Baker’s Math for Pizza Dough: Percentages & Mass Balance

Every percentage has a denominator

Flour is 100%. Ingredient % = ingredient mass ÷ total flour mass × 100. At 65% water and 2.5% salt, 500 g flour takes 325 g water and 12.5 g salt. This is not a percentage of the whole dough.

Work backward from dough mass

Total ratio = 1 + (hydration + salt + yeast + oil + sugar + malt)/100. Flour = total dough ÷ ratio. Each ingredient is then flour × its percentage/100.

For 1,000 g dough at 62% water, 3% salt and 0.15% yeast, ratio = 1.6515. Flour = 605.5101 g, water = 375.4163 g, salt = 18.1653 g and yeast = 0.9083 g. The full-precision sum is 1,000 g. Display rounding can change the shown sum slightly.

Scale the complete recipe · Compare flour and water

Preferments divide the formula

Preferment flour + fresh flour = total flour. Preferment water + fresh water = total water. Starter flour = starter mass ÷ (1 + starter hydration/100); starter water is the remaining starter mass. The starter is already part of the recipe’s flour and water.

Starter example · Poolish allocation · Biga allocation

Area and dough loading

Rectangle area = length × width. Circle area = π × (diameter/2)². Dough loading is mass ÷ area. Equal loading between round sizes requires scaling by the squared diameter ratio.

Forward and reverse pan calculations · A worked size chart

Temperature arithmetic

Conventional straight-dough water = 3 × target − flour − room − friction adjustment. Preferment dough uses four factors and subtracts preferment temperature. Absolute Celsius/Fahrenheit conversion includes 32; a friction difference does not.

Calculate mixing water · Measure the friction adjustment

Exact math does not validate a process assumption

The denominator and conversions conserve mass. A chosen yeast percentage, dough loading or mixing target is still a recipe or planning choice. Read methodology for limits and source scope.