Pizza dough calculator
Say how many dough balls you want, how heavy each one is and your formula as baker's percentages. The calculator works out how much flour, water, salt, oil and yeast to weigh.
Runs in your browser: nothing you enter is sent anywhere.
How to use it
- Enter how many dough balls you want and how much each should weigh.
- Set your formula: hydration, salt, instant yeast and optional oil, each as a percent of the flour weight.
- Weigh the amounts shown. Use the active dry or fresh yeast line if that is what you have.
How it works
All percentages are baker’s percentages, a share of the flour weight. The sum of flour and everything added is the total dough weight (balls × weight per ball). The tool solves for flour first and then multiplies it by each percentage.
Worked example
4 balls × 250 g = 1000 g of dough, with 62% water, 2.5% salt and 0.5% instant yeast. The sum is 1 + 0.62 + 0.025 + 0.005 = 1.65, so flour is 1000 ÷ 1.65 = 606 g. Water is 606 × 0.62 = 376 g, salt 15.2 g and instant yeast 3.03 g.
Tips
- Keep salt and yeast on a scale accurate to 0.1 g or better; a measuring spoon is imprecise for such small amounts.
- To understand a formula in reverse, use the baker’s percentage calculator.
- Cups and spoons can be converted with the ingredient converter.
Frequently asked questions
What are good starting percentages for pizza dough?
There is no single right answer: styles, flours, ovens and rise times all change the formula, and the yeast amount depends heavily on how long the dough rises. The defaults here (62% water, 2.5% salt, 0.5% instant yeast) are only an example to start from.
How is the amount of flour calculated?
Total dough weight is flour times (1 + hydration + salt + yeast + oil), each as a fraction of the flour. So flour = total dough ÷ that sum. With 4 balls of 250 g (1000 g) and a sum of 1.65, flour is 606 g.
How do I use active dry or fresh yeast instead?
The yeast percentage is for instant yeast. The tool also shows active dry yeast at 1.25 times and fresh yeast at 3 times that weight, which are common rules of thumb; packages differ, so check yours.
How heavy should a pizza dough ball be?
It depends on the size and thickness you want, so there is no fixed value. Weigh one finished pizza base you like and use that weight here.
Should I add extra dough for waste?
Some dough sticks to the bowl and the bench. Add one extra ball to the count, or increase the ball weight by a few percent, if you do not want to run short.