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Baker’s Percentages explained

If you learned to bake with volume measures (cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, etc.), Baker’s Percentages can be a little daunting, but once you get the hang of using them you will enjoy the convenience and simplicity they bring to your baking.

Let’s walk through what Baker’s Percentages are and how to calculate them so that you too can become adept at using them.

The most important thing to remember about Baker’s Percentages is that the percentages are a percent of the weight of the flour in your recipe, not a percent of total weight of the recipe. This means that the percentages won’t add up to 100%. The percent of flour, though, will always be 100%. Take a look at this recipe for basic sourdough bread:

Flour 433 grams
Water 333 grams
Starter 67 grams
Salt 8 grams

Note that all ingredients are measured by weight, in this case grams, but it could be ounces (weight, not liquid ounces). This means that you will need to put away your cups and tablespoons and get our your scales if you are going to use Baker’s Percentages. 

As I said, the Baker’s Percentage for flour is 100% and every other ingredient’s Baker’s Percentage is based on this. Flour is the foundation of the recipe and is therefore the denominator in all calculations. Water, for example, in the sourdough bread recipe above is 333 grams. Thus, the Baker’s Percent for water is calculated by dividing the weight of the water by the weight of the flour—333 grams / 433 grams, which is 77% (rounded to the nearest percent). Similarly, the Baker’s Percentage for starter is 15 % (67/ 433). 

Thus, the whole recipe can be stated in Baker’s Percentage like this:

Flour 100%
Water 77%
Starter 15%
Salt 2%

The advantage of this is that you can more easily adjust your recipe. For example, if you decide you want to make three loaves, all you have to do is multiple the flour weight by 3 (433 * 3 = 1,300) and then use the Baker’s Percentages to calculate the weight of the other ingredients.

Flour 1300 grams (433 * 3)
Water 1000 grams (1300 * .77)
Starter 200 grams (1300 * .15)
Salt 24 grams (1300 * .02)

If your recipe has multiple flours, then the base is the total weight of all the flours. If I were to make sourdough bread recipe with 10% whole wheat flour, then the base would be the weight of the all-purpose flour (390 grams) plus the weight of the wheat (43 grams).  The total is still 433 grams and this is the basis for the calculation. Thus, the Baker’s Percentages for all the other ingredients remain the same.

A bonus of using Baker’s Percentages is that you use fewer utensils for mixing your recipe. Just set your bowl on your scale and add the ingredients by weight. A recipe that uses a cup and a half of flour and, say a tablespoon of oil and a teaspoon of salt, would require you to wash your cup measurer, your half cup measurer, your tablespoon measure, and your teaspoon measurer in addition to the bowl you are mixing them in. Using Baker’s Percentages, you would use a bowl and a spoon.

Things to remember:

  • The total Baker’s Percentage for this recipe is 194%, which is meaningless, there’s no need to calculate it.
  • Baker’s Percentages will work if you measure your ingredients in ounces (not fluid ounces) or any other weight measures (if there are any).
  • If you have a recipe that has more of another ingredient than it has of flour, the Baker’s Percentage will be greater than 100%.

Note that when bakers talk about hydration, they are typically referring to the Baker’s Percentage for water. The Basic Sourdough recipe above is at 77% hydration.

So, get out your scales and start baking.

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Tom Ford
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3 thoughts on “Baker’s Percentages explained”

  1. Kelley

    Hi! This is very helpful but I wanted to let you know that the calculation on the salt is not correct – 2% salt would mean that you multiply by .02, not .2. As it’s written, you have 20% salt – more salt than starter!

    Thanks for this – really great info!

    Reply
  2. Mark

    This is very helpful but leaves me with one question. Why is the quantity of starter not considered in the overall hydration calculation? Assuming my starter is 100% hydration, the more of it I use the higher the hydration of my final dough. Should the total quantities of flour and water not also include what’s in the starter?

    Reply
  3. Tom Ford

    Yes, Mark, you are absolutely right! The water in the starter will increase hydration. In the recipe above, the 67 grams of starter is at 100% hydration. This means that there are 33.5 grams additional flour and 33.5 grams of additional water that should be added to the hydration formula. Thus, the correct hydration is 366.5 ÷ 466.5 or about 79%.

    If you know the hydration level of your starter and the total amount of starter you are putting in your recipe, then you can calculate the flour in your starter by dividing the weight of your starter by the hydration percentage of your starter plus 1. For example, if in the recipe above you use starter that is at 80% hydration, then the amount of flour is 67 ÷ 1.8, which is about 37 grams additional flour and thus about 30 grams additional water (67 – 30). So, the hydration would be computed as 363 ÷ 470, or about 77% (which is within decimal points of the original recipe).

    I’m really happy you pointed this out. I’ve been reporting my hydration levels wrong for years. (In all honesty, though, I’m not always very precise when I feed my starter so I’m not always certain what the exact hydration level is.)

    Thanks again,
    Tom

    Reply

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Disclaimer: Whilst we hope the information provided is helpful and informative, we cannot guarantee that all details will be 100% accurate.  There are many schools of thought and conflicting ideas on many of the sourdough processes and methods.  This site is simply meant as a broad guide to baking sourdough, and is not a scientific reference.

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Lame

noun

A special sharp knife, or tool which holds a razor blade, in a curved or straight manner. You use it to score the dough before baking.

Dutch Oven

A Dutch Oven is generally understood to be a covered earthenware or cast-iron container for cooking casseroles. They are ideal for bread as they can accommodate bread dough and be covered to help generate the steamy environment requiredto encourage the dough to rise. Enamel roasters with a lid, covered pyrex dishes, or even a flat tray with a bowl over the top of the dough, are equally effective.

Bakers’ Percentages

Sometimes called baker’s math, this is a method to express the different ingredients as a percentage of the total amount of flour. It makes scaling a recipe or building a recipe very easy once you know the total weight of the flour, and also allows you to know the ‘hydration’ of your dough.

Example: If you build your dough with 1000 gram flour, 670-grams water, 20-gram salt, and 8-gram yeast. According to bakers percentages, that will be 100% flour (the amount of flour is always 100%), 67% water, 2% salt, and 0.8% yeast.
You divide the amount of the different ingredients with the amount of flour.

Banneton / Brotform / Proofing Basket

A type of basket or container used to provide structure for shaped loaves of bread during proofing. Banneton baskets are also known as ‘Brotform’ or ‘proofing baskets’. It is normally used for doughs that are too soft or wet to maintain their shape while rising. They come in a range of sizes and shapes. Look for ones that fit the size of loaves you want to bake.

They are often made of natural rattan, or wood fiber. You can also use any container lined with a well-floured tea towel.

Oven Spring

The final burst of expansion of dough upon being introduced to a hot oven and where the yeast activity is increased during the first few minutes. At approximately 60C/140ºF degrees the yeast is killed off, but up until that point, dough can expand in the oven in the first phase of baking if it’s not over-fermented and still has dough strength. Many factors can impact oven spring including the length of fermentation, gluten development, and the hydration of the dough.

Stretch-and-Folds

An alternative to traditional kneading used to develop gluten. The process is performed periodically in the bowl throughout the bulk fermentation. Take a side of the dough and gently stretch it up and over, to fold it upon itself, rotate the dough 90º, and repeat, then turn the bowl 45º and the same stretch and fold. Once all four corners of the dough have been stretched and folded, gluten development and a smooth, elastic dough are underway. Also, see ‘Folding’ and ‘Coil Folds’.

Bulk Ferment

Most loaves have two fermenting cycles. One before and one after the loaves are formed. Bulk fermentation is the first cycle, with a long fermentation period of the dough after the initial mixing of flour, water, starter, and salt and often comes during and after a period of kneading or ‘stretch and folds’.During this stage we are aiming to create dough strength, structure and flavor. The dough should feel alive, strong, airy, spongy and the surface shouldn’t feel sticky.

The bulk fermentation generally takes place at room temperature, unless otherwise noted in the recipe and is a longer period of time (4 -12 hours) than the final proofing period. This step may be referred to as the first prove or first rising. Acetic acid, an organic acid is produced by bacteria in the sourdough culture during the fermentation process. The presence of acetic acid helps to gives sourdough its characteristic acidic tang. The warmer the environment, the faster the development of the dough will be

Window Pane

The window pane test is one of the best ways to tell if you’ve sufficiently stretched and folded your bread dough. Pull a small piece of the dough and using both hands and your fingers stretch the dough very thin if it holds its shape without tearing the gluten is well-developed and your dough is ready to be pre-shaped, shaped and rest for it’s final prove.

Starter / Starter Culture / Sourdough Starter

A mixture of flour and water used to leaven bread that contains bacteria, yeast, and organic acids. Made either by inoculating with an established colony of bacteria or by capturing wild bacteria and yeasts over a longer period. Sometimes also called Leaven / Levain.

Autolyse

verb

Autolyse (pronounced auto-lees) is a process in which a portion of (or total) water and flour in a bread recipe are gently pre-blended and set to rest for a period of time.

This resting period gives the dough special processing characteristics and improves the overall quality of the baked goods.

During autolyse process, several events can occur in the pre-mixed water/flour mixture:

  1. Continued flour hydration. Water molecules work their way into damaged starch, intact starch granules and proteins.
  2. Protein bonds continue to develop as a consequence of adding water, creating more gluten strands without mechanical work. This leads to better gluten structure and gas retention.
  3. Flour enzymes (mainly proteases) acquire time to adapt and work on the gluten by breaking down protein bonds.Protease activity is higher at low pH (acidic conditions). This is why autolysed doughs that contain yeast or pre-ferments (e.g. poolish) often experience greater protease activity. Such doughs are more extensible, weaker, softer and show less resistance to deformation than autolyzed non-fermented doughs.2
  4. Finally, as a result, the dough feels less sticky and very smooth after the autolyse.

As a general rule, the longer the autolyse time:

  • The shorter the dough mixing time (less mechanical development of gluten-forming proteins in needed). This means less energy consumption during mixing.
  • The shorter the dough stability duration
  • The less tolerance to overmixing. Breakdown is more pronounced once peak (maximum strength) is attained.
  • The smaller the P value in the alveograph test
  • The more extensible and less elastic the dough becomes at the end of autolysis
  • The better the sheetability and machining of dough during lamination of croissants
  • The easier and faster the dough expands during oven spring (better volume)
  • The lower the need for dough conditioners
  • The better the flavor and aroma of the finished product
Leaven/Levain/Sourdough Starter
noun
  1. A substance, in this case a wild yeast starter, that is used in sourdough baking to make dough rise.
  2. Some methods of baking, such as ‘Tartine Method’ require a sourdough leavening agent be made from a sourdough ‘mother culture’ (aka your Starter). This technique is often employed to boost the yeast activity of the sourdough starter by feeding a small amount of starter a larger quantity of flour and water. For instance, if a recipe calls for 1 cup of sourdough starter, a leaven can be prepared 8-12 hours before the dough will be mixed by combining 1 Tablespoon of sourdough starter with ½ cup flour and a scant ½ cup of water. This leaven can then be used as the sourdough starter and will be quite active come baking time.
verb
  1. cause (dough or bread) to rise by adding leaven.