Baker's Percentage Calculator
This baker's percentage calculator turns a bread or pizza formula into exact ingredient weights. In baker's percentages, flour is always 100% and every other ingredient is a percentage of the flour weight, so the same formula works for one loaf or twenty. Enter the flour weight, or the number and size of dough pieces you want, and get every ingredient in grams or ounces.
It also works in reverse. Enter the weights from a recipe you already use and the calculator shows each ingredient as a baker's percentage along with the dough hydration. Starter is handled properly: the flour and water inside a sourdough starter are counted in the total hydration. Four example formulas get you started.
Baker's Percentage Calculator
How to Use the Baker's Percentage Calculator
- 1
Pick a mode
Choose From flour weight, From dough weight (number of pieces times weight per piece) or Weights to % to convert an existing recipe.
- 2
Load or build a formula
Select an example formula, or edit the ingredient list: rename rows, set each one as Liquid, Starter or Other, add ingredients or remove them.
- 3
Enter your numbers
Type the flour weight or piece count and size, then the percentage (or weight, in reverse mode) for each ingredient. Switch on ounces if you prefer.
- 4
Read the weights and hydration
The results table lists flour, each ingredient and the total dough with percentages and weights. Hydration appears at the top, including starter when you have one.
How baker's percentages work
Baker's percentages express each ingredient as a share of the total flour weight, not of the whole dough. If a formula says water 70% and salt 2%, then 1,000 g of flour takes 700 g of water and 20 g of salt. Because the percentages add up to more than 100, the total dough weight is flour times the total percentage.
To make a set amount of dough, the calculator works backwards: it divides the target dough weight by the total percentage to find the flour, then applies each percentage. Hydration is the liquid weight divided by flour weight. With a sourdough starter, a 100% hydration starter is half flour and half water, so those amounts are added to the flour and water totals.
Ingredient weight = flour x % / 100. Flour for a target = dough weight / (total % / 100). Percentage = ingredient / flour x 100. Hydration = (liquid + starter water) / (flour + starter flour) x 100Worked example: four 250 g pizza dough balls
Load the pizza dough example (water 63%, salt 2%, instant yeast 0.5%, olive oil 2%, sugar 1%) and choose From dough weight with 4 pieces of 250 g, for 1,000 g of dough.
- Total percentage: 100 + 63 + 2 + 0.5 + 2 + 1 = 168.5%
- Flour: 1,000 / 1.685 = 593 g
- Water: 593.5 x 0.63 = 374 g
- Salt and olive oil: 12 g each; instant yeast: 3 g; sugar: 5.9 g
- Hydration: 63%. The weights add back to 1,000 g, give or take rounding
Worked example: converting a sourdough recipe
Your recipe uses 1,000 g flour, 750 g water, 200 g starter at 100% hydration and 20 g salt. In Weights to % mode those become water 75%, starter 20% and salt 2%. The liquid alone gives 75% hydration, but the starter adds 100 g of flour and 100 g of water, so the true hydration is (750 + 100) / (1,000 + 100) = 77.3%.
Example formulas in the calculator
These are common starting-point formulas, shown with the weights for 500 g of flour (sourdough for 1,000 g). Adjust them to your flour and taste.
| Formula | Percentages | Weights | Hydration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lean dough / baguette (500 g flour) | Water 70, salt 2, instant yeast 1 | 350 g water, 10 g salt, 5 g yeast; 865 g dough | 70% |
| Pizza, New York style (500 g flour) | Water 63, salt 2, yeast 0.5, olive oil 2, sugar 1 | 315 g water, 10 g salt, 2.5 g yeast, 10 g oil, 5 g sugar | 63% |
| Sandwich loaf (500 g flour) | Water or milk 60, salt 2, yeast 1.5, sugar 6, butter 8 | 300 g liquid, 10 g salt, 7.5 g yeast, 30 g sugar, 40 g butter; 888 g dough | 60% |
| Sourdough (1,000 g flour) | Water 70, starter 20 (100% hydration), salt 2 | 700 g water, 200 g starter, 20 g salt | 72.7% with starter |
Tips and common mistakes
- Count all flours as the 100%. If you use 800 g bread flour and 200 g whole wheat, flour is 1,000 g.
- Milk is about 87% water and butter about 80% fat, so an enriched dough feels stiffer than its liquid percentage suggests. This calculator counts the whole weight of anything marked Liquid.
- Yeast type matters. Instant yeast percentages are lower than fresh yeast; fresh yeast is often used at about three times the weight of instant.
- Whole grain flours absorb more water. The same hydration feels drier with whole wheat than with white flour.
- Weigh salt and yeast on a scale that reads 0.1 g. Small errors there have a big effect on flavor and rise.
Features
- Ingredient weights from flour weight or target dough weight
- Reverse mode: weights to baker's percentages
- Editable ingredient list with liquid, starter and other types
- Hydration including sourdough starter flour and water
- Example formulas: lean dough, pizza, sandwich loaf, sourdough
- Grams or ounces
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you calculate baker's percentage?
Divide the weight of each ingredient by the total flour weight and multiply by 100. Flour is always 100%. For a recipe with 500 g flour, 350 g water and 10 g salt, water is 350 / 500 x 100 = 70% and salt is 10 / 500 x 100 = 2%. The percentages add up to more than 100 because they are relative to flour.
What is dough hydration?
Hydration is the weight of water (or other liquid) as a percentage of flour weight. A dough with 1,000 g flour and 700 g water is 70% hydration. Lower hydration, around 58 to 65%, gives a firmer dough for sandwich bread and many pizzas; 70 to 80% gives a more open, slack dough typical of baguettes, ciabatta and many sourdoughs.
How do I calculate flour for a target dough weight?
Add up all the baker's percentages including flour at 100%, then divide the dough weight by that total over 100. For 1,000 g of pizza dough at 168.5% total, flour is 1,000 / 1.685 = 593 g. Then multiply 593 g by each ingredient's percentage to get its weight.
Does sourdough starter count toward hydration?
Yes, for the true hydration. A 100% hydration starter is equal parts flour and water, so 200 g of starter adds 100 g flour and 100 g water. With 1,000 g flour and 700 g water, simple hydration is 70%, but total hydration is 800 / 1,100 = 72.7%. The calculator shows both when a Starter row is present.
How much salt should bread dough have?
Most bread and pizza formulas use about 1.8 to 2.2% salt by flour weight, with 2% being the most common. For 500 g of flour that is 10 g of salt. Some Neapolitan pizza formulas go higher, near 2.5 to 3%. Salt strengthens gluten and slows fermentation, so large changes also affect how the dough behaves.
Can I use baker's percentages in ounces?
Yes. Percentages work with any unit of weight, as long as every ingredient uses the same one. Switch on Use ounces instead of grams and enter the flour in ounces. Grams are more precise for small amounts like yeast and salt, which is why most baking formulas are written in grams.
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