Baker's percentages: how to scale any pizza or bread dough
In baker's percentages, flour is always 100%. Everything else is measured against it.
That's why bakers can share a recipe as "65% hydration, 2.8% salt" without giving amounts. You can make two pizzas or twenty from the same numbers. Hydration is the water weight as a percentage of the flour weight, and it controls how slack or stiff the dough is.
Typical ranges
| Dough | Hydration | Salt |
|---|---|---|
| Bagels | about 55–58% | about 2% |
| Sandwich loaf | about 60–65% | about 2% |
| Neapolitan-style pizza | about 60–65% | about 2.5–3% |
| Ciabatta / high-hydration | 75% and up | about 2% |
Worked example: four 250 g pizza balls
Total dough = 4 × 250 = 1,000 g. Flour = 1,000 ÷ (1 + 0.65 + 0.028 + 0.003) = 595 g. Then water = 595 × 0.65 = 387 g, salt = 16.7 g and instant yeast = 1.8 g.
Adjusting the dough
Drop the hydration by 2–3 percentage points, or use a higher-protein flour.
Cut the yeast to about 0.1–0.3%, because the long, slow rise builds flavour.
Change only the number of balls. The percentages stay the same.
✨ Key Takeaways
- Flour = total dough ÷ (1 + sum of the other percentages).
- Hydration controls texture.
- Weigh everything, including the water.
Open the pizza dough calculator →