What Baker's Percentage Is and Why It Matters
Baker's percentage is a scaling system where every ingredient is expressed as a percentage of the total flour weight — not the total recipe weight. Flour is always 100%. If a recipe has 500 g flour and 375 g water, the water is 75% (375 ÷ 500 × 100).
This system makes it trivial to scale recipes, compare formulas across batch sizes, and understand hydration at a glance — skills that matter whether you're doubling a loaf or planning a commercial production run.
The Formula
Ingredient percentage = (Ingredient weight ÷ Flour weight) × 100
To reverse: Ingredient weight = Flour weight × (Percentage ÷ 100)
Worked Example: A Basic Sourdough
| Ingredient | Baker's % | Weight (per 500 g flour) |
|---|---|---|
| Bread flour | 100% | 500 g |
| Water | 75% | 375 g |
| Levain (100% hyd) | 20% | 100 g (50 g flour + 50 g water) |
| Salt | 2% | 10 g |
| Total | 197% | 985 g |
The "true" hydration including levain's water: (375 + 50) ÷ (500 + 50) × 100 = 77.3%. This calculator handles that calculation automatically when you mark an ingredient as levain and set its hydration.
Scaling From Total Dough Weight
If you know the total dough weight you want (e.g., 900 g for one loaf), you can work backwards. Total dough weight = Flour × (sum of all percentages ÷ 100). So flour = 900 ÷ (197 ÷ 100) = 900 ÷ 1.97 = 457 g flour.
Key Benchmarks
| Ingredient | Typical Range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Water (hydration) | 60–90% | 60% = stiff bagel; 85%+ = wet artisan sourdough |
| Salt | 1.8–2.2% | 2% is standard; below 1.5% tastes flat |
| Instant yeast | 0.3–1% | Slow ferment: 0.3%; quick: 1% |
| Levain/starter | 10–25% | Higher % = faster/more sour fermentation |
| Sugar (enriched) | 5–15% | Dinner rolls: 5–8%; sweet buns: 10–15% |
| Fat (butter/oil) | 3–15% | Lean bread: 0%; brioche: 50%+ |
For a deeper dive, see our articles on baker's percentage explained, dough hydration guide, and salt percentage in bread.