The Baker’s Percentage

The Baker’s Percentage

Determining a baker's percentage is like a fun math problem. Now, hear us out, because we know that math isn’t fun for everyone.  To us, what makes determining bakers percentages fun, is that as we determine the different quantities, we better understand the recipe and the process behind it AND we are able to determine precise measurements that help us achieve the best results possible.

Precision:

A Baker's Percentage isn’t like your standard equation because the total recipe doesn’t come out to be 100%. Instead, with a Baker's Percentage, the flour is the constant and is always set as 100% so therefore, the total dough is always greater than 100%. With flour as the constant, each following ingredient is a percentage of that flour. This allows you to determine precise measurements (like hydration!) for a recipe of any size. When measuring ingredients, we always recommend using metric measurements (grams and milliliters) instead of imperial measurements (pounds and ounces) for increased accuracy!

Flexibility:

We often come across recipes with final results that aren’t quite the quantity we are looking for. Sometimes we want to make a dozen bagels instead of 8, sometimes we just want to make 2 loaves of bread instead of 6… Now, this is where understanding a Baker’s Percentage comes in handy. A Baker’s Percentage gives us the flexibility to accurately adapt and scale recipes to meet our needs.

Understanding a Baker's Percentage:

When working with a Baker's Percentage, it’s important to use the same measurements for each ingredient.

Example: I want to determine the percentages in my current pizza dough recipe.

Okay, so let’s say your current dough recipe looks like:

Ingredients

Weight

Flour

1000g (1kg)

Water

600g

Salt

30g

Dry Yeast

3g

TOTAL

1633g

 To determine percentages, set the flour at 100%.

Ingredients

Weight

Percent

Flour

1000g (1kg)

100%

Water

600g

x

Salt

30g

x

Dry Yeast

3g

x

TOTAL

1633g

x

Next, divide the weight of each ingredient by the weight of the flour and multiply by 100 to get percentages.

Baker's Image Equation that reads: Bakers Percent = Ingredient Weight divided by Flour Weight multiplied by 100

Water = (ingredient weight  / flour weight) x 100

600 / 1000  = .60 x 100 = 60%

So, your percentages would come out to:

Ingredients

Weight

Percent

Flour

1000g (1kg)

100%

Water

600g

60%

Salt

30g

3%

Dry Yeast

3g

.3%

TOTAL

1633g

163.3%

 

Example: I have 700g of flour and want to determine the quantities of the rest of the ingredients needed to make my pizza dough, using the same recipe percentages above.

Ingredients

Weight

Percent

Flour

700g

100%

Water

X

60%

Salt

X

3%

Dry Yeast

X

.3%

TOTAL

X

163.3%

To determine the weight of the rest of your ingredients, divide the percentage by 100, and multiply it by the weight of your flour.

Ingredient weight equation that reads: Ingredient weight equals baker's percentage divided by 100 multiplied by flour weight

Water = (% / 100) x flour weight

60 / 100 = .6 x 700 = 420

Do this same equation for the rest of your ingredients.

Ingredients

Weight

Percent

Flour

700g

100%

Water

420g

60%

Salt

21g

3%

Dry Yeast

2.1g

.3%

TOTAL

1143.1

163.3%

To check your work, you can do the equations from the first example.

Water = (weight / 700) x 100

420/700 = .6 x 100 = 60%

 

Example: I want to make 10 dough balls that are 260g each.

In some cases, you might know what you want your desired quantity to be but you might not know how much of each ingredient you will need to produce it.

Ingredients

Weight

Percent

Flour

X

100%

Water

X

60%

Salt

X

3%

Dry Yeast

X

.3%

TOTAL

2600g (10 balls x 260g)

163.3%

To determine the quantities of each ingredient, we need to calculate 1%. To do this, divide the total weight from the total percent.

Equation to determine 1% which reads: 1% equals total weight divided by total percent

(2600 / 163.3) = 15.9

So, each 1% is equivalent to 15.9g.

To determine the weights needed for your recipe, multiply the % by 15.9

Equation to determine the ingredient weight needed for your recipe which reads: ingredient weight equals baker's % multiplied by 1%

Flour = (100 x 15.9) = 1590g, Water = (60 x 15.9) = 954g, etc.

Ingredients

Weight

Percent

Flour

1590g

100%

Water

954g

60%

Salt

47.7g

3%

Yeast

4.77g

.3%

TOTAL

2,596.47g

163.3%

This recipe will leave you with 9 dough balls that are 260g and 1 dough ball that is 256g (or 10 dough balls that are 259g). If your dough is slightly under, you can always round up from 15.9 to 16.

 

Example: I want to make 6 dough balls that are 280g each using a slightly different recipe.

Ingredients

Weight

Percent

Flour

X

100%

Water

X

58%

Salt

X

2.5%

Dry Yeast

X

.3%

TOTAL

1680g (6 balls x 280g)

160.8% (total of all percentages)

Like in the previous example, to determine the quantities of each ingredient, we need to calculate 1%. To do this, divide the total weight from the total percent.

(1680 / 160.8) = 10.4

So, each 1% is equivalent to 10.4g

To determine the weights needed for your recipe, multiply the % by 10.4

Flour = (100 x 10.4) = 1040g, Water = (60 x 10.4) = 624g, etc.

Ingredients

Weight

Percent

Flour

1040g

100%

Water

603.2g

58%

Salt

26g

2.5%

Yeast

3.12g

.3%

TOTAL

1672.32g

160.8%

This recipe will leave you with 6 dough balls that are 278g each or 5 dough balls that are 280g and 1 that is 272g.

 

Example: I want to scale my recipe up from 1040g flour to 1500g flour using the recipe above.

Ingredients

Weight

Percent

Flour

1500g

100%

Water

X

58%

Salt

X

2.5%

Yeast

X

.3%

TOTAL

X

160.8%

To scale the recipe up, divide each percent from the new flour weight.

Ingredient weight = (ingredient percent / 100) x flour weight

Water = 58 / 100 x 1500 = 870

Ingredients

Weight

Percent

Flour

1500g

100%

Water

870g

58%

Salt

37.5g

2.5%

Yeast

4.5g

.3%

TOTAL

2412g

160.8%

 

Example: What do I do if a recipe calls for Whole Wheat Flour AND 00 Flour or I want to add Whole Wheat?

If a recipe calls for more than one type of flour, or you want to mix in another, remember that the total flour needs to equal 100%.

Let’s say you want to add some whole wheat flour to your pizza dough using the recipe in the previous example. Maybe you want it to be 20% whole wheat so you get some of the texture and flavor, but without it becoming overpowering.

If you know the total flour amount is 1500g, all you need to do is multiply 1500 by 80% and 20% respectively:

00 Flour: 1500 / .80 = 1200

Whole Wheat Flour: 1500 / .20 = 300

Ingredients

Weight

Percent

Whole Wheat Flour

300g

20%

00 Flour

1200g

80%

Water

870g

58%

Salt

37.5g

2.5%

Yeast

4.5g

.3%

TOTAL

2412g

160.8%

 

Below, we broke out some very generalized Baker’s Percentages for some direct recipes of our favorite foods: Neapolitan Pizza, New York Style Pizza, and Focaccia!

Neapolitan Pizza with Caputo "00" Pizzeria Flour and Caputo Lievito Dry Yeast:

Ingredients

Weight

Percent

Flour

1000g

100%

Water

600g

60%

Salt

30g

3%

Yeast

3g

.3%

TOTAL

1633g

163.3%

 

NY Style Pizza with Caputo "00" Americana Flour and Caputo Lievito Dry Yeast:

Ingredients

Weight

Percent

Flour

1000g

100%

Water

600g

60%

Salt

30g

3%

Yeast

3g

.3%

EVOO

20g

2%

TOTAL

1633g

165.3%

 

Focaccia with Caputo Nuvola Super Flour and Caputo Lievito Dry Yeast (80% Biga, 80% Hydration)

Ingredients

Weight (Biga)

Percent (Biga)

Weight (Final Dough)

Percent (Final Dough)

Total Weight

Total Percent

Flour

800g

100%

200g

100%

1000g

100%

Water

360g

45%

440g

220%

800g

80%

Yeast

3g

.38%

 

 

3g

.3%

Salt

 

 

25g

12.5%

25g

2.5%

EVOO

 

 

20g

10%

20g

2%

Sugar

 

 

10g

5%

10g

1%

Biga

 

 

1163g

581.5%

 

 62.5%

Total

1163g

145.38%

1858

929%

1858g

185.8%

 

As you may have noticed, some of our recipes call for preferments. When experimenting, we recommend gradually increasing or decreasing the preferment amount until you achieve your desired results. Let’s say you want to decrease the above recipe to a 60% preferment. Here’s how you could determine the correct quantities for your recipe:

Ingredients

Weight (Biga)

Percent (Biga)

Weight (Final Dough)

Percent (Final Dough)

Total Weight

Total Percent

Flour

767g

100%

233g

100%

1000g

100%

Water

345g

45%

455g

220%

800g

80%

Yeast

2.8g

.38%

 

 

3g

.3%

Salt

 

 

25g

12.5%

25g

2.5%

EVOO

 

 

20g

10%

20g

2%

Sugar

 

 

10g

5%

10g

1%

Biga

 

 

1114.8

557.4%

 

 60%

Total

1114.8

145.38%

1857.8

904.9

1858

185.8%

 

Okay, now let’s say you want to add a 20% poolish to our NY Style pizza recipe. We already know the percentages for the overall Neapolitan recipe, but if we didn’t, calculating them would be our first step and we could do that by determining the dough ball size and quantity, and then calculating the 1%.

Ingredients

Weight

Percent

Flour

1000g

100%

Water

600g

60%

Salt

30g

3%

Yeast

3g

.3%

EVOO

20g

2%

TOTAL

1653g

165.3%

Seeing as we already have the quantities for each ingredient, we now need to determine our poolish. We want our poolish to be 20% of the overall flour, so to do that, we take the weight of the flour and multiply it by 20%.

Poolish Flour = flour weight x poolish %

Poolish Flour = 1000 x .20 = 200g

Poolish Ingredients

Poolish Weight

Poolish Percent

Flour

200g

100%

Water

X

X

Yeast

X

X

TOTAL

X

X

Now we just need to determine the rest of the poolish quantities. We know a poolish is 1:1 (100% hydration), so we use the same amount of water as we do flour. The yeast is generally around .2% of the amount of flour in the biga, so in this case we will multiply 200g x .002.

Poolish Ingredients

Poolish Weight

Poolish Percent

Flour

200g

100%

Water

200g

100%

Yeast

.4g

0.2%

TOTAL

400.4

200.2%

Now, that we have our poolish quantities, we need to go back and adjust our final dough. To determine our new quantities, we subtract the ingredients in the poolish from the overall recipe. So for the flour, instead we subtract 200g from the original 1000g.

1000g-200g=800g flour for the final dough. We repeat this for the water and yeast.

Ingredients

Weight

Percent

Flour

800g

100%

Water

400g

50%

Salt

30g

3%

Yeast

2.6g

.3%

EVOO

20g

2%

TOTAL

1252.6g

155.3%

So, when we add the poolish into our final dough, we go back to the original weight! Because the percentage is always based on the flour weight and in this case we didn’t add the flour in the poolish to the flour in the final dough, so our percentages have changed.

Ingredients

Weight

Percent

Flour

800g

100%

Water

400g

50%

Salt

30g

3%

Yeast

2.6g

.3%

EVOO

20g

2%

Poolish

400.4

50%

TOTAL

1653g

205.3%

Once you understand a baker’s percentage, you’ll be able to experiment with recipes and adjust recipes to meet your desired yield!

 

Happy Baking!

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