Baker's Percentage Calculator

Shows each ingredient of a bread recipe as a percentage of the flour, works out the hydration including the flour and water inside a preferment, and turns percentages back into weights for any batch size.

How to use

1. With "Weights → percentages" selected, enter each ingredient's name and weight and choose its type: "Flour", "Water / liquid", "Other" or "Preferment".
2. For milk, eggs, butter or a preferment, check the water column.
3. Read the hydration and total dough weight on the right.
4. To make a different amount, switch to "Percentages → weights" and choose "Flour weight", "Total dough weight" or "Pieces × piece weight".
5. Use "Paste a recipe" to read lines such as "Bread flour 500", and "Save recipe" or "Print" to keep the result.

How it works

• Percentage = ingredient weight ÷ flour weight × 100; hydration = total water ÷ total flour × 100. A preferment is split into flour and water: flour = weight ÷ (1 + hydration).
• The water shares for milk (88%), egg (75%) and butter (15%) are approximate values from USDA data and a general description of butter. You can change them.
• Saved recipes stay in this browser on this device.

Questions and answers

How do I calculate dough hydration?

Divide the weight of water by the weight of flour and multiply by 100. 350 g of water with 500 g of flour is 70% hydration.

Does milk count as water in hydration?

Only the water in it. Whole milk is roughly 88% water, so 350 g of milk adds about 308 g of water.

How do I include a sourdough starter in the hydration?

Split it into flour and water. 100 g of starter at 100% hydration adds 50 g of flour and 50 g of water to the totals.

How much flour do I need for 1 kg of dough?

Divide 1,000 g by the sum of all percentages ÷ 100. With 100% flour, 65% water, 2% salt and 1% yeast the sum is 168%, so about 595 g of flour.