Baker's Percentage Calculator

Flour is always 100% and every other ingredient a percentage of it: with 500 g flour, 325 g water is 65% hydration, 10 g salt is 2% and 5 g yeast 1%. Enter your weights for the percentages, or scale them to a new flour weight.

Ingredients

Ingredient	Baker's %	Weight (g)
Flour (base)	100%
Flour	65%
Flour	2%
Flour	1%
Total	168%	840g

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%

Questions

What is baker's percentage?

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.

Why is flour always 100%?

Flour serves as the base ingredient in bread, providing the structure. By setting flour at 100%, you can easily see how much of each ingredient you need relative to the main ingredient, and quickly scale to any flour amount.

What does hydration percentage mean?

Hydration is the percentage of water (or liquid) relative to flour. A 70% hydration dough has 70g water per 100g flour. Higher hydration creates wetter, more open-crumb bread; lower hydration creates denser, tighter bread.

How do I scale a recipe using baker's percentage?

To scale a recipe, simply multiply each percentage by your desired flour weight. For example, if you want 750g flour and your water is 68%, you need 750 × 0.68 = 510g water.

What are typical percentages for bread?

Common ranges are: Water 60-80% (hydration), Salt 1.8-2.2%, Yeast 0.5-2% (instant) or 1.5-5% (fresh), Sugar 0-10%, Fat 0-10%. These vary based on the type of bread.