Baker's percentage calculator
In baker's percentages every ingredient is a share of the flour weight, so flour is always 100%. Enter your weights to see the hydration and salt percentage of your dough, or enter percentages to get grams.
Runs in your browser: nothing you enter is sent anywhere.
How to use it
- Choose what you want to calculate. For percentages from weights, enter the weight of flour and of each other ingredient.
- For weights from percentages, enter the flour weight and the percentage of each other ingredient.
- The results appear as you type.
How it works
Percentage = ingredient weight ÷ flour weight × 100. Weight = flour weight × percentage ÷ 100. The total dough is flour plus all other ingredients, and its percentage is that total divided by the flour.
Worked example
You use 1000 g flour, 700 g water, 20 g salt and 5 g yeast. Water: 700 ÷ 1000 = 70% hydration. Salt: 20 ÷ 1000 = 2%. Yeast: 5 ÷ 1000 = 0.5%. Total: 1725 g, which is 172.5%.
In the other direction, 500 g flour with 65% water, 2.5% salt and 0.4% yeast needs 325 g water, 12.5 g salt and 2 g yeast.
Tips
- Scaling a formula is now a single step: change the flour weight and every other weight follows.
- Compare formulas by percentages, not by weights: a 65% and a 75% hydration dough are very different even if the loaves are the same size.
- For pizza, the pizza dough calculator works backward from the number of dough balls. For yeast types see the yeast conversion calculator.
Frequently asked questions
What is baker's percentage?
A way of writing a formula in which each ingredient is given as a percentage of the total flour weight, not of the whole dough. Flour is therefore always 100%, and 700 g of water with 1000 g of flour is 70% hydration. The percentages normally add up to more than 100%.
What is hydration?
Hydration is the weight of water divided by the weight of flour, times 100. A dough with 350 g of water and 500 g of flour has 70% hydration. Higher hydration gives a wetter, stickier dough that is harder to handle.
How do I count a starter or other liquids?
For a quick estimate put the whole weight of a starter or milk in the Other field. For a precise hydration, split a starter into its flour and water first (a 100% hydration starter is half flour, half water) and add those to the flour and water entries.
Why is the total more than 100%?
Because flour is the base of 100% and everything else is added on top of it. A dough of 100% flour, 70% water, 2% salt and 0.5% yeast totals 172.5%, so 1725 g of dough for each 1000 g of flour.
Can I use ounces instead of grams?
Yes. The percentages are ratios, so they are the same in any unit as long as every entry uses it. The "g" shown next to the boxes is only a label.