Importing recipes

dough’s import pipeline uses AI to extract structured recipe data from a wide range of sources. Every import goes through a review step where you confirm and edit the extracted recipe before it enters your library.

How importing works

Every import follows the same lifecycle:

1. You provide a source — a URL, social media link, image upload, or WordPress connection.
2. dough extracts the recipe — using a combination of structured data parsing, OCR, audio transcription, and AI.
3. You review the result — dough shows you the extracted title, ingredients, instructions, timing, photos, and suggested dietary tags. You can edit anything.
4. You save to your library — the confirmed recipe is added to your library as a Draft.

Note

dough never publishes or modifies an imported recipe without your review. You always see the extracted result and approve it before it enters your library.

Import sources

URL

Importing from a URL

Best for: blog posts, recipe websites, any page with a recipe on it.

1. Go to Library > Import Recipe > From URL.
2. Paste the full URL of the recipe page.
3. Click Import.

How it works:

• dough fetches the page and looks for structured recipe data (schema.org Recipe markup). Most recipe websites and WordPress recipe plugins output this data.
• If structured data is found and complete, dough uses it directly with high confidence.
• If structured data is missing or incomplete, dough extracts the visible text from the page and uses AI to parse the recipe.

Tip

URLs from sites that use WP Recipe Maker or Tasty Recipes tend to import with the highest accuracy because they include well-structured recipe data.

Instagram

Importing from Instagram

Best for: recipes shared in Instagram post captions.

1. Go to Library > Import Recipe > From Instagram.
2. Paste the URL of the Instagram post.
3. Click Import.

dough attempts to read the caption text from the post. If the post is from a private account or the platform blocks access, dough will ask you to paste the caption text manually.

Caution

Instagram recipes in captions are often less structured than blog recipes. Expect to do more editing during the review step.

Bulk import from Instagram

If you have many recipe posts on Instagram:

1. Go to Library > Import Recipe > Bulk Instagram Import.
2. Connect your Instagram account via OAuth.
3. dough fetches your recent posts (up to 200) and scores each one for recipe likelihood.
4. Review the list. Mark each post as Import, Skip, or Not a recipe.
5. Selected posts are queued and processed in parallel.

TikTok / Reels

Importing from TikTok or Reels

Best for: recipe videos where you talk through the steps.

1. Go to Library > Import Recipe > From Video.
2. Paste the TikTok or Reel URL.
3. Click Import.

How it works:

• dough downloads the video’s audio track and transcribes it.
• It also extracts keyframes from the video and runs OCR to capture any on-screen text (ingredient lists, step overlays).
• The transcript and OCR text are combined and passed to AI for recipe extraction.

Caution

Videos must be under 10 minutes. Longer videos are rejected. For long-form content, consider importing from YouTube instead.

YouTube

Importing from YouTube

Best for: recipe videos with descriptions or captions.

1. Go to Library > Import Recipe > From YouTube.
2. Paste the YouTube video URL.
3. Click Import.

How it works:

• dough fetches the video description and auto-generated captions (if available).
• Both are combined and passed to AI for recipe extraction.
• If captions are unavailable, dough falls back to the description text only.

Tip

YouTube imports work best when your video description includes a written recipe or ingredient list. If you typically put recipes in the description, your imports will be very accurate.

Screenshot

Importing from a screenshot or photo

Best for: handwritten recipes, recipe cards from books, or screenshots of recipes from apps.

1. Go to Library > Import Recipe > From Image.
2. Upload a JPEG, PNG, HEIC, or WebP image (max 20 MB).
3. Click Import.

dough uses a vision model to read the text in the image and extract recipe data in a single pass. It can handle both typed and handwritten text.

Note

Handwritten recipes may have lower extraction confidence. Review the results carefully and expect to make corrections.

WordPress

Syncing from WordPress

Best for: creators who already have recipes on a WordPress site using WP Recipe Maker or Tasty Recipes.

WordPress sync is an ongoing connection, not a one-time import. See WordPress sync setup for full configuration instructions.

How sync works:

• dough connects to your WordPress site using a WordPress Application Password.
• It detects whether you use WP Recipe Maker or Tasty Recipes and fetches recipes through the appropriate API.
• New recipes are imported as Drafts. Updated recipes have their ingredients, instructions, and timing refreshed — but your edits to the title, description, notes, and photos in dough are preserved.
• Recipes deleted from WordPress are flagged for your review in dough, not automatically deleted.

Sync runs on demand or automatically every 24 hours.

Reviewing imported recipes

After dough extracts a recipe, you see a review screen with all the extracted data. Here is what to look for:

Confidence indicators

dough shows a confidence score for the overall extraction and for individual fields. Fields with low confidence (below 70%) are highlighted so you can give them extra attention.

Dietary tag suggestions

dough suggests dietary tags based on the ingredients. These tags start as unconfirmed. You can confirm, remove, or add tags during review. Only confirmed tags are used for subscriber segmentation later.

Duplicate detection

If dough finds a recipe in your library with a very similar title (85% or higher similarity), it flags the import as a possible duplicate and shows you the matching recipe. You can choose to continue importing (creating a second copy) or skip.

Photos

For URL imports, dough pulls photos from the source page. For video imports, dough may extract a thumbnail. You can remove any extracted photos and upload your own.

Import errors

If something goes wrong during import, dough shows a clear error message:

Situation	What you will see
URL could not be reached	”Could not reach this URL. Please try again or paste the recipe text manually.”
No recipe found in the source	”We couldn’t extract a recipe from this source. Try pasting the text directly.”
Video too long	”Videos must be under 10 minutes. Try a shorter clip.”
Image too large	”Images must be under 20 MB.”
Low confidence extraction	The recipe is shown for review with a warning banner: “This extraction has low confidence. Please review carefully.”

Tip

If an automated import fails or produces poor results, you can always create the recipe manually. Go to Library > New Recipe and type it in yourself.