Baker

Calculate Baker's Percentages & Hydration This tool processes all data locally in your browser. No information is ever sent to any server. Completely free, no registration required.

How to Use the Baker

1. Enter your input values above
2. Results update automatically
3. Copy or download the output

What is a Baker?

A Baker's Percentage Calculator converts recipes between conventional measurements and baker's percentages — the professional system where all ingredients are expressed as a percentage of the total flour weight (flour = 100%). This system revolutionized baking by making recipes instantly scalable from a single loaf to a commercial batch and allowing bakers to compare and analyze recipes by their ratios. A dough with 65% hydration (water at 65% of flour weight) will behave similarly whether you're making 500g or 50kg of dough. Understanding baker's percentages is the gateway from following recipes to truly understanding baking.

How Does It Work?

Enter your flour weight and the weights or percentages of all other ingredients. If entering by weight, the calculator converts to percentages: Ingredient% = (Ingredient Weight ÷ Flour Weight) × 100. If entering by percentage (to scale a formula), it converts to weight: Ingredient Weight = Flour Weight × (Ingredient% ÷ 100). The total of all percentages (including flour's 100%) will exceed 100% — this is normal and shows the dough's total hydration and enrichment level.

Formula

Baker's Percentage = (Ingredient Weight ÷ Flour Weight) × 100%\n\nFlour = 100% (always — this is the reference)\nWater% = (Water Weight ÷ Flour Weight) × 100\n\nTotal Dough Weight = Flour Weight × (Sum of all percentages ÷ 100 + 1)\n\nScaling: New Ingredient Weight = New Flour Weight × (Ingredient% ÷ 100)\n\nTypical Percentages:\n• Salt: 1.5-2.5%\n• Instant Yeast: 0.5-1.5% (less for long fermentation)\n• Water (hydration): 55-65% (sandwich bread), 65-75% (artisan), 80%+ (ciabatta, focaccia)\n• Sugar: 0-10% (lean dough) to 20%+ (enriched sweet dough)\n• Butter/Oil: 0-5% (lean) to 15%+ (brioche, croissant)

Who Uses This Tool?

• Home bakers scaling recipes up or down for different batch sizes
• Professional bakers adjusting hydration for flour type and humidity
• Baking students learning to read and formulate their own recipes
• Recipe developers creating bread formulations from desired characteristics
• Sourdough bakers calculating final dough hydration from starter contributions

Pro Tips

• Total hydration includes water from the starter (100% hydration starter = 50% water). Final hydration = (Water + Starter Water) ÷ Total Flour × 100
• High-hydration doughs (75%+) produce open crumb and thin crust but are harder to handle. Start at 65% and work your way up
• Different flours absorb water differently: whole wheat absorbs 80-90%+, bread flour 65-70%, all-purpose 60-65%. Adjust hydration for your flour
• Salt at 2% is the standard — less = bland, more = inhibits yeast. Weigh salt, don't measure by volume; salt density varies significantly

Frequently Asked Questions about Baker

Why does the total percentage exceed 100%?

In baker's percentages, flour is always 100% and all other ingredients are percentages RELATIVE to flour. So a dough with 100% flour + 70% water + 2% salt + 1% yeast = 173% total. This is correct and useful — it tells you the total weight is 1.73× your flour weight.

What's the best hydration for sourdough?

Beginner sourdough: 65-70% hydration (easier to handle, tighter crumb). Intermediate: 70-78% (open crumb, still manageable). Advanced: 80%+ (very open crumb, requires practice). The flour you use matters — strong bread flour (12-14% protein) handles high hydration better.

Free online Baker — no signup, 100% client-side processing. All data stays in your browser.