 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%

    100 recipes · median 9 g

  2. Potato99%

    99 recipes · median 192 g

  3. Yeast94%

    94 recipes · median 7 g

  4. All-purpose flour83%

    83 recipes · median: all of the flour

  5. Granulated sugar61%

    61 recipes · median 28 g

  6. Water60%

    60 recipes · median 181 g

  7. Butter50%

    50 recipes · median 54 g

  8. Eggs49%

    49 recipes · median 60 g (about 1 large egg)

  9. Milk38%

    38 recipes · median 176 g

  10. Olive oil18%

    18 recipes · median 27 g

  11. Sourdough starter13%

    13 recipes · median 18 g

  12. Bread flour12%

    12 recipes · median: all of the flour

  13. Vegetable oil12%

    12 recipes · median 51 g

  14. Honey8%

    8 recipes · median 22 g

  15. Egg yolks7%

    7 recipes · median 16 g

  16. Herbs7%

    7 recipes · median 9 g

  17. Rye flour7%

    7 recipes · median 25% of the flour

  18. Spelt flour7%

    7 recipes · median: all of the flour

  19. Whole wheat flour7%

    7 recipes · median 41% of the flour

  20. Cheese6%

    6 recipes · median 214 g

  21. Onion or chives6%

    6 recipes

  22. Black pepper5%

    5 recipes

  23. Buttermilk5%

    5 recipes · median 140 g

Toppings and extras

21% of recipes (21 of 100) 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:

  • Eggs9% (9)
  • Seeds4% (4)
  • Egg yolks3% (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 450 g of flour lets a small recipe and a double batch line up. Percentages are rounded down.