Baker Percentage Calculator
Flour based ratios: hydration, salt, dough total.
What it does
Baker math puts flour at the center. Every other ingredient is weighed against flour, so flour is 100% and water at 350 g on 500 g flour is 70%. Ratios stay fixed while batch size moves, which is why one formula serves a home loaf and a bakery run.
The tool above reads hydration, salt, and total dough from four weights. Defaults of 500, 350, 10, and 5 g give 70.0% hydration, 2.0% salt, and 865 g of dough. The imperial mirror at 17.6, 12.3, 0.35, and 0.18 oz gives 69.9% hydration with the same salt, the small gap coming from ounce rounding.
Flour blends still sum to 100%. With 700 g white plus 300 g whole wheat, flour is 1000 g and the split is 70% white and 30% whole wheat. Water needs rise with whole grain because bran drinks more, so whole grain doughs often push past 70% while enriched doughs with butter, eggs, and sugar read lower on water alone.
This page covers straight dough ratios. It does not handle preferments, soakers, or batch percentages against total weight. Weigh all ingredients in one unit, grams or ounces, and keep volume cups out of the math.
How to use
- Pick metric (g) or imperial (oz).
- Weigh the total flour first.
- Weigh water, salt, and yeast in the same unit.
- Read hydration first, then dough total.
- Read salt percent to check seasoning.
- Scale by flour to hit a target dough weight.
Formula
- flour
- Total flour weight, always 100%, in g or oz.
- water
- Water weight over flour, the hydration of the dough.
- salt
- Salt weight over flour, often near 2%.
Flour weight is the base at 100%, so all weights must share one unit before dividing. At zero flour there is no ratio; very small batches magnify scale error, so weigh carefully or scale up.
Worked example
Example: 500 g flour at 70% hydration
Defaults: metric 500 g flour with 350 water, 10 salt, 5 yeast. Imperial mirror is 17.6, 12.3, 0.35, 0.18 oz.
- Inputs (metric default): flour 500 g, water 350 g, salt 10 g, yeast 5 g.
- Hydration: 350 / 500 times 100 is 70.0 %.
- Salt: 10 / 500 times 100 is 2.0 %.
- Total: 500 plus 350 plus 10 plus 5 is 865 g dough.
- Imperial mirror (17.6, 12.3, 0.35, 0.18 oz) gives 69.9 %, 30.43 oz, 2.0 %. Tool shows the same.
Reference table
| Flour and water | Hydration | Dough |
|---|---|---|
| 500 g, 350 g | 70.0 % | 865 g with 10 salt 5 yeast |
| 1000 g, 650 g | 65.0 % | 1680 g with 20 salt 10 yeast |
| 500 g, 300 g | 60.0 % | 811 g with 8 salt 3 yeast |
| 17.6 oz, 12.3 oz | 69.9 % | 30.43 oz |
| 10 lb flour, 6 lb water | 60.0 % | per 10 lb flour |
Limits
- Flour based ratios only. Cakes by batch percent need other math.
- One unit per recipe. Mixed cups and grams fail.
- Preferments and soakers excluded. Add their flour and water first.
- Scale error rules tiny batches. Small errors in salt loom large.
Common mistakes
- Using cups for flour, which packs and shifts weight.
- Forgetting that mixed flours sum to flour weight.
- Reading hydration as share of batch instead of flour.
- Rounding yeast and salt hard on small batches.
- Comparing enriched and lean hydration as if equal.
Try it yourself
Quick checks. Answers sit tucked under each question.
1000 g flour, 650 water, 20 salt, 10 yeast?
Hydration is 650 / 1000 is 65.0 %. Salt is 20 / 1000 is 2.0 %. Total is 1680 g dough.
500 g flour, 300 water, 8 salt, 3 yeast?
Hydration is 300 / 500 is 60.0 %. Salt is 8 / 500 is 1.6 %. Total is 811 g dough.
Questions
How is baker percentage figured?
Each weight / flour times 100. Here water 350 / 500 is 70.0 %, salt 10 / 500 is 2.0 %.
Why do totals exceed 100%?
Flour is always 100%. A dough with 500 flour and 365 other totals 173%, which is normal because the base is flour, not batch.
Can I mix cups and grams?
Use one unit for all weights, grams or ounces. Mixing cups with grams breaks the ratio because flour packs.
What hydration suits bread?
Water over flour. Lean breads sit near 60 to 70%, wet ciabatta runs higher, enriched doughs read lower because fat and sugar count separately.
How do mixed flours work?
Total flour counts as 100%, split by type. With 700 all purpose plus 300 whole wheat, flour is 1000 and shares are 70% and 30%.
Does this help scale recipes?
Yes. Scale flour to the pan first, then multiply by each percentage. Percentages keep ratios fixed across batch sizes.