Baker's Percentage Calculator — Flour, Hydration & Ingredient Weights
See step-by-step calculation
Baker's percentage (also called baker's math) expresses every ingredient as a percentage of total flour weight — flour is always 100%. This system lets you scale any bread recipe up or down instantly, compare hydration levels across formulas, and reproduce results consistently. Enter your flour or target dough weight, set your percentages, and get exact grams for every ingredient.
Baker's percentage expresses every ingredient as a share of flour weight, with flour = 100%. Water at 70% hydration means 70 g of water per 100 g of flour. Formula: ingredient (g) = flour (g) × (baker's % ÷ 100). A standard artisan loaf uses 100% flour, 70–75% water, 2% salt, and 1% instant yeast.
When to use this calculator
- Scaling a sourdough loaf from a 500 g to a 1,000 g flour batch
- Checking whether a ciabatta recipe is lean, standard, or wet dough
- Calculating water needed when switching from fresh to instant yeast
- Formulating a new enriched dough with oil and sugar percentages
- Verifying a bakery production sheet before mixing a large batch
- Converting a recipe written in volume measurements to a baker's percentage formula
How it works
3 min readWhat is Baker's Percentage?
Baker's percentage (also called baker's math) expresses every ingredient as a percentage of total flour weight, with flour always set at 100%. This system enables bakers to scale recipes proportionally, compare hydration levels across formulas, and achieve consistent results regardless of batch size.
For example, 70% hydration means water equals 70% of the flour weight:
The Core Formula
Ingredient weight (g) = Flour weight (g) × (Baker's % ÷ 100)Total dough weight is the sum of all ingredients:
Total dough = Flour × (1 + Hydration% + Salt% + Yeast% + Other%) ÷ 100Hydration Quick-Reference Table
Hydration is the most important variable in dough texture and handling. Use this table to plan your recipe:
| Hydration % | Class | Typical Breads | Handling |
|---|---|---|---|
| < 60% | Lean / Stiff | Bagels, pretzels, stiff rye | Easy to shape, dense crumb |
| 60–64% | Standard low | Sandwich loaves, dinner rolls | Smooth, easy knead |
| 65–69% | Standard high | Baguettes, most home loaves | Good all-purpose range |
| 70–74% | Moderate | Artisan boules, country loaves | Slightly sticky, rewarding |
| 75–79% | Artisan | Sourdough, open-crumb loaves | Requires stretch-and-fold |
| 80–89% | Wet / High | Ciabatta, focaccia | Very sticky, use wet hands |
| ≥ 90% | Slack / Extreme | Pan de cristal, some focaccias | Pour-batter consistency |
Worked Example — Standard Artisan Sourdough
| Ingredient | Baker's % | Calculation | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bread flour | 100% | base | 500 g |
| Water | 75% | 500 × 0.75 | 375 g |
| Salt | 2% | 500 × 0.02 | 10 g |
| Instant yeast | 1% | 500 × 0.01 | 5 g |
| Olive oil | 3% | 500 × 0.03 | 15 g |
| Total | 181% | 905 g |
Baked loaf weight will be approximately 770–815 g (10–15% oven loss).
Calculating from Target Dough Weight
When you know the desired dough weight (e.g., you want exactly 900 g to fill a loaf pan), flour is derived first:
Divisor = 1 + (Hydration + Salt + Yeast + Other) ÷ 100
Flour (g) = Target dough weight ÷ DivisorAll other ingredients then follow from that flour weight.
Common Bread Formulas at a Glance
| Bread | Hydration | Salt | Yeast | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baguette | 65–68% | 2% | 0.3% | Slow cold ferment |
| Sandwich loaf | 62–65% | 2% | 1% | Soft crumb |
| Ciabatta | 78–85% | 2% | 0.5% | Wet, flat shape |
| Focaccia | 75–80% | 2% | 1.5% | + olive oil 5% |
| Bagel | 55–58% | 2% | 1% | Stiff, boiled first |
| Brioche | 55–60% | 1.5% | 1% | + butter 40–50% |
| Sourdough boule | 70–78% | 2% | 0% (levain) | Preferment needed |
Yeast Conversion Notes
This calculator uses instant (dry) yeast as the reference. To convert:
Limitations
Frequently asked questions
What is baker's percentage and why do bakers use it?
Baker's percentage expresses every ingredient as a share of flour weight, with flour always equal to 100%. It lets bakers scale any recipe up or down instantly without recalculating individual ratios, and makes it easy to compare formulas at a glance. A recipe listed as '70% hydration, 2% salt, 1% yeast' communicates everything a baker needs regardless of batch size.
Why is flour always 100% in baker's percentage?
Flour is the structural backbone of every dough. Setting it as 100% makes all other ratios immediately meaningful — 70% hydration tells a baker exactly how wet the dough is regardless of batch size. If you used total dough weight as the base, the same dough would show a different hydration number as you add more ingredients.
What's a good hydration percentage for beginners?
60–68% hydration is easiest to handle — the dough is firm enough to shape without sticking excessively. Above 75% the dough becomes slack and requires stretch-and-fold techniques instead of conventional kneading. Start at 65% and increase in 5% increments as your technique improves.
How much salt should I use in a bread recipe?
Standard bread salt is 1.8–2.2% of flour weight. Below 1.5% bread tastes flat; above 2.5% yeast activity is noticeably inhibited. For a 500 g flour batch, 2% equals exactly 10 g — roughly 1¾ teaspoons of fine sea salt.
What's the difference between instant and active dry yeast percentages?
Instant yeast (also called rapid-rise or bread machine yeast) is more concentrated. Typical usage is 0.5–1% of flour. Active dry yeast needs 1.25× more (so 1.25% for the same leavening power). Fresh cake yeast needs 3× the instant amount. This calculator is calibrated for instant yeast.
Can I use this calculator for sourdough?
Yes, with an adjustment. Decide what percentage of flour and water is in your levain. Enter the remaining flour as your base weight, and reduce the hydration percentage by the water already in the levain. For example, if your levain contains 100 g flour and 100 g water and you want 70% overall hydration with 500 g total flour, enter 400 g flour and adjust water accordingly.
What does 'total dough weight' mean vs. final loaf weight?
Total dough weight is the raw weight of all ingredients combined before fermentation and baking. During baking, water evaporates and the crust forms, reducing weight by roughly 10–15%. A 900 g dough will typically yield a finished loaf of 765–810 g.
How do I include butter or eggs in the calculator?
Enter butter, sugar, eggs, or any other enrichment in the 'Other ingredients %' field as a combined percentage. For example, a brioche with 20% butter and 10% sugar would be entered as 30%. For precise multi-ingredient breakdowns, apply the same formula (flour × percentage) to each enrichment separately after getting the flour weight from this calculator.
Why are my ingredient weights coming out as decimals?
Baker's percentages are precise by design. 1% of 300 g flour is 3.0 g — that level of accuracy matters at scale. For home baking, round to the nearest 0.5 g or whole gram. At commercial scale (50 kg flour batches), even 0.1 g differences in yeast can affect fermentation timing.
What's a typical formula for a basic artisan loaf?
A reliable starting point: 100% bread flour, 72% water, 2% salt, 0.75% instant yeast. From 500 g flour that gives 500 g flour + 360 g water + 10 g salt + 3.75 g yeast = 873.75 g total dough, producing roughly one 750–780 g baked loaf.
Does enrichment (oil, sugar, butter) affect hydration class?
Hydration class is determined solely by the water-to-flour ratio. However, fats and sugars do affect dough handling — enriched doughs at 65% hydration handle more like a lean 60% dough because fat lubricates gluten strands and softens overall structure. The class shown reflects water hydration only.