Baker's Percentage Calculator

| Added in Food

What is Baker's Percentage?

Baker's percentage is a method of expressing ingredient quantities in baking recipes relative to the weight of flour. In this system, flour is always considered 100%, and all other ingredients are calculated as a percentage of the total flour weight.

The Formula

The formula for calculating baker's percentage is:

$$\text{Baker's Percentage} = \frac{\text{Ingredient Weight}}{\text{Flour Weight}} \times 100$$

Example Calculation

If you have a recipe with 1134g of flour and 22.68g of salt:

$$\text{Baker's Percentage} = \frac{22.68}{1134} \times 100 = 2%$$

This means salt represents 2% of the flour weight.

Why Use Baker's Percentages?

Baker's percentages offer several advantages:

  • Easy Scaling: Scale recipes up or down while maintaining perfect ratios
  • Recipe Comparison: Quickly compare different formulas at a glance
  • Professional Standard: Used universally in professional bakeries
  • Flexibility: Make any batch size by choosing your flour weight first

Common Baker's Percentages

Here are typical ranges for common bread ingredients:

  • Water: 60-75% (hydration level)
  • Salt: 1.8-2.2%
  • Yeast: 0.5-2%
  • Sugar: 0-10%
  • Fat: 0-5%

How to Use This Calculator

Enter the total weight of flour in your recipe and the weight of any ingredient you want to express as a baker's percentage. Make sure both measurements use the same unit (grams, ounces, pounds, etc.). The calculator will instantly show you the percentage.

This is particularly useful when adapting recipes, analyzing formulas, or creating your own bread recipes using professional baking standards.

Frequently Asked Questions

Baker's percentage (also called baker's math) is a notation method where each ingredient in a bread recipe is expressed as a percentage of the flour weight. Flour is always 100%, and all other ingredients are scaled relative to it. For example, if you use 1000g flour and 600g water, the water percentage is 60%.

Baker's percentages make it easy to scale recipes up or down while maintaining the same proportions. They also help bakers quickly understand and compare different formulas. Once you know the baker's percentages, you can make any batch size by simply deciding how much flour to use.

To convert baker's percentage to actual weight, decide how much flour you want to use, then multiply that flour weight by each ingredient's percentage. For example, if salt is 2% and you're using 500g flour: 500g × 0.02 = 10g salt.

Yes, both weights must use the same unit (grams, pounds, ounces, etc.) for the calculation to work correctly. The formula calculates a ratio, so as long as both measurements are in the same unit, the percentage will be accurate.