Bread Calculator (Baker's Percentage Calculator) (2024)

Quick navigation:

1. Using the bread calculator
2. Dough ingredients

• How much starter to use?

• Dough hydration chart

Using the bread calculator

There are three main use-cases for this free online tool:

1. As a dough calculator to calculate the required amounts of each ingredient using what is known as "Baker's Math". For this, you need to know the desired amount of dough (in oz or grams), the desired dough hydration level, and the proportions of the different ingredients (a.k.a. Baker's percentages).
2. The tool can also be used as a dough hydration calculator by selecting "Dough hydration from ingredients". This is useful if you have a dough recipe with the weights of all ingredients and you want to estimate its hydration level.
3. Finally, to use it as a sourdough hydration calculator, select "Sourdough hydration percentage", enter the amount of flour and water you will use to make the starter ferment and the tool will output the sourdough hydration percentage. Detailed examples.

In all scenarios the output will contain an estimate of the number of bread loafs that can be produced with the specified amount of dough.

Our baking calculator supports different leavening agents including sourdough, instant dry yeast, active dry yeast, and fresh yeast, with automatic yeast conversion performed when you change the type. The yeast percentages shown by default are suitable for a 12h proofing time under 22°C / 72°F.

To work with sourdough its hydration level has to be known. If you know the ingredient amounts but not the hydration percentage, first use the tool as described in point three above.

Dough ingredients

If entering Baker's percentages, the following dough parameters can be tweaked based on the type of bread or pastry one wants to make. If entering amounts from a recipe to estimate dough hydration, then simply enter them in ounces or grams (see our recipe converter if you need to convert from cups, teaspoons, etc.).

• Hydration - The level of dough hydration has a profound effect on the final result in terms of taste and texture (this is not a required input if you are entering amounts in oz/g). Some types of baked goods require a higher or lower value than the default level of 60% hydration and different types of flour may call for a slightly different level of hydration. It is expressed as a percentage. Learn more
• Yeast - If using yeast, the amount of yeast to use. More yeast means a faster proofing time and can allow proofing under colder temperatures.
• Sourdough - The amount of sourdough starter to use, if using that instead of yeast. Typical values are between 10% and 50% of the flour. More ferment would result in a faster dough proofing time or it can be used to facilitate proofing under colder temperatures.
• Salt - The percentage or weight of salt in the dough. For bread recipes two percent might be a bit bland for some while three percent is what many people may find too salty.
• Sugar - The percentage or weight of sugar in the bread dough. Some dough recipes include it, others do not, depending on whether it is dough bread or dough for some kind of sweet pastry.
• Oil - The amount of olive oil or other vegetable oil in the dough recipe, as a percentage. Some breads include oil in the dough, while others do not, but it is generally recommended to use it as it helps improve the dough’s stretchability and adds flavor.
• Other - You can input here the combined weight of any additional ingredients that go into the dough.

In Baker's math all percentages are based on the amount of flour in the recipe. That amount is taken to be 100%, and everything else is scaled accordingly. For example, if making sourdough bread with 20% sourdough it means that the amount of sourdough is 20% of the total amount of flour. Using baker's percentages makes scaling a recipe easy because it comes down to multipling each ingredient by the flour's weight.

How much starter to use?

The amount / percentage of the chosen leavening agent to use is perhaps the most flexible thing in a dough recipe. It all depends on the particular temperature at which the proofing process will occur, as well as the time allotted. Faster proofing at cooler temperatures requires a larger percentage of both sourdough starter and yeast, and the opposite is also true where longer proofing or higher kitchen temperatures means less of the leavening agent is required.

Determining the right amount of starter or yeast can be a process of trial and error, requiring close monitoring of the dough as it rises. As starting point you can use 25% sourdough and the amounts of yeast entered as defaults in our dough calculator. Then adjust up or down depending on your outcomes.

Bread size chart

The table below is of standard sizes of bread loafs, and the number of slices each bread would contain. Our bread calculator automatically calcualtes how many bread loafs you can make from the entered recipe ingredients.

* Bread slices are assumed to be of medium thickness. You'll be able to get slightly more or fewer slices per loaf if you cut them thinner or thicker than that.

It should be noted that slices of the same thickness from larger breads weigh more, so one does not get an increase in the number of slices exactly corresponding to the increase in the dough weight.

Dough hydration tips

Dough hydration is a key parameter in getting the perfect bread dough or pastry dough. In Baker's percentages the hydration is the total amount of water expressed as a percentage of the total amount of flour and is sometimes referred to as "total hydration". For example, a dough with 1,000 grams of flour in with and 65% hydration will have a water content of 65/100 · 1,000 = 0.65 · 1,000 = 650 grams (~23 oz) of water. The bread ratio is 0.65 water to flour. Getting the dough mixture right based on the is not trivial to do, especially when using sourdough, which is why a Baker's percentage calculator like ours is very handy.

For typical bread flour a dough hydration between 58% and 62% is recommended. If you choose to go with a higher hydration, it would lead to increased swelling of starch and proteins as well as rapid conversion of sugars with the resulting dough being wetter, softer, and stickier which makes it a challenge to work with.

Going with a slightly lower hydration might be especially suitable for beginner bakers since it makes the dough drier, firmer, and stronger, making it easier to knead and shape, without sacrificing any of the final properties of the bread.

Dough hydration chart

Below is a handy table with key dough hydration levels:

Begginners in baking are typically encouraged to work with 65-75% hydration, partly due to the fact that home ovens typically cannot reach the temperatures professional ovens can. Going below 50% hydration or above 90% is not really practical.

How to calculate sourdough hydration

To use the tool as a sourdough hydration calculator, simply choose to calculate "Sourdough hydration percentage" and then enter just the flour and water amounts that will go into the sourdough. For example, if using 50 grams of flour and 50 grams of water to create your starter, this is the resulting calculation which shows that this ferment will have 100% hydration.

In another example, if your sourdough is composed of 100g of flour (3½ oz) and 75g of water (2⅔ oz), the Baker's percentage formula results in 75 / 100 = 0.75 = 75% sourdough hydration (see in calculator).