Sourdough Bread Lab152 recipes
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What goes into sourdough bread

The main ingredient list of all 152 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, 81% use no sugar at all, 11% honey or other syrup (with or without sugar), and 5% white sugar alone.
  • For flour, 30% use all-purpose flour alone, 14% bread flour and whole wheat flour together, and 12% bread flour alone.
  • 5% add nuts, 3% cheese, herbs or other savory and 3% fruit; 89% 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 500 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 other syrup" means any liquid sweetener (honey, other syrup and barley malt), with or without dry sugar.

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%. 89% add none of these.

  • Nuts5%

    walnuts 2% · hazelnuts 1%

  • Cheese, herbs or other savory3%

    cheese 2% · jalapeño or chile 1% · herbs 1%

  • Fruit3%

    blueberries 1%

How often each ingredient appears

Share of the 152 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 500 g of flour; for a flour, it is that flour's share of all the flour in the recipe.

  1. Salt100%

    152 recipes · median 10 g

  2. Sourdough starter100%

    152 recipes · median 125 g

  3. Water99%

    151 recipes · median 334 g

  4. All-purpose flour59%

    91 recipes · median: all of the flour

  5. Bread flour42%

    65 recipes · median 80% of the flour

  6. Whole wheat flour36%

    55 recipes · median 25% of the flour

  7. Rye flour14%

    22 recipes · median 17% of the flour

  8. Yeast11%

    18 recipes · median 4.1 g

  9. Honey9%

    15 recipes · median 19 g

  10. Olive oil7%

    12 recipes · median 24 g

  11. Granulated sugar5%

    9 recipes · median 8 g

  12. Spelt flour5%

    8 recipes · median 58% of the flour

Toppings and extras

5% of recipes (9 of 152) 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 500 g of flour lets a small recipe and a double batch line up. Percentages are rounded down.