Just noticed this while trying to build the "Improved Coke Oven" from the FTB: Interactions modpack.
The ICO requires the hatches to be placed in their particular order. I can understand needing to ensure enough/appropriate hatches for the needed recipes, so perhaps this could provide some brainstorming on a viable format.

Perhaps a solution would be to use local variables, within the same json. You could specify, as a part,:
{ "elements": "@self:bushatches"}

then under the root of the json:
{ "variables": { "bushatches": [ { "modularmachinery:blockfluidoutputshatch": { "max": 2, "min": 1 } }, { "modularmachinery:blockinputbus": { "max": 1, "min": 1 } }, { "minecraft:stone": { "filler": true } }, { "minecraft:dirt": { "filler": true } } } }

Hopefully this sparks some ideas, and some fun-ctionality!