Calculator
Baker's Percentage Calculator
Pick a preset. Set your target flour weight. Get exact grams for water, salt, yeast, fat, and the rest. Adjust hydration with a slider. Save your own variations.
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bread
Lean bread (rustic boule, baguette, ciabatta)
| Ingredient | Grams | % of flour |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 500g | 100% |
| Water | 350g | 70% |
| Salt | 10g | 2% |
| Instant yeast | 4g | 0.8% |
| Total dough | 864g | — |
1 large loaf
864 g each
2 medium loaves
432 g each
4 small / rolls
216 g each
Cold autolyse 30 min before adding salt for stronger gluten. Bake at 240C / 465F with steam first 15 min.
Baker's percentage
Every ingredient is weighed as a percent of the flour. Flour is always 100%. Water at 65% of 500g flour = 325g water. Switching flour weight rescales the whole recipe automatically, so the same ratios hit at any batch size.
How baker's percentage works
Professional bakers express every ingredient as a percent of the total flour weight, never as a fixed quantity. Flour is always 100%. Water at 65% means 65g water per 100g flour. Salt at 2% means 2g salt per 100g flour. The ratios stay constant no matter how big the batch.
Why it matters: doubling a recipe by feel is error-prone. Doubling by ratio is bulletproof. Same dough, same hydration, same crumb at 500g or 5kg of flour.
Hydration cheat sheet
- 55-60%: Bagels, pretzels, pizza Napoletana. Stiff, easy to shape.
- 62-68%: Sandwich bread, dinner rolls, NY pizza. Soft but holds shape.
- 70-75%: Country boule, ciabatta. Open crumb, needs gentle handling.
- 75-85%: Focaccia, very wet sourdough. Slap-and-fold instead of kneading.
- 85%+: Master baker territory. Loose, sticky, big holes, deep flavour.
Salt, yeast & starter percentages
- Salt 1.8-2.2%: 2% is the sweet spot. Above 2.5% slows yeast. Below 1.5% reads bland.
- Instant yeast 0.5-1.5%: 0.8% for a 4h same-day rise. 0.2% for a 24-72h cold ferment.
- Sourdough starter 15-25%: 20% (at 100% hydration) is a balanced levain inoculation.
- Butter 6-10%: Soft sandwich loaf. Brioche jumps to 40-60%.
- Sugar 1-8%: 1% for browning only. 6-8% for sweet enriched bread.
Sources
Default percentages cross-referenced against King Arthur Baking ratio guides, Serious Eats Food Lab pizza and sourdough articles, and America's Test Kitchen bread chapter. Hydration ranges reflect what each style stays workable within — push beyond the max for advanced wet doughs at your own risk.