Baker's Percentage Calculator: Scale Any Bread Recipe

How baker's percentages work

Bakers write a formula as percentages of the flour, so the same formula works for one loaf or fifty. The flour is always 100%, and every other ingredient is a share of the flour's weight.

Baker's % = ingredient weight ÷ total flour weight × 100 Flour = dough weight ÷ (sum of all percentages ÷ 100) Ingredient = flour × ingredient % ÷ 100

Example. Flour 100%, water 70%, salt 2% and instant yeast 1% add up to 173%. For 1,000 g of dough the flour is 1,000 ÷ 1.73 = 578 g, the water 405 g, the salt 11.6 g and the yeast 5.8 g.

Scaling your own recipe

Switch to My recipe in grams and enter the weights from your recipe. The calculator works out each ingredient's percentage, then scales the whole recipe to the dough weight, flour weight or multiplier you choose. Weigh small amounts such as yeast and salt on a scale that reads to 0.1 g.

Starting formulas

Typical percentages to start from. Every flour drinks water a little differently, so adjust the water to the dough you get.

Bread	Water	Salt	Yeast	Other
Basic bread	70%	2%	1% instant	none
Pizza dough	65%	2.5%	0.5% instant	2% olive oil
Sandwich loaf	62% milk	2%	1.5% instant	6% sugar, 8% butter
Bagels	57%	2%	1% instant	2% malt or sugar

Questions

What is baker's percentage?

Baker's percentage writes every ingredient as a percentage of the total flour weight. The flour is always 100%. A dough with 1,000 g of flour and 700 g of water has 70% water, which is also its hydration.

How do I calculate baker's percentage?

Divide the weight of each ingredient by the total weight of flour and multiply by 100. With 500 g of flour, 10 g of salt is 2% and 5 g of yeast is 1%.

How do I scale a recipe with baker's percentages?

Add up all the percentages, divide the dough weight you want by that total as a decimal to get the flour weight, then multiply the flour by each percentage. A formula that adds up to 173% makes 1,000 g of dough from 578 g of flour.

Why do baker's percentages add up to more than 100%?

Because the flour alone is 100% and every other ingredient is added on top of it. A simple bread of flour, 70% water, 2% salt and 1% yeast adds up to 173%.

Is hydration the same as the water percentage?

For a simple dough, yes. Mark milk, eggs and other liquids as liquid and the calculator counts them too, though they are not all water. For sourdough, use the sourdough hydration calculator, which counts the water inside the starter.

What if the recipe uses more than one flour?

All the flours together make up 100%. A loaf with 80% bread flour and 20% whole wheat flour has 100% flour in total, and every other ingredient is a percentage of that combined weight.