Baker’s Percentage Calculator (bread dough)

Understanding the baker's percentage calculator — concept and principle

Bakers write bread formulas as percentages of the flour weight rather than as fixed amounts. This "baker's percentage" makes a formula easy to scale to any batch size, to compare doughs at a glance, and to adjust one ingredient without rewriting the rest. Enter the flour weight and the percentages, and the calculator gives the grams of each ingredient and the total dough weight.

Every ingredient is a percentage of the flour, so the percentages add up to more than 100.

How it is calculated

Flour is always 100%.
Ingredient (g) = flour (g) × ingredient % ÷ 100.
Total dough (g) = flour × (100 + water % + salt % + yeast % + other %) ÷ 100.

All weights are in grams. If a formula uses several flours, their percentages together make 100%.

The principle

Because every ingredient is expressed relative to flour, the percentages describe the dough itself, not a particular batch. 70% water means 0.7 g of water per gram of flour, whether you bake one loaf or a hundred. The water percentage, called hydration, tells a baker how stiff or slack the dough will be: firm bagel-type doughs are below 60%, many sandwich and French-style breads sit in the 60s, and open-crumb doughs such as ciabatta are often 75% or more. Salt is usually close to 2%. The percentages add to more than 100% because they are not shares of the total; the total percentage, here 173%, is the dough weight per 100 g of flour.

Worked example

Inputs: flour 1,000 g; water 70%, salt 2%, yeast 1%, other 0%.
Water: 1,000 × 70 ÷ 100 = 700 g.
Salt: 1,000 × 2 ÷ 100 = 20 g.
Yeast: 1,000 × 1 ÷ 100 = 10 g.
Total dough: 1,000 × (100 + 70 + 2 + 1 + 0) ÷ 100 = 1,730 g.

Each point is the calculator re-run with only “Flour (g)” changed; the gold point is the default example. Change the inputs above and this chart follows your numbers.

Flour (g)	Water (g)
250	175
500	350
750	525
1,000	700
1,250	875
1,500	1,050
2,000	1,400

How to read the result

Use the total dough weight to plan portions: 1,730 g makes, for example, two loaves of about 865 g. To work backwards from a target dough weight, divide it by the total percentage: for 500 g of dough at 173%, use 500 ÷ 1.73 ≈ 289 g of flour. When changing flour, expect to adjust hydration, as wholemeal and strong flours usually absorb more water.

Common mistakes

Calculating percentages of the total dough instead of the flour.
Forgetting water or flour inside a sourdough starter or preferment, which changes the true hydration.
Measuring small amounts of yeast and salt by volume.
Swapping yeast types at the same percentage; instant, active dry and fresh yeast are used in different amounts.

Keep in mind: Baker's percentages describe proportions, not a method. Flour type, temperature, mixing and fermentation time all affect the result, so treat a formula as a starting point and adjust by observing the dough.

Frequently asked questions

What does 70% hydration mean?

70 g of water for every 100 g of flour.

How do I include a sourdough starter?

Split the starter into its flour and water, add them to the totals, and calculate the overall hydration from those totals.

Why do the percentages add up to more than 100%?

Flour is the reference at 100%, and every other ingredient is added on top of it.

Sources: Jeffrey Hamelman — Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes (Wiley) · Wayne Gisslen — Professional Baking (Wiley)

Checked 8 Nov 2026. Typical coverage rates and standard formulas. Always check the product label and local building rules; buy 5–10% extra for waste.

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