Baker’s percentage expresses every ingredient in a dough as a proportion of the flour’s weight. Flour is always treated as 100%; water, salt, yeast, and all other ingredients are listed as a percentage of the flour. This makes it possible to compare two recipes directly and scale a recipe to the size you want. The total percentage exceeds 100%; that is not an error but how the system works.
The calculation follows one rule: divide the weight of each ingredient by the weight of the flour and multiply by 100. A recipe with 500 grams of flour, 350 grams of water, 10 grams of salt, and 5 grams of yeast is written in this system as follows: flour, 100%; water, 70%; salt, 2%; yeast, 1%. When multiple flour types are used, the combined weight of the 2 types counts as 100%. The total in this example is 173%, which is normal because the ingredients are being compared with the flour itself. That is why the total percentage is never considered in baker’s percentage; the only meaningful value is each ingredient’s proportion relative to the flour.
The first benefit of the system is comparison. It is difficult to compare the water content of two different recipes in grams because the amounts of flour differ; when converted to percentages, the 2 recipes are on the same scale, so you can see at a glance which one has more water. The second benefit is that it is easy to remember: once you remember a bread’s ratios, you can make dough of any size using those ratios. The third benefit is finding errors; if a recipe has 4% salt, the problem is immediately clear.
Scaling becomes simple arithmetic with this system. Decide how much flour you want and multiply each ratio by that amount. With 800 grams of flour and ratios of 70% water, 2% salt, and 1% yeast, the amounts are 560 grams of water, 16 grams of salt, and 8 grams of yeast. The reverse works, too: if you have a set amount of flour, the recipe can be rewritten to match it. Round fractional results; gram-level precision is more than sufficient for salt and yeast.
Once you know the ratios, recipes become a language. Salt is between 1.8–2.2% in nearly every dough; be skeptical of a recipe outside this range. The water ratio determines the dough’s character: 55–60% makes a firm dough that is easy to handle, 65–70% is typical for bread, and more than 75% is sticky and takes experience to work with. The yeast ratio works in the opposite direction of fermentation time: as the ratio decreases, fermentation takes longer and the flavor deepens. Fat and sugar ratios can be read the same way; sugar above 5% noticeably softens the dough and slows fermentation.
The system has a few details to keep in mind. When working with sourdough, the starter contains flour and water, so those amounts must also be included when calculating the recipe’s total flour and water ratios. Ingredients such as eggs, milk, and yogurt contain water; for very wet recipes, count that water separately as well. All of this may seem complicated, but a scale and a notebook are enough. Once you set up the calculation, you can make the same dough consistently at any size. The system is used not only for bread but also for cake, cookie, and pastry dough; there, too, flour is treated as 100%.
A Note for Readers
This content is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice. Consult your doctor before making any decision about your health.