Best Whole Wheat Bread Bake Off

Looking for the best whole wheat bread recipe? I tested 9 different recipes in search of the fluffiest, best whole wheat bread!

Right in the heart of downtown Half Moon Bay is Garden Deli Cafe. Growing up, my family would often stop here on the way to or from the beach to get sandwiches. The best part of these sandwiches by far was the thickly sliced, freshly baked bread. Though I wasn’t typically one to opt for whole wheat bread as a kid, I always chose the whole wheat bread here. With its plush crumb and light sweetness, it’s what I’ve mentally held up as the epitome of whole wheat bread.

This whole wheat bread bake off was my mission to recreate the Garden Deli Cafe bread* (or something like it!). In this bake off, I tested 9 different recipes to see the results from different flour ratios, sweeteners, rising times and more. Hopefully this will help you find your dream whole wheat bread recipe as well!

*In a fun twist of events, as soon as I published this blog post–my friend sent me the actual Garden Deli Cafe recipe. I’ve now tested, tweaked and posted my ultimate brown bread recipe!

Ingredients

• Gold Medal bleached all-purpose flour
• King Arthur golden wheat flour
• King Arthur whole wheat flour
• Kirkland unsalted butter
• Wholesome organic molasses
• Diamond Crystal kosher salt

Whole wheat bread vs. brown bread

In researching recipes for this bake off, none of the recipes I was looking at seemed remotely close to the Garden Deli Cafe whole wheat bread. It wasn’t until an offhand comment from my aunt (“oh, that’s squaw bread”) that I realized it might be a completely different type of bread.

My aunt did note that the above term is likely no longer the politically correct name–the modern term as far as I can tell is brown bread. Brown bread is by definition sweetened with molasses and often made with whole grains like wheat or rye. Meanwhile, whole wheat bread is simply defined as bread made from whole wheat flour.

For the purposes of this bake off (and especially in my quest to find a Garden Deli Cafe bread dupe), I thought it would be interesting to include a few brown bread recipes alongside more classic whole wheat bread recipes. Ultimately, I ended up including two brown bread recipes (Amanda Cooks & Styles and Jennuine) alongside Food.com which doesn’t include molasses, but does call itself “squaw bread.”

Results

Given the general sweetness of brown bread, I expected that these recipes might take top honors in the bake off with a more appealing flavor. But in the end, the brown bread recipes (Amanda Cooks & Styles, Jennuine and Food.com) received middling to low scores, proving that not everyone is looking for such present sweetness and heartiness in their bread (though certain tasters really gravitated towards them).

Based on the scores, tasters generally preferred softer, lightly sweet breads with an airier texture. The Fresh Loaf took top honors as the crowd favorite! King Arthur took second place thanks in large part to its perfect honey wheat flavor. 

There was an interesting split in the sandwich bread-style recipes. Woks of Life and Sally’s Baking Addiction both had perfect quintessential sandwich bread textures and flavors to me. That is to say: very fluffy but not very flavorful, which landed them towards the bottom. Meanwhile, Serious Eats and Tastes Better from Scratch had many similar textural qualities, but scored better with tasters thanks to more distinct flavor profiles (a little more sour or sweet).

As is the case with every bake off, your personal winner could vary greatly depending on your individual taste and mood. You might want a fluffy sandwich bread that’s a bit shy on flavor so that your sandwich fillings shine. But maybe next time, you’ll want a sweet and hearty thick-cut slice to enjoy as buttered toast. As always, I recommend reading through the whole blog post to see which recipe sounds like your ideal!

Note: Right at the time of hitting publish on this post, my editor let me know that she’d found what could be the actual Garden Deli Cafe/San Benito whole wheat bread recipe! I will report back once I give it a try.

Factors in the best whole wheat bread recipes

Flour type determines texture and flavor

Going into this bake off, I expected most whole wheat bread recipes would use closer to 100% whole wheat flour. However, most recipes add in some all-purpose or bread flour–partly for flavor, partly for gluten development/texture. 

A quick breakdown of whole wheat flour: unlike all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour contains all parts of the wheat berry, including the bran and germ, for a relatively high protein flour. (King Arthur’s whole wheat flour is 13.2% protein vs. 11.7% protein in their all-purpose flour and 12.7% in their bread flour.)

However, high-protein doesn’t necessarily mean more gluten. The sharp edges of the wheat bran can cut gluten strands and interfere with gluten development during the mixing process. So while whole wheat flour doesn’t have less gluten than all-purpose flour (a common misconception), it can develop differently. Thus why recipes often call for adding all-purpose or bread flour (also for flavor purposes, to lighten the wheatiness!).

Here’s a breakdown of flour options for whole wheat bread recipes:

• White whole wheat flour: This is best to use if you don’t want to have to mix multiple flours–it gives you lower gluten content, but all the fiber and health benefits of regular whole wheat flour.
• Whole wheat flour only: This is best to use if you want a strong whole wheat flavor and don’t mind a potentially squatter rise.
• All-purpose flour: For the softest texture and lightest wheat flavor, using a higher ratio of all-purpose flour will soften your loaf significantly and help potentially give it rise.
• Vital wheat gluten: You can add this to any recipe to help boost the gluten content and thus achieve a higher rise and chewier texture.

Sweeteners can change the whole flavor profile

In this bake off, the main sweeteners used were honey, molasses, and granulated or brown sugar. The ratio of sweetener is so small that I don’t think these had a big effect on the texture, but the choice greatly affected the flavor. 

Honey wheat is a classic combination for a reason–as can be seen in taster results. Meanwhile, molasses lends a very distinct flavor to bread (and also technically changes the categorization to brown bread, though I’d argue only if a certain threshold of molasses is crossed). I’d use this sparingly and only if you want the brown bread effect–in which case, using a bit of cocoa is also helpful for color and depth of flavor. For the most neutral sweetness, I would use granulated or light brown sugar. 

And as a wild card, using blended raisins as a sweetener had an effect closest to honey, but with subtle fruity undertones that I really enjoyed.

Oil helps keep bread softer for longer

Similar to sweeteners, the fat percentage in most bread recipes is relatively low, so I don’t think there’s a huge difference between using butter vs. oil in most recipes. But as always, keep in mind that butter in the U.S. is typically 80% butterfat while oil is 100% fat and remains liquid at room temperature.

This means oil is always going to help achieve a slightly softer texture that will stay soft for longer. So while butter will lend a nice flavor (that may get lost underneath the whole wheat and sweetener), oil would generally be my pick if you want to add softness and richness to a loaf of bread.

Food processor

All of the recipes used a stand mixer to knead the dough–except one. Serious Eats calls for a food processor. In the end, I think the food processor achieved a very comparable result. If given the choice, I’ll always use a stand mixer over a food processor to knead dough, simply because the cleanup is easier. But if a food processor is all you have, it can save you some time (and arm strain) versus kneading by hand!

Analysis of all nine whole wheat bread recipes

Jennuine: a soft and sweet, molasses-heavy loaf

Jennuine is one of two recipes that use molasses and is one of three recipes that I placed in the category of brown bread. This used the lowest ratio of whole wheat flour (a 1:3 ratio to all-purpose flour!) with water and a tiny bit of olive oil for moisture. It uses a generous ⅓ cup of molasses, a tablespoon of cocoa for flavor and color, and some sugar and honey, essentially guaranteeing a relatively sweet loaf. This was also the only recipe that called for being baked in the loaf pan before being removed and baked by itself on a sheet pan for an additional 15 minutes.

Unsurprisingly, the primary flavor of this loaf is molasses–nearly every taster commented on this, and most thought the molasses flavor was a bit too strong. There’s virtually none of the bitterness you might expect from a typical whole wheat loaf. The texture is quite moist and squishy with a satisfying compression when you bite in with a very thin and tender crust, though it did verge on almost gummy.

Compared to Amanda Cooks (the other molasses loaf), it’s significantly sweeter and a bit softer in texture. This is a bit sweeter than I’d want for a sandwich bread, though I think it would make a nice dessert toast with peanut butter. It’s perfect for if you’re looking for a sweeter, very molasses-forward brown bread.

Taster comments:

• Very molasses forward, lovely aroma, rich almost more like a molasses bread vs wheat bread very moist and chewy I love!
• This is another sweet one, but there’s a bitter, maybe even smoky edge to it that makes me jump to molasses. Personally, I prefer other kinds of sweetness to my bread, but I like this for its personality. It feels a bit like the darker cousin to the Cheesecake Factory’s Brown Bread. The texture goes a bit gummy, which is the only downside.
• Had a chemically taste. Texture was very good because of denseness and love the color!
• Tastes strongly of molasses. A little too malted and strong for me but good dense, sticky texture. Would like this a lot with a more subtle taste
• I really wish I liked this one because it looked so good! The color was perfect. I just don’t gravitate towards the sweeter tasting breads.
• The texture in this sample has a stickiness that leads to a less than ideal mouthfeel, but the heavy molasses flavor is its downfall. It’s hard to imagine this pairing well with many other ingredients, due to the dominance of its flavor.

Sally’s Baking Addiction: a textbook fluffy whole wheat loaf that has a slight bitter note  

Sally’s recipe is one of only two recipes that use 100% whole wheat flour. She uses water and milk for moisture, butter for fat, and honey for sweetness. It’s perhaps the most straightforward recipe ingredient-wise; the only unusual item is a teaspoon of lemon juice, which is meant to counteract the bitterness of the whole wheat flour.

This bread reminded me EXACTLY of the store-bought whole wheat loaves I grew up eating every week–right down to the sprinkling of oats on top. The interior is incredibly fluffy with an airy stretchiness and a thin, starchy crust. Similarly to Jennuine, there was a squishy quality to the crumb where it compresses in a satisfying way when you take a bite. I absolutely loved the fluffy texture, though the flavor is very savory and not at all sweet. 

Despite the lemon juice, there was still a slight bitterness to the flavor that I didn’t enjoy. A lot of tasters didn’t love the sour/fermented note they picked up in this loaf (which I mostly noticed in the aftertaste). I honestly doubt most would notice these notes once this bread was made into a sandwich though.

Overall, this felt very similar to Tastes Better from Scratch but with a slightly tighter structure and a bit more bitterness. For an extremely fluffy sandwich bread that has relatively low sugar and high fiber, this is a good pick.

Taster comments:

• I felt the fluff!! The texture was light and airy. The flavor was a bit sour, I can’t quite put my finger on what I taste.
• VERY different flavor than the others. Has a funk – a bit sour, almost fermented flavor. Really like the light fluffy texture though.
• This sample has an undertone of off-putting bitterness that dominates its taste. It’s very squishy texture, feels like it would fall apart with sandwiches, and its crust was less distinct than other samples.
• Too whole wheaty and sour
• Light airy texture, flavor is slightly sour which I don’t like, least favorite so far
• Fluffy but a little bland, don’t like how crusty the bread is

Woks of Life: an ethereally airy loaf with a subtle sweetness

Woks of Life is the only recipe of the bunch that uses egg in the dough. It’s cited as minimally adapted from Beth’s Basic Bread Book and uses a mix of water and milk, butter and oil, and sugar and brown sugar. And most importantly, it uses a 1:1 ratio of whole wheat to all-purpose flour.

I appreciated that this had the shortest second rising time of 30 minutes. This calls for the unusual technique of mixing the dough in the mixer after the first rise to get rid of the bubbles (which I don’t think is necessary–you can simply punch down the dough instead of dirtying the mixer again).

This loaf shared many similarities with Sally’s Baking Addiction–it’s an extremely tall loaf that, at first glance, shared a very similar fluffy, airy crumb to Sally’s. However, this crumb is a bit more dry and crumbly in the mouth and while it was quite soft out of the oven for several hours, it dried out faster than others by day two. While I preferred the more moist and squishy crumb of Sally’s loaf, I liked the faintly sweet, not at all bitter flavor of Woks of Life. This would be my pick if you want a really light and airy loaf.

Taster comments:

• REALLY love this one – tastes and feels like a classic country bread – light and fluffy, can’t even tell it’s a whole wheat bread
• Solid all around. The crust was my favorite so far, and I normally don’t even like a lot of crust. Definitely would be a good sandwich bread if I could toast it.
• This sample was notable in its blandness, both in flavor and texture. There was sadly no character to its taste, but it could be a good, neutral foundation for other flavors. The notable difference between top and bottom crusts was not ideal.
• I actually think I could really enjoy this one with some kind of condiment, but on its own, it makes me feel a bit parched, even though I quite like the texture. Soft but doesn’t melt into gumminess, instead falling apart like a well-behaved bread should (lol). It’s just that I feel like if I had it with butter or jam or the like, I wouldn’t feel so much like it’s dry.
• Tastes very plain. Not much flavor and the texture was a bit too mushy for me
• Very generic flavor, the bread itself is soft but crust is sooo dry

Amanda Cooks and Styles: a lightly sweet molasses loaf with a thick yet yielding crumb

Amanda’s recipe is fairly similar to Jennuine’s molasses-heavy recipe with just a couple tweaks. While Jennuine uses a 1:3 ratio of whole wheat to all-purpose flour, Amanda uses closer to a 2:1 ratio. Amanda’s recipe also uses butter instead of oil, a smidge less molasses, but a smidge more honey and cocoa powder. She calls for shaping the loaf and baking it free-form on a sheet pan rather than in a loaf pan at the relatively high temperature of 425°.

Upon first glance, Amanda’s recipe looked the closest to my treasured Garden Deli bread–the color looked right and the somewhat thick and dense crumb also looked on the mark. After tasting it, the flavor is a bit too molasses-forward to be a Garden Deli match, but it’s a much subtler flavor compared to Jennuine. It’s lightly sweet with a slightly denser, hearty crumb that still remains delightfully soft (if a bit crumbly) with a thin and dry crust. For a hearty, lightly sweet, and molasses-forward loaf, this is a great option.

Taster comments:

• Favorite so far, good sweet molasses flavor and soft texture
• More neutral and good texture. I really liked the crust of this one. One of my favorites
• This sample also has a molasses flavor, but it’s not nearly as overpowering as [Jennuine’s] flavor. The texture is also appealing, with an even, stiff, well-defined crust.
• Similar to the Cheesecake Factory bread. Slightly sweet, but doesn’t have a heavy molasses taste. Maybe has a bit of a chocolate flavor. Texture has a tenseness, but still lighter than some of the other ones. Overall I like this one as a more flavorful whole wheat bread! The added flavors definitely neutralize the classic “whole wheat” texture.
• Tasted too strongly of a specific flavor (molasses). Texture was fine
• Like [Jennuine], this also has a smoky bitter note, but this time, it doesn’t really stick the balance. There’s an acridness in the back of my mouth that I’m struggling with. The texture is also on the crumbly dry side. 

Food.com: a denser-crumbed loaf with a satisfying compression and wheaty sweetness

Food.com is the last of our brown bread-esque recipes, though it doesn’t call for molasses. Instead, raisins get blended along with oil, brown sugar, and honey for sweetness and moisture. It uses an almost equal mix of whole wheat and all-purpose flour along with some rye flour, water and powdered milk. Similar to Amanda Cooks, this recipe also calls for shaping and being baked on a sheet pan.

Slicing into this loaf is incredibly satisfying; the relatively close and dense crumb makes for a very clean slice. Though the crumb looks like it would be stiff and a bit crumbly, it was actually just as moist as a loaf like Amanda Cooks with a delightful compression when you bite–it just has a more tight-crumbed structure. Though the beautiful golden hue doesn’t really resemble Garden Deli’s bread, this actually came the closest to replicating the flavor!

I loved the wheaty sweetness of this loaf–it’s significantly sweeter than the fluffy sandwich breads like Woks of Life, Sally’s, and Tastes Better from Scratch, but it doesn’t have the almost pastry-like sweetness of Jennuine. Though I personally would love if the crumb was a tiny bit airier and softer, this flavor was a 10/10 for me.

Taster comments:

• Second favorite! loved the sweetness, the texture was amazing
• Good sturdy, dense texture and a bit sweet, overall like it!
• This one was also really good. Liked the texture and moisture level, has notes of golden syrup that I really liked. 
• Nothing too special but decent flavor and I like how dense this one is, good consistently and slightly sweet- would need a little more flavor
• Gummy and led by a distracting initial flavor that is sweet but not wheat-forward, this dense sample feels limited in its potential applications. The crust is well-defined, probably this sample’s best feature.
• This one was the furthest between the texture and flavor. It needs a not more fluffiness.

Tastes Better From Scratch: quintessential soft and fluffy whole wheat sandwich bread with a balanced flavor

Tastes Better from Scratch is one of two recipes that uses 100% white whole wheat flour, which I suspected would give it a flavor edge–you get the fiber and flavor of whole wheat without the full-throated wheatiness. This uses water for moisture, butter for fat, and honey for sweetness. It also uses a few tablespoons of yogurt for moisture and vital wheat gluten to add back some of the gluten that’s lost in whole wheat flour. Nearly all bread recipes call for at least two rises, but this recipe only calls for a single rise and starting the bake with a cold oven–so you can have a fresh loaf in a little over an hour! (Interesting read on why most bread recipes use two rises. In summary, the second rise gives the yeast more time to work which can lead to a more complex flavor and lighter, chewier texture.)

I was curious to see if the single rise and combination of unusual ingredients would lead to a significantly different outcome than similar recipes–and in the end, I can see why this is consistently one of the top search results. It reminds of store-bought sandwich bread but better–fluffy and delicately soft texture with a moist, airy crumb that almost compresses into a doughy texture in your mouth. Both the texture and flavor are lightly wheaty with a texture that mellows even more overnight. The crust is fairly thin and actually has the same flavor as the rest of the bread. 

It’s not at all bitter with a very neutral flavor and the slightest hint of sweetness–a very balanced whole wheat sandwich bread that retained moisture quite well overnight. It looks very similar to Sally’s Baking Addiction and Woks of Life, but I would say this is the softest and sweetest of the bunch. This is my pick for quintessential sandwich bread (that also happens to be fast to make)!

Taster comments:

• Doughy/dense touch but light at the same time- great texture!!
• Very soft, chewy nice bite, moist with a nice wheat flavor
• I liked the slight sourness that wasn’t overpowering. Good balance of bounciness and denseness.
• Ultimately, I think plain old bread is mostly about whether the texture fits what you like. I actually loved how plush this one felt in-hand, but once I was chewing it, it got just a slight bit gummy, and the actual crumb felt weirdly dry on the tongue? Weirdly because it feels quite plush, and I usually associate that with moistness. Extremely neutral flavor.
• Too soft and you can taste the grains of the wheat. reminds me of store bought sandwich bread
• While the taste was initially pleasantly sweet, it quickly shifted into an unpleasantly bitter flavor, with a lingering aftertaste. The texture was close to ideal, squishy, with a distinct crush, if slightly on the softer side.

Serious Eats: a slightly sour, wheat-forward, airy loaf with a slight chew

As usual, Serious Eats’ recipe caught my eye with its unusual technique: first, it uses a food processor instead of a stand mixer to mix the ingredients and develop the gluten. Second, it calls for an autolyse, which adds 2.5 hours to the total recipe time. This autolyse is meant to 1) kick off the gluten formation and 2) soften the bran and germ for a lighter, softer loaf. In total, this recipe calls for nearly 6 hours of rising time, which is far more than most other recipes. Like Sally’s Baking Addiction, this recipe calls for 100% whole wheat flour and actually might be the simplest recipe ingredients-wise with just six ingredients.

I will own up to some baker’s error here as I’m pretty sure I overproofed this recipe while waiting for the oven to come to temp. The crumb looks far more open and coarse than it does in the photos. However, I still think we can get a good sense of what the recipe was intended to be. This falls into the category of breads that are definitely not intended to be sweet, but it’s also not at all bitter–it’s fairly middle of the road with a notable sodium level.

The more savory, salty profile of this bread is highlighted by the sour notes that take this loaf closer to the realm of sourdough than the rest. There’s a strong wheatiness to this loaf that several tasters remarked on–while other recipes might feel like a hybrid whole wheat loaf, this feels truly like whole wheat bread. Perfect if you want a hearty slice with plenty of airiness, a slight chew, and a subtle sour note.

Taster comments:

• The flavor is a standout. This sample tastes the most like wheat of any sample and is absolutely delicious on its own.
• Second favorite one–light but nice airy texture. Really like the crust, nice depth of flavor (nutty, buttery)
• Much more salt in this one than the other breads. Gives it a savory profile. Just a touch of sourness, that makes it feel reminiscent of a sourdough bread. The classic whole wheat flavor is still pretty strong in this one though.
• A slightly sour note that feels more like it might be intentional! There’s a *real* wheatiness to this rather than the “neutral wheat hotel” thing that I don’t really understand in most whole wheat breads! The texture isn’t anything to write home about for me, but I bet this makes a killer bread to soak up some corn chowder.
• I appreciated how it was thick, yet not dense. The flavor was neutral enough that I could imagine myself eating it with any spread.
• Drier than what I would like, very airy not as dense as any of the others, nice round flavor

King Arthur: a perfectly sweet honey wheat loaf with a tight but soft crumb

King Arthur is our second loaf that uses 100% white whole wheat flour, though they’ve rebranded their own version of this to “Golden Wheat Flour.” It’s a pretty straightforward recipe that calls for water along with dry milk, oil, and honey, a double rise and a bake at 350°. This was one of the most requested recipes, so even though it didn’t look that exciting to me, I included it–and I’m glad I did!

This had a relatively small rise, so I was concerned that I had underproofed the loaf before comparing the interior to the photos. I do think this is meant to be a “fine-grained” loaf that won’t reach the tall, mushroom heights of other loaves. Similar to Food.com, it has a relatively tight, stiff, dense-looking crumb that’s actually pleasingly soft, bouncy, and almost doughy when you bite into it. And this was one of my favorites flavor-wise! The honey flavor really permeates the palate, and the crust is so thin and pleasantly wheaty that it almost blends into the creamy interior. Again, this loaf felt sweet but still within the reasonable realm of sweetness for whole wheat bread–one of my overall favorites!

Taster comments:

• BEST. Love the sweet taste and the denseness
• Whereas the initial sweetness of several other samples dissipated, it remained pleasingly consistent in this sample. The thick crust and even crumb on this sample would make it ideal for toast.
• Dense and cakey, a little sweet. Somehow like it more than [Tastes Better from Scratch] I think because it’s even more dense
• Very dense, slightly less sticky than [Tastes Better from Scratch], but still a sticky mouthfeel. Flavor is nice – slightly sweet. Maybe a slight olive oil flavor
• This one leaned a little sweet, which I personally like for a whole wheat bread. The taste of wheat on its own feels almost like water to me — too neutral to pin down.
• It was too dense for my liking. There was this sweetness that I don’t love for whole wheat bread. I don’t think I could eat this with any savory spreads because the sweetness would have come through.

The Fresh Loaf: a loose and soft crumb with a balanced sweetness and density

The Fresh Loaf is a recipe developed in hopes of recreating the rolls at The Good Earth, an old health food chain in California. It caught my eye for its use of evaporated milk, though the recipe notes that you can sub this for regular milk or even plant-based milk. Similar to Serious Eats, it calls for soaking the flour (a mix of whole wheat and bread or all-purpose flour) for an hour prior to mixing the bread in hopes of softening the wheat bran and releasing some sugars. It calls for honey for sweetness, but there’s no added fat in this recipe besides the fat content of the evaporated milk.

This loaf felt like a combination of a few different recipes–it has the low rise of King Arthur with the moist, soft crumb of Tastes Better from Scratch with a more neutral wheaty sweetness that falls somewhere between Food.com and Amanda Cooks. To me, this might be the best balance if you want a soft and fluffy sandwich bread that’s not bland but also not SO noticeably sweet. There’s a more substantial density to this crumb compared to Tastes Better from Scratch that still remains soft and airy. With great flavor and texture, this was the crowd favorite!

Taster comments:

• Chewy, moist, great overall texture, love the flavor – this is a winner!
• Delicious! While slightly denser than preferable, this sample has an outstanding honey flavor that would be great on its own or in a sandwich. I would happily take down half a loaf of this.
• I actually really like the flavor of this one because it has the sweetness level I think I prefer in a whole wheat bread. To me, whole wheat bread that has that sweet note always makes me think of honey, regardless of whether there’s honey involved or not.
• Another great one. I really enjoyed the texture and taste. Denser than the average
• Mochi-like sticky texture. Slightly less dense than [King Arthur]. Flavor is light, maybe slightly metallic, but better than a lot of the others in my opinion
• Didn’t like the denser texture as much but liked the flavor

Recommendations

• Crowd favorite: The Fresh Loaf
• Erika’s picks: King Arthur, Food.com, The Fresh Loaf
• Best fluffy sandwich bread: Tastes Better from Scratch, Woks of Life, Sally’s Baking Addiction
• Best whole wheat-forward bread: Serious Eats
• Best sweet whole wheat bread: King Arthur
• Best brown bread: Food.com, Amanda Cooks & Styles

In case the below notes help, this is how I would categorize all of the bake off recipes:

From softest to least soft texture:

• Tastes Better from Scratch
• Sally’s Baking Addiction
• Woks of Life
• Serious Eats
• Amanda Cooks & Styles
• Jennuine
• Fresh Loaf
• Food.com
• King Arthur

From sweetest to least sweet flavor:

• Jennuine
• King Arthur
• Food.com
• Fresh Loaf
• Amanda Cooks
• Tastes Better from Scratch
• Woks of Life
• Serious Eats
• Sally’s Baking Addiction

Happy baking!