Pizza Dough Ball Weight Calculator
Dough ball weight for any pizza size, style and batch count, round or rectangular pan.
Returns flour, water, salt, yeast and oil in baker percentages.
The weight of each dough ball decides the finished size and how thick the crust comes out. Pizzaiolos weigh every ball, because eyeballing it is the difference between a 12-inch and a 14-inch by the time it is stretched.
The formula
Everything on this page runs off a thickness factor, which is grams of flour per square inch of finished pizza. Multiply the area by the factor to get the flour, then add water, salt, yeast and oil on top of it as baker’s percentages.
Flour per ball (g) = pizza area (in²) × thickness factor
| Pizza style | Factor (g flour / in²) | Salt | Oil | Typical size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neapolitan | 1.3 | 2.5% | none | 12" round |
| New York | 1.4 | 2.5% | 1% | 18" round |
| Roman (thin) | 1.0 | 2.5% | 1% | 14" round |
| Pan/Sicilian | 2.0 | 2.5% | 2% | 12 × 12" |
| Detroit | 2.2 | 2.5% | 2% | 10 × 14" |
True Neapolitan has no oil in it at all. The specification kept by the AVPN (Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana) is flour, water, salt and yeast, full stop. New York dough does take oil, usually 1 to 2%, and the pan styles take more because there the oil is doing some of the work of frying the base in the tray. That is why the oil column changes with the style rather than sitting at one number.
Pizza area
- Round: π × (diameter ÷ 2)²
- Rectangular: length × width
The shape dropdown below picks which one, so a Detroit pan is measured as 10 by 14 rather than being squeezed into a circle.
Worked example, a 12-inch Neapolitan at 65% hydration
Area = π × 6² = 113.1 in²
Flour = 113.1 × 1.3 = 147 g
That 147 g is flour, not dough. Add the rest as percentages of it:
| Ingredient | Baker’s % | Grams |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 100% | 147 |
| Water | 65% | 96 |
| Salt | 2.5% | 4 |
| Instant yeast | 0.2% | 0.3 |
| Olive oil | 0% (Neapolitan) | 0 |
| Dough ball | 167.7% | 247 g |
247 g is right in the usual 250 to 280 g band for a 12-inch Neapolitan, and a shop wanting the top of that band simply nudges the factor to 1.45 rather than changing the method.
Switch the same pizza to New York and the factor becomes 1.4 with 1% oil, so flour is 158 g and the ball comes out at 267 g. Bigger ball, same size pizza, thicker rim.
Hydration guide
| Hydration | Result | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| 55 to 60% | Stiff, easy to handle | Beginners, thick crust |
| 60 to 65% | Classic balance | Neapolitan, New York |
| 65 to 70% | Soft, airy, more oven spring | Wood-fired Neapolitan |
| 70 to 80% | Very wet, hard to handle | Roman al taglio, focaccia |
Those bands match the pizza dough hydration calculator, which works the other way around: you give it a flour weight and it gives you the water. It builds a plainer dough with 2% salt and no oil, so its totals will sit a few grams under this page’s for the same flour. Both are real recipes.
The cold-fermentation flavor secret
The recipe above makes good pizza the same day. The biggest single jump in flavor comes from cold fermentation: 48 to 72 hours in the fridge at 4°C (40°F). Identical ingredients, but the slow fermentation breaks starch down into simpler sugars, builds organic acids, and produces the sour-savory backbone that separates great dough from ordinary dough. Mix, ball it up, cover, refrigerate, forget about it for two or three days. Pull the balls 2 to 3 hours before stretching so they come up to room temperature. Most pizzaiolos will tell you this is the number one home upgrade, ahead of the oven and well ahead of the flour.
How we build and check this calculator
This calculator runs entirely in your browser, so the numbers you enter stay on your device. The math behind it is written by hand and tested against worked examples and standard references before the page goes live.
SuperGlobalCalculator is independently built and maintained. See how we build and verify our calculators.