Whole Wheat Bread Lab116 recipes
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What goes into whole wheat bread

The main ingredient list of all 116 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

  • Oil is the most common fat, in 44% of whole wheat bread recipes; 26% use butter.
  • For sugar, 43% use honey or molasses (with or without sugar), 25% no sugar at all, and 18% white sugar alone.
  • Of the recipes with yeast, 42% call for instant or rapid-rise yeast, 32% fresh yeast, and 18% active dry yeast.
  • For the liquid, 74% use water alone, 15% water and milk together, and 5% milk alone.
  • 4% add fruit; 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 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 olive oil (24%).

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, maple syrup and barley malt), with or without dry sugar. Coarse and cinnamon sugar are usually sprinkled on top, so they do not count here.

Instant or active dry yeast

Among the 114 recipes with yeast, by the type the ingredient list names.

  • Instant or rapid-rise

    median 6 g yeast · closest to typical: Pain complet tres moelleux (ptitchef.com)

    42%48 recipes

  • Fresh (cake) yeast

    median 9 g yeast · closest to typical: Pane integrale (ricettedellanonna.net)

    32%37 recipes

  • Active dry

    median 7 g yeast · closest to typical: Honey-Whole Wheat Bread (bettycrocker.com)

    18%21 recipes

  • Either (the recipe names both)

    median 7 g yeast · closest to typical: Easy Whole Wheat Bread (acouplecooks.com)

    4%5 recipes

  • Everything else

    2%3 recipes

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.

Yogurt includes Greek yogurt (1 recipe).

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%. 95% add none of these.

  • Fruit4%

How often each ingredient appears

Share of the 116 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%

    116 recipes · median 9 g

  2. Yeast98%

    114 recipes · median 7 g

  3. Whole wheat flour96%

    112 recipes · median 78% of the flour

  4. Water94%

    110 recipes · median 304 g

  5. All-purpose flour40%

    47 recipes · median 46% of the flour

  6. Honey38%

    45 recipes · median 50 g

  7. Butter26%

    31 recipes · median 27 g

  8. Olive oil24%

    28 recipes · median 24 g

  9. Granulated sugar22%

    26 recipes · median 8 g

  10. Vegetable oil21%

    25 recipes · median 35 g

  11. Milk20%

    24 recipes · median 171 g

  12. Bread flour15%

    18 recipes · median 58% of the flour

  13. Brown sugar12%

    15 recipes · median 24 g

  14. Sourdough starter10%

    12 recipes · median 54 g

  15. Rolled oats9%

    11 recipes · median 35 g

  16. Eggs8%

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

  17. Seeds6%

    8 recipes · median 45 g

  18. Vital wheat gluten6%

    7 recipes · median 9 g

  19. Spelt flour5%

    6 recipes · median 45% of the flour

Toppings and extras

15% of recipes (18 of 116) 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:

  • Eggs4% (5)
  • Seeds3% (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. 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.