Pumpkin Bread Lab142 recipes

Pumpkin Bread Lab

Pumpkin Bread: what 142 recipes agree on

Pumpkin, spice, sugar and oil per 100 g of flour.

142 recipes from 79 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 loaf, how far recipes stray from it, and a page for every recipe with a link to the original.

Recipes

142

from 79 sites

Typical flour

250 g

about 2 cups

Oven

350°F

175°C · median of 133

Bake time

55 min

most 48 to 63 min

The typical loaf of pumpkin bread

The median of all 142 recipes for each ingredient, scaled to 250 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.

Typical pumpkin bread recipe in grams, with the range most recipes use
IngredientGrams
FlourThe scale for everything else250 gabout 2 cups
PumpkinMost recipes use 245 to 390 g315 g
SugarMost recipes use 220 to 340 g285 gabout 1 1/2 cups
FatMost recipes use 110 to 145 g125 gabout 1/2 cup
EggMost recipes use 100 to 135 g115 gabout 2 1/2 large eggs
SpiceMost recipes use 4.5 to 8 g6 g
LeaveningMost recipes use 7 to 10 g9 g
SaltMost recipes use 2.5 to 5 g3.5 g

Bake350°F (175°C) for about 55 minutes.

Volumes are approximate: flour at 125 g a cup, sugar 200 g, butter or oil 225 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.

  1. Pumpkin

    median 127% · most 98 to 155%

    Pumpkin puree is the liquid and the color; more makes a denser, moister loaf.

    0%100%200%300%
    Each dot is up to 3 recipes.

    range 37 to 202%

  2. Sugar

    median 114% · most 88 to 136%

    Pumpkin bread is among the sweetest quick breads; brown sugar adds a molasses note.

    0%50%100%150%200%
    Each dot is up to 2 recipes.

    range 42 to 191%

  3. Fat

    median 50% · most 44 to 58%

    Usually oil, for a crumb that stays soft.

    0%50%100%150%
    Each dot is up to 4 recipes.

    range 14 to 107%

  4. Egg

    median 46% · most 40 to 53%

    Eggs set the loaf around a heavy puree.

    0%50%100%150%
    Each dot is up to 4 recipes.

    range 14 to 107%

  5. Spice

    median 2.4% · most 1.7 to 3.1%

    Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves, or a pumpkin pie spice blend.

    0%2.5%5%7.5%10%
    Each dot is up to 3 recipes.

    range 0.6 to 8.7%

  6. Leavening

    median 3.4% · most 2.7 to 4%

    Mostly baking soda.

    0%2%4%6%8%
    Each dot is up to 3 recipes.

    range 0.6 to 6.6%

  7. Salt

    median 1.4% · most 0.9 to 2.1%

    Salt sharpens the spice.

    0%1%2%3%4%
    Each dot is up to 2 recipes.

    range 0 to 3.6% · 6% 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 0.9 to 2.1% of the flour weight in salt, so a recipe at the 75th percentile has 2.3 times as much as one at the 25th.
  • Spice. The middle half of recipes use 1.7 to 3.1% of the flour weight in spice, so a recipe at the 75th percentile has 1.8 times as much as one at the 25th.

Recipes agree most on egg and fat: egg 40 to 53%, fat 44 to 58% for the middle half.

Around the world

138 of the recipes come in 2 languages with enough of each to compare: English 130, French 8.

  • 37% of French recipes use no salt, against 3% of English recipes.
Every language, ingredient by ingredient →

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 “easy” (10) use about the same amounts as the rest on every ingredient measured here.

The most-reviewed recipes

29 pumpkin bread 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 113, 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 (29)the rest (113)middle half of all

  • Pumpkinthe most-reviewed recipes 131% vs the rest 121%

  • Sugarthe most-reviewed recipes 120% vs the rest 113%

  • Fatthe most-reviewed recipes 50% vs the rest 50%

  • Eggthe most-reviewed recipes 46% vs the rest 46%

  • Spicethe most-reviewed recipes 2.8% vs the rest 2.3%

  • Leaveningthe most-reviewed recipes 3.3% vs the rest 3.4%

  • Saltthe most-reviewed recipes 1.6% vs the rest 1.4%

Most reviewed

  1. Pumpkin Bread · onceuponachef.com4.8 from 2,923 ratings
  2. Pumpkin Bread · natashaskitchen.com4.9 from 878 ratings
  3. Muesli Pumpkin Bread Recipe · archanaskitchen.com4.9 from 682 ratings
  4. The Best Pumpkin Bread · foodnetwork.com4.5 from 563 ratings
  5. Easy Pumpkin Bread · kingarthurbaking.com4.6 from 382 ratings

Oven temperature and time

133 of 142 recipes state an oven temperature, and 88% of those bake at 350°F (175°C). The other 9 do not say.

  • 350°F118 recipes
  • 325°F12 recipes
  • 375°F2 recipes
  • 400°F1 recipe

138 recipes state a bake time. Taking the middle of any stated range (“55 to 65 minutes” counts as 60), the median is 55 minutes and the middle half bake 48 to 63 minutes.

Temperature and time together

The single most common pairing is 350°F for 60 to 65 minutes, with 26 of the 133 recipes that state both.

Rows: oven °F (°C in gray), every 25°F. Columns: minutes, 5 a column, from the start of each; the middle of a stated range counts. Darker: more recipes, up to 26 in one cell. Outlined: the median, 350°F for 55 minutes. 133 recipes state both. The edge rows and columns also hold the few recipes beyond them.

Recipes to start with

Closest to the typical loaf

Nearest the median on every ingredient at once.

Most pumpkin

Least pumpkin

All 142 pumpkin bread recipes →

Go deeper

Top sources

  • 8foodnetwork.com
  • 7tasteofhome.com
  • 612tomatoes.com
  • 5bromabakery.com
  • 5delish.com
  • 5kirbiecravings.com
  • 4bettycrocker.com
  • 4crazyforcrust.com
  • 4mybakingaddiction.com
  • 4theviewfromgreatisland.com
  • 3chefsimon.com
  • 3iambaker.net

In 6 languages: English 130, French 8, German 1, Italian 1, Dutch 1, Spanish 1. Lines in other languages are read in their own units and words, and each recipe page links to the original. 79 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.

99% of the 1,830 ingredient lines got a weight. 15% 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, 196 were left out: 90 outside the plausible range on some ingredient (pumpkin 34, sugar 24, spice 11, fat 11, egg 8, leavening 1, salt 1), 72 with a title that names a different dish, 16 with no flour, or none that could be weighed, 7 duplicates of other pages, 5 made from a boxed mix, 3 with an ingredient in amounts that could not be weighed, and 3 too many lines without an amount.

Every recipe page links to the original, which is where the method is. Recipe Lab does not republish instructions or photos.