Baker's Percentage Calculator
Calculate baker's percentages for any bread or pastry recipe.
Convert ingredient weights to baker's percentages based on flour weight and identify dough hydration level.
What Is Baker’s Percentage?
Baker’s percentage (also called baker’s math) is the professional system bakers use to express ingredient quantities relative to the total flour weight. Flour is always 100% — every other ingredient is expressed as a percentage of that flour weight.
The formula:
Ingredient % = (Ingredient Weight ÷ Flour Weight) × 100
This system is incredibly powerful because it makes recipes scale-independent. A professional baker making 100 kg of dough and a home baker making 500 g of dough use the exact same percentages. It also instantly communicates the character of the dough — you can tell a lot from the numbers alone.
Hydration levels and what they mean:
| Hydration | Dough Type | Texture / Handling |
|---|---|---|
| Below 60% | Stiff dough | Firm, dense — bagels, pretzels |
| 60% – 65% | Lean dough | Easy to handle — basic white bread |
| 65% – 75% | Standard | Soft crumb — everyday sandwich loaves |
| 75% – 85% | Wet dough | Open crumb — ciabatta, many sourdoughs |
| Above 85% | Very wet | Sticky, needs bench technique — focaccia |
Typical percentages for famous breads:
| Bread | Hydration | Salt % | Yeast % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baguette | 65–70% | 2.0% | 0.3% |
| Ciabatta | 75–80% | 2.0% | 0.5% |
| Sourdough | 70–80% | 2.0–2.2% | 20% starter |
| Focaccia | 80–85% | 2.0% | 0.5% |
| Bagel | 55–60% | 1.8% | 1.5% |
| Brioche | 55–65% | 2.0% | 1.0% |
Salt: Standard is 1.8% – 2.2% of flour weight. Below 1.5% and bread tastes flat; above 2.5% and yeast activity is inhibited.
Yeast: Fresh yeast ≈ 1–2%, instant dry yeast ≈ 0.3–1%. More yeast = faster rise (but less complex flavor). Long cold fermentation uses very little yeast (0.1–0.2%).
Worked example (500 g flour batch): Water at 70% = 350 g | Salt at 2% = 10 g | Yeast at 0.5% = 2.5 g