Baker's Percentage Calculator
Calculate baker's percentages from your recipe weights, or scale any recipe to a new flour amount. The professional way to work with bread formulas.
Ingredients
| Ingredient | Weight (g) | Baker's % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flour (base) | 100% | ||
| 65% | |||
| 2% | |||
| 1% | |||
| Total | 840g | 168% |
What is Baker's Percentage?
Baker's percentage expresses each ingredient's weight as a percentage of the total flour weight. Flour is always 100%, making it easy to scale recipes and compare hydration levels across different recipes.
Common Percentages:
- Flour: 100% (always the base)
- Water: 60-80% (hydration)
- Salt: 1.8-2.2%
- Yeast: 0.5-2% (instant) or 1.5-3% (fresh)
How Baker's Percentage Works
Baker's percentage (also called baker's math or formula percentage) is a standardized way of expressing bread recipes where all ingredient weights are expressed as a percentage of the total flour weight.
The Formula
Ingredient % = (Ingredient Weight ÷ Flour Weight) × 100
Example: If you have 500g flour and 325g water: (325 ÷ 500) × 100 = 65% hydration
Common Baker's Percentages
| Ingredient | Typical Range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 100% | Always the base |
| Water/Hydration | 55-85% | Affects texture and crumb |
| Salt | 1.8-2.2% | 2% is standard |
| Instant Yeast | 0.5-2% | Less = slower rise, more flavor |
| Fresh Yeast | 1.5-5% | About 3x instant yeast amount |
| Sourdough Starter | 15-30% | At 100% hydration |
| Sugar | 0-15% | Enriched breads |
| Butter/Oil | 0-15% | Enriched breads |
| Eggs | 0-20% | Brioche, challah |
Example Bread Formulas
Basic White Bread
- Flour: 100%
- Water: 62%
- Salt: 2%
- Yeast: 1%
- Sugar: 4%
- Butter: 3%
Lean French Bread
- Flour: 100%
- Water: 68%
- Salt: 2%
- Yeast: 0.6%
Sourdough
- Flour: 100%
- Water: 75%
- Salt: 2%
- Starter: 20%
Brioche
- Flour: 100%
- Eggs: 50%
- Butter: 50%
- Sugar: 12%
- Salt: 2%
- Yeast: 2%
Frequently Asked Questions
Baker's percentage is a notation method that expresses each ingredient as a percentage of the total flour weight. Flour is always 100%, and all other ingredients are expressed relative to it. This makes it easy to scale recipes and compare formulas.
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