Flour is always the 100% reference
Baker’s percentages describe ingredient weight relative to the combined flour weight. They are not shares of the final dough, so the formula percentages add up to more than 100%. If you use 400 g bread flour and 100 g wholemeal flour, the denominator is their combined 500 g. Water at 70% means 350 g water.
Baker’s percentage = ingredient weight ÷ total flour weight × 100 Ingredient weight = total flour weight × baker’s percentage ÷ 100 Total dough weight = total flour × (100 + all non-flour percentages) ÷ 100
Worked example: 500 g flour, 70% water, 2% salt
| Ingredient | Baker’s percentage | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Total flour | 100% | 500 g |
| Water | 70% | 350 g |
| Salt | 2% | 10 g |
| Total | 172% | 860 g |
These numbers demonstrate the calculation; they are not a complete or tested bread recipe. Add the other ingredients and percentages from the formula you intend to use.
Work backwards from a desired dough weight
Choose Total dough when you already know how much mixed dough you need. For 1,000 g of the 172% example formula, divide 1,000 by 1.72:
Total flour = 581.3953488 g Water = 581.3953488 × 0.70 = 406.9767442 g Salt = 581.3953488 × 0.02 = 11.6279070 g Total = 1,000 g before display rounding
The calculator rounds displayed weights to two decimal places; it calculates totals from the unrounded values. A few hundredths of a gram of rounding difference in the displayed rows is therefore possible.
Include a flour-and-water starter without doubling it
Save the starter flour-and-water worksheet for a worked mixing sheet and blank printable reference.
The optional starter settings say what percentage of the total flour is already prefermented, and the starter’s hydration. The calculator subtracts that flour and water from the amounts to add at mixing. They remain included in the original formula totals.
For example, a formula with 600 g total flour, 450 g total water and 10 g salt has 75% water hydration and weighs 1,060 g. If 100 g of that flour is already in a 100%-hydration starter, the starter contributes 100 g flour plus 100 g water. Add 200 g starter, 500 g remaining flour, 350 g remaining water and 10 g salt: the same 1,060 g total.
Prefermented flour is not the starter’s total mass. This option supports flour-and-water starters only. If the starter contains more water than the entire formula allows, the tool asks you to revise the settings instead of reporting a negative water addition.
Water-based hydration and other liquids
The hydration figure is water weight divided by total flour weight. Milk, eggs, butter and oil may be included as additional ingredients and contribute to total dough mass, but this tool does not assume they are pure water or infer their water content. Use a formula’s ingredient-specific method when you need that broader calculation.
The flour-relative convention is described in King Arthur Baking’s baker’s percentage reference. Its hydration explanation also discusses the difference between water and other liquids. Calculations and mass-balance examples here are independently tested.
What this calculator does not predict
Percentages organize a formula and batch weight. They do not determine fermentation time, a suitable yeast dose, handling, gluten development or whether the finished recipe will work. Enter the percentages from your chosen formula. This tool makes no fermentation schedule or culinary-success guarantee.
For an existing ingredient list, use the whole-recipe scaler. For cake batter and a different pan, begin with the pan converter.