Baker’s Percentage & Dough Hydration Calculator
Professional baking tool to scale recipes by flour weight or total dough weight. Features hydration slider, pre-ferment (poolish/biga) logic, and preset dough types.
| Ingredient | Grams | Baker's % |
|---|
About
Professional bakers rely on Baker's Percentages to ensure consistency and scalability. Unlike home recipes that use cups, this system defines every ingredient as a percentage of the total flour weight (which is always 100%). This method allows you to scale a recipe from a single loaf to a thousand without altering the texture or crumb structure.
This calculator handles the complex math of Pre-ferments (like Poolish, Biga, or Sourdough Starter). When you add a starter, you are adding pre-fermented flour and water. The tool automatically performs the "Reverse Calculation," subtracting these amounts from your final mix to ensure your total hydration remains exact. It features a dynamic hydration slider, warning you when dough becomes difficult to handle (e.g., Ciabatta at 80%+).
Formulas
In Baker's Math, the Total Flour Weight (Wflour) is the anchor. If you know the Total Desired Dough Weight (Wtotal) and the sum of all percentages (Psum), you can calculate the required flour:
Hydration is the ratio of total liquids to total flour:
Reference Data
| Dough Type | Hydration | Difficulty | Characteristics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bagels | 50-55% | Easy | Dense, chewy, tight crumb |
| Pizza (NYC) | 58-60% | Easy | Crispy crust, pliable |
| French Baguette | 65-68% | Moderate | Crisp crust, open crumb |
| Sourdough | 70-80% | Hard | Wild open crumb, blistered crust |
| Ciabatta | 80-85% | Expert | Very large holes, flat shape |
| Focaccia | 85%+ | Expert | Baked in pan, extremely airy |