Need to make more—or less—of a bread recipe you already trust? This Bread Recipe Scaling Calculator lets you resize any formula while preserving the original baker's percentages. Whether you're baking a single loaf or a commercial batch, every ingredient stays in the correct proportion.
Enter your original ingredient weights and the desired flour weight. The calculator automatically determines the scaling factor and recalculates water, salt, yeast, sugar, oil, sourdough starter, and other ingredients. Hydration, ingredient ratios, and the overall dough formula remain unchanged.
This ensures your scaled recipe matches the original formula, making it easy to increase or reduce batch size without manually calculating every ingredient.
Think of baker's percentages as a way to describe a bread formula. They show the ratio of each ingredient to the flour, not the composition of the finished dough. Flour is always 100%, and every other ingredient is expressed as a percentage of the flour weight.
For example, a formula with 70% hydration and 2% salt means adding 70 g of water and 2 g of salt for every 100 g of flour. Increase the flour to 1,000 g, and the recipe becomes 700 g water and 20 g salt. The ratios stay the same—only the ingredient weights change.
Flour is the anchor. No matter the batch size, flour is your baseline at 100%. Every other ingredient is a ratio of flour weight — not of total dough weight.
A lean dough at 70% hydration and 2% salt has a formula total of 172%. That is correct. The total of all baker's percentages is always greater than 100%.
A formula in baker's percentages scales perfectly to any size. Baking 10× more dough? Multiply flour by 10. Everything else follows. No recalculation, no ratio drift.
In baker's percentages, flour is always 100% because it is the foundation of every bread formula. Water hydrates the flour, salt strengthens the dough, yeast produces the gas for fermentation, and fats or sugars modify texture and flavor. Expressing every ingredient as a percentage of the flour keeps the formula consistent and easy to understand.
Using flour as the reference also makes scaling recipes straightforward. A formula with 500 g flour and 350 g water has a hydration of 70%. Reduce the flour to 250 g, and the water automatically becomes 175 g. The ingredient ratios stay the same, regardless of batch size.
Once you have a flour weight and a set of baker's percentages, calculating every ingredient weight is a single multiplication for each ingredient. There is no iteration, no trial and error, no adjusting.
Given: 1,000 g flour, 70% hydration, 2% salt, 0.5% instant yeast.
| Ingredient | Baker's % | Calculation | Weight (g) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flour | 100% | 1,000 × 1.00 | 1,000.0 g |
| Water | 70% | 1,000 × 0.70 | 700.0 g |
| Salt | 2% | 1,000 × 0.02 | 20.0 g |
| Instant Yeast | 0.5% | 1,000 × 0.005 | 5.0 g |
| Total Dough | 172.5% | — | 1,725.0 g |
The total baker's percentage — 172.5% — tells you immediately how much heavier the final dough is than the flour alone. If you expect a lean dough and your total is 250%, something is off. If you see 172%, you have a standard hydration bread formula.
If you already have a recipe with ingredient weights, you can convert each ingredient to a baker's percentage using the formula below. This makes it easy to compare bread recipes, analyze ingredient ratios, and scale or adapt a formula while preserving its original proportions.
A sourdough recipe uses 600 g flour, 450 g water, 12 g salt, and 120 g starter. What are the baker's percentages?
From the example above, the formula—100% flour, 75% hydration, 2% salt, and 20% starter—can be scaled to any batch size. Whether you use 400 g or 4,000 g of flour, the baker's percentages remain the same. Our calculator automatically scales every ingredient while preserving the original formula and hydration.
Baker's percentage runs in both directions. Forward: you know the flour weight, you calculate ingredient weights. Reverse: you know what each ingredient weighs, you recover the percentages. Both are useful, and both use the same single formula — just rearranged.
You know the flour weight and percentages. You calculate how many grams of each ingredient to weigh out.
Note: If you already have a recipe with ingredient weights, convert it to baker's percentages first. You can then scale the recipe to any batch size while preserving the original formula.
Yes. You can convert ingredient weights to baker's percentages, then use those percentages to calculate a new batch size. This preserves the original hydration and ingredient ratios, allowing you to scale any bread recipe accurately without changing the formula.
Each bread style has its own typical range of baker's percentages. These ingredient ratios determine the dough's characteristics and make it easy to identify a bread style, compare formulas, and troubleshoot recipes that do not produce the expected results.
Sourdough starter contains both flour and water, so both must be included when calculating baker's percentages. Ignoring either one changes the dough's true hydration and ingredient ratios.
Most sourdough bread recipes use 10%–25% starter (based on flour weight). Lower percentages generally produce slower fermentation, while higher percentages speed it up. Starter levels above 30% are less common in traditional sourdough bread formulas.
Sourdough starter contributes both flour and water to the dough. The amount of each depends on the starter's hydration. A 100% hydration starter contains equal parts flour and water, so 200 g of starter provides 100 g flour and 100 g water. Stiffer starters contribute more flour, while wetter starters contribute more water.
The table below shows typical baker's percentages and the corresponding ingredient weights for 1,000 g of flour. To calculate ingredient weights for any other flour amount, use our Baker's Percentage Calculator.
| Bread Style | Hydration | Salt | Yeast / Starter | Water (g) | Salt (g) | Leaven (g) | Total Dough (g) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classic White Sandwich | 68% | 2% | 0.8% instant yeast | 680 | 20 | 8 | 1,708 |
| Baguette | 65% | 2% | 0.3% instant yeast | 650 | 20 | 3 | 1,673 |
| Pizza Dough (Neapolitan) | 62% | 2.8% | 0.1% instant yeast | 620 | 28 | 1 | 1,649 |
| Sourdough Country Loaf | 75% | 2% | 20% starter (100% hyd.) | 750 | 20 | 200 | 1,970 |
| Focaccia | 80% | 2% | 0.5% instant yeast | 800 | 20 | 5 | 1,825 |
| Ciabatta | 85% | 2% | 0.4% instant yeast | 850 | 20 | 4 | 1,874 |
| Bagels | 55% | 1.8% | 1% instant yeast | 550 | 18 | 10 | 1,578 |
| Whole Wheat Loaf | 72% | 2% | 1% instant yeast | 720 | 20 | 10 | 1,750 |
* Flour = 1,000 g in all cases. Sourdough totals include starter weight. All figures rounded.
Click any card to load these full recipe values into the calculator.
Baker's percentages express each ingredient as a percentage of the total flour weight, with flour always equal to 100%. For example, 70% hydration means 70 g of water for every 100 g of flour, regardless of batch size. Unlike nutritional percentages, baker's percentages do not add up to 100%.
To calculate baker's percentages, divide each ingredient's weight by the flour weight, then multiply by 100. For example, if a recipe contains 500 g flour and 350 g water, the hydration is (350 ÷ 500) × 100 = 70%. Repeat the calculation for each ingredient to convert the recipe into baker's percentages and scale it accurately.
Most sourdough bread recipes use between 10% and 25% starter as a percentage of flour. Lower percentages (10–15%) ferment more slowly and develop deeper sour flavour. Higher percentages (20–30%) speed the process up and produce a milder, more open crumb.
To calculate the baker's percentage of sourdough starter, divide the starter weight by the total flour weight, then multiply by 100: Starter % = (Starter Weight ÷ Flour Weight) × 100. Remember that the flour and water in the starter also count toward the recipe's total flour and hydration.
Flour is always 100% because it is the foundation of every bread formula. Expressing all other ingredients as a percentage of the flour keeps ingredient ratios consistent, making recipes easy to compare, scale, and adjust. Using the total dough weight would cause the percentages to change whenever an ingredient is added or removed.
Baker's percentages are most accurate when ingredients are measured by weight, not volume. Cup measurements can vary depending on how the flour is scooped, packed, or sifted, making them unreliable for precise formulas. For consistent results, weigh ingredients in grams or another weight unit.
Most bread recipes use 1.8%–2.2% salt (based on flour weight), with 2% being the most common. Lower percentages can produce bland bread, while higher percentages may slow yeast fermentation.
To scale a bread recipe, first convert each ingredient to a baker's percentage. Next, choose your new flour weight and calculate each ingredient using: Ingredient Weight = Flour Weight × (Baker's % ÷ 100). The ingredient ratios stay the same, regardless of batch size.
Baker's percentages provide a simple, consistent way to write, compare, and scale bread recipes. By expressing every ingredient relative to the flour, you can adjust batch size without changing hydration or ingredient ratios.
Thinking in percentages instead of fixed weights also makes it easier to compare formulas, refine recipes, and reproduce consistent results. Whether you're baking at home or in a commercial bakery, the same formula works at any scale.
Use our Baker's Percentage Calculator to convert ingredient weights into baker's percentages, calculate ingredient weights from percentages, and scale any bread recipe accurately.
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