Baker's Percentage Calculator
Master baker's math. Convert recipes to percentages, scale to any flour weight, or calculate hydration. Essential for bread bakers who want consistent, reproducible results every time.
ℹ️ Baker's Percentage Reference
Hydration Levels
- 55-65%: Sandwich bread, bagels
- 65-72%: Artisan bread, baguettes
- 75-85%: Ciabatta, focaccia
- 85%+: High-hydration sourdough
Standard Ranges
- Salt: 1.8-2.5% (2% standard)
- Instant yeast: 0.5-1.5%
- Active dry: 0.7-2%
- Sourdough starter: 10-30%
Real-World Baker's Percentage Examples
See how professional bakers and home bread enthusiasts use baker's percentages to create perfect, scalable recipes.
Converting a Family Recipe to Baker's Percentages
Your grandmother's bread recipe uses cups and tablespoons. You want to convert it to baker's percentages so you can scale it precisely for any batch size.
Original Recipe (weighed):
- • All-purpose flour: 480g (4 cups)
- • Water: 288g (1¼ cups)
- • Milk: 60g (¼ cup)
- • Butter: 28g (2 tbsp)
- • Salt: 10g (2 tsp)
- • Instant yeast: 7g (1 packet)
Converted to Baker's Percentages:
- • Flour: 100%
- • Water: 60% (288 ÷ 480 × 100)
- • Milk: 12.5% (60 ÷ 480 × 100)
- • Butter: 5.8% (28 ÷ 480 × 100)
- • Salt: 2.1% (10 ÷ 480 × 100)
- • Yeast: 1.5% (7 ÷ 480 × 100)
- • Total hydration: ~66% (water + milk water content)
Pro tip: Now you can make this bread with any flour amount. For a smaller batch with 300g flour, multiply each percentage by 3 to get your weights.
Scaling a Sourdough Recipe for a Bakery
A home baker's sourdough recipe makes 2 loaves. A bakery needs to scale it to make 24 loaves. Baker's percentages make this trivial.
Home Recipe Formula:
- • Bread flour: 100%
- • Whole wheat flour: 10%
- • Water: 72%
- • Salt: 2%
- • Levain (100% hydration): 20%
- • Home batch: 500g total flour = 2 loaves (~900g each)
Scaled for 24 Loaves (6000g flour):
- • Bread flour: 5455g (100% of 5455)
- • Whole wheat: 545g (10%)
- • Water: 4320g (72%)
- • Salt: 120g (2%)
- • Levain: 1200g (20%)
- • Total dough: ~12.6kg
Pro tip: When scaling up significantly, reduce yeast/starter by 10-15% as larger doughs ferment faster due to mass retention of heat. The bakery might use 18% levain instead of 20%.
Adjusting Hydration for Different Flours
You have a 65% hydration white bread formula that works perfectly. You want to make a 50% whole wheat version but need to adjust hydration.
Original White Bread Formula:
- • Bread flour: 100%
- • Water: 65%
- • Salt: 2%
- • Yeast: 1%
- • Dough texture: smooth, slightly tacky
Adjusted 50% Whole Wheat Formula:
- • Bread flour: 50%
- • Whole wheat flour: 50%
- • Water: 72% (+7% for whole wheat absorption)
- • Salt: 2%
- • Yeast: 1%
- • Result: Similar dough texture to original
Pro tip: Whole wheat absorbs 5-10% more water than white flour. Rye absorbs even more. When substituting, add water gradually until you match your target dough consistency.
Calculating True Hydration with Levain
Your sourdough recipe shows 70% hydration, but you're using a levain that also contains flour and water. What's the TRUE hydration?
Recipe as Written:
- • Bread flour: 400g
- • Water: 280g (shown as "70%")
- • Salt: 8g
- • Levain at 100% hydration: 100g
True Hydration Calculation:
- • Levain breakdown: 50g flour + 50g water (100% hydration)
- • Total flour: 400g + 50g = 450g
- • Total water: 280g + 50g = 330g
- • True hydration: 330 ÷ 450 × 100 = 73.3%
- • Difference: 3.3% higher than listed!
Pro tip: Always calculate true hydration including levain contributions. This is especially important when comparing recipes or troubleshooting a too-wet or too-dry dough.
Creating a Pizza Dough Formula from Scratch
You want to develop a Neapolitan-style pizza dough. Start with standard percentages and calculate exact weights for 4 pizza balls (250g each).
Target Neapolitan Formula:
- • Tipo 00 flour: 100%
- • Water: 60%
- • Salt: 3%
- • Fresh yeast: 0.2% (or 0.07% instant)
- • Target: 4 x 250g dough balls = 1000g total dough
Calculated Weights:
- • Total percentage: 100 + 60 + 3 + 0.2 = 163.2%
- • Flour weight: 1000g ÷ 1.632 = 613g
- • Water: 613 × 0.60 = 368g
- • Salt: 613 × 0.03 = 18g
- • Fresh yeast: 613 × 0.002 = 1.2g
- • Total: 1000g → 4 dough balls
Pro tip: Neapolitan pizza uses 55-62% hydration for that chewy, foldable crust. New York style goes to 63-65%. Roman style can be 75%+. Adjust hydration to your preferred style.
Developing a Brioche Formula with High Fat
Brioche is an enriched dough where butter can exceed the weight of water. Baker's percentages still work perfectly for these rich doughs.
Rich Brioche Formula:
- • Bread flour: 100%
- • Eggs: 50% (eggs are ~75% water, ~12% fat)
- • Butter: 50%
- • Sugar: 12%
- • Salt: 2%
- • Milk: 10%
- • Fresh yeast: 4%
For 500g Flour Batch:
- • Flour: 500g
- • Eggs: 250g (~5 large eggs)
- • Butter: 250g (softened)
- • Sugar: 60g
- • Salt: 10g
- • Milk: 50g
- • Fresh yeast: 20g
- • Total dough: ~1140g
Pro tip: For brioche, incorporate butter slowly after the dough has developed gluten. The high fat percentage (50%+) makes this dough very rich and requires cold fermentation for best handling.
Understanding Baker's Percentages
Baker's percentage is the universal language of bread baking. It lets you scale recipes infinitely and compare formulas at a glance. Once you understand it, you'll never go back to cup measurements.
The Core Concept
- Flour is always 100% — it's your reference point
- Everything else is relative to flour — water, salt, yeast, etc.
- Percentages can exceed 100% — they're "parts per 100 parts flour"
- Total percentage tells dough consistency — higher = wetter
Common Bread Formulas by Style
| Bread Type | Flour | Water | Salt | Yeast/Starter | Fat/Oil | Skill Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic White Bread | 100% | 65% | 2% | 1% instant | 0-3% | Beginner |
| Sandwich Loaf | 100% | 60-62% | 2% | 1% instant | 5-7% | Beginner |
| Country Sourdough | 100% | 70-75% | 2% | 20% levain | 0% | Intermediate |
| French Baguette | 100% | 68-72% | 2% | 0.5% + poolish | 0% | Advanced |
| Ciabatta | 100% | 75-85% | 2% | 0.7% + biga | 3% | Advanced |
| Focaccia | 100% | 75-80% | 2.5% | 0.5% instant | 10-15% | Intermediate |
| Bagels | 100% | 50-55% | 2% | 0.5% instant | 0-2% | Intermediate |
| Brioche | 100% | 10-15% | 2% | 3-4% fresh | 50%+ butter | Advanced |
| Pizza (NY Style) | 100% | 63-65% | 2.5% | 0.5% instant | 3% oil | Beginner |
| Pizza (Neapolitan) | 100% | 58-62% | 3% | 0.2% fresh | 0% | Intermediate |
| Rye Bread | 100%* | 70-80% | 1.8% | 25% rye sour | 0% | Advanced |
*Rye bread flour totals may include mixed flours (e.g., 60% rye, 40% bread flour = 100%)
Hydration Ranges and Dough Behavior
| Hydration | Dough Character | Handling | Best For | Crumb Structure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50-55% | Very stiff | Easy to shape, needs muscle | Bagels, pretzels | Dense, chewy |
| 55-60% | Firm | Easy to shape | Sandwich loaves, rolls | Tight, uniform |
| 60-65% | Manageable | Beginner-friendly | Most breads, pizza | Medium, even |
| 65-70% | Slightly tacky | Requires practice | Artisan breads, pizza | Open, irregular |
| 70-75% | Sticky | Wet hands, bench scraper | Sourdough, baguettes | Large holes possible |
| 75-80% | Very sticky | Minimal handling, folds only | Open crumb breads | Very open, wild |
| 80%+ | Batter-like | Pour/spread, no shaping | Ciabatta, focaccia, pan breads | Extremely open |
How to Use Baker's Percentages
Converting a Recipe to Percentages
- Weigh all ingredients in grams (critical!)
- Identify the total flour weight
- For each ingredient: (weight ÷ flour weight) × 100 = percentage
Example:
500g flour, 325g water, 10g salt, 5g yeast
Water: 325 ÷ 500 × 100 = 65%
Salt: 10 ÷ 500 × 100 = 2%
Yeast: 5 ÷ 500 × 100 = 1%
Scaling a Recipe to a Target Flour Weight
- Decide your desired flour weight
- For each ingredient: (percentage ÷ 100) × flour weight = ingredient weight
Example (scaling to 1000g flour):
Formula: 100% flour, 65% water, 2% salt, 1% yeast
Flour: 1000g
Water: 0.65 × 1000 = 650g
Salt: 0.02 × 1000 = 20g
Yeast: 0.01 × 1000 = 10g
Scaling to a Target Dough Weight
- Add up all percentages (e.g., 100 + 65 + 2 + 1 = 168%)
- Divide target dough weight by total percentage: flour = dough ÷ (total% / 100)
- Calculate other ingredients from the flour weight
Example (making 1000g total dough):
Formula: 100% + 65% + 2% + 1% = 168%
Flour: 1000 ÷ 1.68 = 595g
Water: 595 × 0.65 = 387g
Salt: 595 × 0.02 = 12g
Yeast: 595 × 0.01 = 6g
Total: 1000g
Common Ingredient Percentage Ranges
| Ingredient | Typical Range | Standard | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salt | 1.8-2.5% | 2% | Higher for enriched doughs, lower for health |
| Instant Yeast | 0.3-1.5% | 0.5-1% | Less for long ferments, more for quick breads |
| Active Dry Yeast | 0.5-2% | 0.7-1.2% | Use 25% more than instant yeast |
| Fresh Yeast | 1-4% | 2-3% | Use 3× the instant yeast amount |
| Sourdough Starter | 10-30% | 20% | Lower = slower ferment, more flavor |
| Oil | 0-15% | 3-5% | Softens crust, extends freshness |
| Butter | 0-60% | 5-15% | Brioche can be 50%+ |
| Sugar | 0-15% | 5-8% | Feeds yeast, browns crust |
| Eggs | 0-60% | 10-25% | Enriches, adds structure and color |
| Milk/Dairy | 0-30% | 10-20% | Softens crumb, adds flavor |
Preferment Reference Guide
Preferments are portions of dough fermented before mixing the final dough. Each type has different characteristics that affect flavor, texture, and handling.
| Preferment | Hydration | Yeast % | Ferment Time | Flavor | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poolish | 100% | 0.1-0.5% | 8-16 hours | Mild, wheaty | Baguettes, pizza |
| Biga | 50-60% | 0.1-0.5% | 8-24 hours | Nutty, complex | Ciabatta, Italian breads |
| Pâte Fermentée | 60-65% | 0.5-1% | 1-24 hours | Balanced, bread-like | French breads, baguettes |
| Levain (stiff) | 50-65% | Wild | 4-12 hours | Mild sour, lactic | Country sourdough |
| Levain (liquid) | 100% | Wild | 4-12 hours | Tangy, acetic | San Francisco style |
| Sponge | 65-75% | 1-2% | 1-4 hours | Light, yeasty | Sandwich bread, rolls |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is baker's percentage?
Baker's percentage (also called baker's math) expresses each ingredient as a percentage of the total flour weight. Flour is ALWAYS 100%. If a recipe has 500g flour and 325g water, the water is 65% (325÷500×100). This system makes recipes infinitely scalable and comparable across different batch sizes.
Why don't baker's percentages add up to 100%?
Because flour is always 100% — it's the reference point, not a portion of the whole. A simple bread might be 100% flour + 65% water + 2% salt + 1% yeast = 168% total. This doesn't mean you have 168 units of something — it means for every 100 parts of flour, you have 68 parts of other ingredients. Think of it as 'parts per 100 parts flour.'
How do I calculate hydration percentage?
Hydration = (Total water weight ÷ Total flour weight) × 100. Include ALL water: water in the recipe, water in the starter/levain, water in milk (milk is ~87% water), water in eggs (~75% water). If you have 100g flour + 65g water + 20g levain at 100% hydration (10g flour + 10g water in the levain), true hydration = (65+10)÷(100+10) = 68.2%.
What is a good hydration percentage for bread?
It depends on the bread type and your skill level: 55-60%: Bagels, pretzels (stiff, easy to shape). 60-65%: Sandwich bread, beginners (manageable). 65-70%: Artisan bread, country loaves. 70-75%: Sourdough, baguettes (sticky, needs practice). 75-85%: Ciabatta, focaccia (very wet, advanced). Start lower and increase as you gain experience.
How do I convert a regular recipe to baker's percentages?
1) Weigh all ingredients in grams. 2) Find the total flour weight. 3) For each ingredient: (ingredient weight ÷ flour weight) × 100 = percentage. Example: 500g flour, 325g water, 10g salt, 5g yeast → Flour: 100%, Water: 65%, Salt: 2%, Yeast: 1%.
Do baker's percentages work for pastry and cakes?
They can, but they're less common. Baker's percentages were designed for bread where flour dominates. In pastry and cakes, butter and eggs often outweigh flour, making percentages less intuitive. Some pastry chefs use them, especially for doughs (pie crust, puff pastry, croissants). For cakes, traditional ratios (pound cake = equal parts) are often clearer.
What is inoculation percentage in sourdough?
Inoculation is the percentage of starter/levain relative to total flour. If you use 100g levain in a recipe with 500g flour (and the levain is 100% hydration, so it contains 50g flour), inoculation = levain amount ÷ total flour = 100÷500 = 20%. Higher inoculation (20-30%) = faster fermentation. Lower (10-15%) = slower, more flavor development.
How do I account for flour in my starter when calculating total hydration?
You must include both the flour AND water from your starter in the total calculations. For a 100% hydration starter, it's 50% flour and 50% water. If using 100g of 100% hydration starter, that's 50g flour and 50g water to add to your totals. For a 80% hydration starter, 100g contains 55.5g flour and 44.5g water. This gives you accurate true hydration.
What's the difference between preferment percentage and inoculation?
Preferment percentage is the amount of prefermented dough (poolish, biga, pâte fermentée) relative to total flour. Inoculation typically refers specifically to sourdough starter. Both affect fermentation speed and flavor. A 30% poolish means 30% of your flour was pre-fermented with commercial yeast. A 20% inoculation means you used starter equal to 20% of your final flour weight.
How does altitude affect baker's percentages?
Altitude doesn't change the percentages themselves, but it affects how you might adjust them. At high altitude (5,000+ ft), reduce yeast by 25% (1% becomes 0.75%), increase hydration by 2-4% to compensate for faster moisture loss, and reduce sugar if using. The formulas stay the same—you're just targeting different optimal percentages for your conditions.
Can I use baker's percentages with whole grain flours?
Yes, but whole grain flours absorb more water. When substituting whole wheat for white flour, increase hydration by 5-10%. Rye absorbs even more. A formula might be 80% bread flour, 20% whole wheat, 70% water. If you switch to 100% whole wheat, you might need 75-80% hydration. The percentages still work—whole grains just have different absorption characteristics.
How precise do my measurements need to be?
For salt and yeast, precision matters: 2% vs 2.5% salt is noticeable. Use a scale accurate to 0.1g for small quantities. For flour and water, +/-2% won't ruin your bread but will affect texture. Professional bakers aim for +/-0.5% accuracy. Never estimate salt or yeast—always weigh. For home bakers, a scale with 1g precision is adequate for flour/water, 0.1g for salt/yeast.
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Content referenced from King Arthur Baking, The Perfect Loaf, Serious Eats, Breadtopia, and San Francisco Baking Institute.