FlourScaleWhat is baker's percentage?
Baker's percentage (also called baker's math or formula percentage) expresses every ingredient as a percentage of the total flour weight. Flour is always 100%. If a dough has 1,000 g of flour and 700 g of water, the water is 70%. Salt at 20 g is 2%. Because everything is relative to flour, the percentages of a whole formula add up to more than 100% — a lean bread is usually around 170–175%.
Professional bakers use this system because it makes recipes portable. A formula written as percentages works for one loaf or one hundred: you choose the flour weight, multiply, and you are done. It also lets you read a recipe at a glance. A 2% salt, 65% water dough is a classic sandwich or French-style bread; 75–80% water signals an open, airy, harder-to-handle crumb; a pizza dough at 58–62% is easier to stretch than one at 70%.
How the calculator works
In the first table, enter each ingredient in grams and tick the rows that are flour. If you use several flours (bread flour plus whole wheat, for example), tick them all — their combined weight is the 100% base. Each ingredient's percentage is its weight divided by total flour, times 100.
In the second table, enter percentages and choose how to scale. "Total flour weight" multiplies every percentage by your flour weight. "Total dough weight" works backwards: it divides the dough weight you want by the sum of the percentages, which gives the flour weight, then calculates each ingredient. That second mode is the one to use when you know you need, say, four 900 g loaves.
Worked example
A recipe uses 500 g bread flour, 350 g water, 10 g salt and 5 g instant yeast.
- Water: 350 ÷ 500 × 100 = 70%
- Salt: 10 ÷ 500 × 100 = 2%
- Yeast: 5 ÷ 500 × 100 = 1%
- Total formula: 100 + 70 + 2 + 1 = 173%
To make one 900 g loaf instead: flour = 900 ÷ 1.73 = 520 g, water = 520 × 0.70 = 364 g, salt = 10.4 g, yeast = 5.2 g.
Tips for accurate baker's math
- Weigh, don't scoop. Percentages only mean something with weights; a cup of flour can vary by 20 g or more depending on how it is filled.
- Count every flour. Flour inside a sourdough starter or a preferment belongs in the true total. Use our sourdough hydration calculator to account for it.
- Know the typical ranges. Salt is usually 1.8–2.2%, instant yeast 0.5–1.5% for same-day doughs, and far less for long cold ferments.
- Plan for loss. Some dough always sticks to the bowl; adding 1–3% to your target dough weight avoids underweight pieces.