Baker’s percentage calculator
Enter a recipe in grams to see its formula, or start from percentages and get exact weights for any batch size. Flour is always 100%.
Calculator
- Total flour
- 1,000g
- Dough weight
- 1,727g
- Hydration
- 70.0%
| Ingredient | Grams | Baker’s % |
|---|---|---|
| Bread flour | 1,000 | 100.0% |
| Water | 700 | 70.0% |
| Salt | 20 | 2.0% |
| Instant yeast | 7.0 | 0.7% |
| Total | 1,727 | 172.7% |
Hydration counts ingredients named water or milk. For levain, eggs and dairy use the hydration calculator.
Why bakers think in percentages
Drag the flour. Every weight on the right changes, but the formula bar doesn’t move at all. That is the point of baker’s percentage: the ratio is the recipe, and grams are just one batch of it.
From one small loaf to a bakery batch, 68% hydration always feels the same in your hands.
| Flour | 500 g |
| Water | 340 g |
| Salt | 10 g |
| Yeast | 5.0 g |
How to read a formula
A baker’s percentage formula lists flour at 100% and every other ingredient as a share of that flour. Professional bakeries and baking schools, from the Bread Bakers Guild of America to textbooks like Jeffrey Hamelman’s Bread, write recipes this way because it makes three things easy:
- Scaling. Multiply flour by each percentage and you have a batch of any size, with no fractions of eggs or cups.
- Comparing. 65% water is a firm sandwich loaf; 80% is an open, slack ciabatta. You can tell what a dough will feel like before you mix it.
- Troubleshooting. Salt usually sits at 1.8–2.2% and instant yeast at 0.5–1.5%. A number far outside the range is a typo worth checking.
Typical ranges
| Ingredient | Usual range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Water (lean bread) | 60–80% | Higher for whole grain and rye |
| Salt | 1.8–2.2% | Neapolitan pizza often 2.5–3% |
| Instant yeast | 0.3–1.5% | Less for long, cold fermentation |
| Levain | 10–30% | Pre-fermented flour at 100% hydration |
| Sugar (enriched) | 5–20% | Above 10% consider osmotolerant yeast |
| Butter (enriched) | 5–60% | Brioche can pass 50% |
The rest of the kit
- 20%Sourdough calculatorLevain, true hydration and loaf scaling in one sheet.
- 72%Hydration calculatorWater for a target hydration, or fix a dough mid-mix.
- 62%Pizza dough calculatorBalls × weight → flour, water, salt, yeast, oil.
- 1:5:5Starter feeding ratio1:1:1 to 1:10:10 for exactly the starter you need.
- ×2Recipe scalerHalve, double or rescale by servings; convert to grams.
- 9"Cake pan converterRound, square or sheet pan: the batter multiplier, drawn to scale.
- 120gCups to gramsCups, spoons and ml to grams for 22 baking ingredients.
- 180°Oven temperature conversion°F, °C, fan oven and gas mark.
- 7gYeast converterFresh, active dry, instant and sourdough starter swaps.
- ¼ tspBaking powder substituteMake it from baking soda plus an acid.
- DDTDesired dough temperatureThe water temperature that lands your dough on target.
Questions bakers ask
What is baker's percentage?
Baker's percentage expresses every ingredient as a percentage of the total flour weight, with flour always counted as 100%. A dough with 1000 g flour and 700 g water is 70% water. Because the numbers are ratios, the same formula works for one loaf or fifty.
Why do the percentages add up to more than 100%?
Only the flour is fixed at 100%; everything else is added on top. A lean bread of 100% flour, 70% water, 2% salt and 1% yeast totals 173%. That total is useful: divide a target dough weight by it to find the flour you need.
How do I calculate baker's percentage by hand?
Divide each ingredient's weight by the total flour weight and multiply by 100. If a recipe uses 400 g bread flour and 100 g whole wheat, total flour is 500 g; 350 g water is 350 ÷ 500 × 100 = 70%.
What counts as flour when there are several?
All flours are added together to make the 100%. So 800 g white plus 200 g rye is 80% white and 20% rye. Seeds, oats and nuts are usually treated as add-ins, not flour, unless you are writing a gluten-free formula and decide otherwise.
How do I turn percentages into a recipe?
Pick a flour weight, or a total dough weight. For a total, divide it by the sum of all percentages to get flour, then multiply flour by each percentage. 1800 g of dough at 173% total is 1040 g flour, 728 g water, 21 g salt and 10 g yeast.
Do eggs, milk and butter count toward hydration?
Baker's percentages list them as their own ingredients. For hydration, bakers commonly count water plus the water inside other ingredients: milk is about 87% water, whole eggs about 75% and butter about 16%. Our hydration calculator does that for you.
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