Biga Pizza Dough Calculator

Adjust Biga flour allocation and hydration independently. The 50% flour / 45% hydration defaults are planning examples; bake guidance comes from the eventual pizza style.

Full recipe controls · All tools

Interactive Formulation

Calculate your dough

Adjust Biga flour allocation and hydration independently. The 50% flour / 45% hydration defaults are planning examples; bake guidance comes from the eventual pizza style.

1

Batch Size & Dough Ball Weight

Choose how many pizzas and how large each dough ball is

Calculation Mode

Target pizza diameter (inches)

Area-based thickness assumption

Calculate portion weight from diameter and thickness

Style factors are planning examples. Entering a manual weight disables area sizing. Use a custom or reverse-calculated factor.

Number of Pizzas / Balls

Weight per Ball (g)

Example portion sizes:

2

Hydration (Water Content)

Controls dough stickiness, extensibility, and open crumb texture

Water % (of Flour)

70%High

50% Stiff62% Neapolitan72% Detroit / Pan85%+ Slack

3

Fermentation Schedule & Yeast

Estimate yeast for a schedule, then check dough readiness

Fermentation Schedule Preset

Yeast Type

Yeast Percentage %0.10%

Lower doseEditable percentageHigher dose

⚙️

Advanced Baker Settings

Salt %, Pre-ferments (Poolish/Biga), Fats, Sugars, Custom Timers & DDT

Fine Sea Salt %2.8%

1.5% Mild2.5% Standard3.0% AVPN-Informed4.0% High

Pre-Ferment (Poolish · Biga · Sourdough)

Biga Flour %50%

Biga Hydration %45%

Stiff Italian preferment. Ferment 16–24h at 16–18°C (or 24–48h cold) for complex aroma and honeycomb structure.

Custom Proofing Time & Ambient Temperature

Room Temp Proof (Hours)

Room Ambient Temp (°C)

Cold Ferment (Fridge 4°C Hours)

House planning estimate: time, room temperature and yeast type. Actual fermentation also depends on flour, salt, dough cooling and yeast condition. See the methodology for assumptions.

Secondary Fats & Additives

Extra Virgin Olive Oil / Fat %0%

0% Neapolitan2–3% NY / Detroit18% Chicago Deep

Sugar / Honey %0%

0% (None)1.5% (NY Browning)4% (Sweet)

Diastatic Malt Powder %0%

0%0.5% (Home oven browning)1.5%

OUTPUT · TOTAL DOUGH BATCH

1080 g

Balls

4

Per Ball

270 g

❄️ 48h Cold (4°C) + 4h Room Temp (21°C)

FlourWaterSaltYeastOilSugar

Ingredient Measurements

Total flour and water include preferment contributions. Starter is a subset of these totals; do not add it twice.

Baker's %

IngredientWeight (g)Baker's %

Flour624.6 g100%

Water437.2 g70%

Fine Sea Salt17.5 g2.8%

Instant Dry Yeast (IDY)0.62 g0.10%

Olive Oil / Fat0 g0%

Sugar / Honey0 g0%

Diastatic Malt0 g0%

Biga (50% flour, 45% hydr.)

Preferment ingredients are included in the total recipe. Yeast allocation is a house planning assumption, not a maturity guarantee.

Mix 1 — Preferment

Flour in preferment312.3 g50.0% of flour

Water in preferment140.5 g45.0% hydr.

Yeast in Preferment0.62 gpreferment yeast

Sourdough Starter0 g15% inoc.

Total Preferment453.5 g

Final dough — ingredients to add

Remaining Flour312.3 gsubtracted

Remaining Water296.7 gsubtracted

Fine Sea Salt17.5 g

Remaining Yeast0 g

Olive Oil0 g

Sugar / Honey0 g

Diastatic Malt0 g

+ All Preferment (Mix 1)453.5 g

Bake context

Choose bake conditions for your pizza style and oven; preferments do not set a bake temperature.

Flour Recommendation

High strength Tipo 00 flour (W300–W320)

Two percentages, two denominators

With 1,000 g total flour, 50% Biga allocation puts 500 g flour in the Biga. At 45% Biga hydration it takes 225 g water. A 70%-hydration final recipe then adds 500 g flour and 475 g water.

Check the full split

Preferment and fresh additions must sum to the recipe flour, water and yeast totals. The inherited preferment yeast allocation uses up to one-third of 1% IDY of preferment flour, with conventional type conversion, capped by total available yeast. It is a planning split, not an official requirement.

Plan mixing around a stiff preferment

Follow your recipe for incorporating the mature Biga. Higher allocation changes how much matured dough must be mixed in. It is not an automatic route to better flavor, an inflated rim or improved digestibility.

Sources and scope

King Arthur Baking: PrefermentPoolish, stiff preferments and maturity cues.
King Arthur Baking: Baker’s PercentageFlour-based ingredient percentages.

Worked calculations and planning examples are this site’s illustrations. A source’s product or recipe guidance is not a universal pizza standard.

Keep planning your dough

Poolish vs Biga for Pizza Dough: Choose a Mixing Workflow

Compare liquid Poolish and stiff Biga, separate their hydration from flour allocation, and choose a preferment by practical handling rather than superiority claims.

Biga Percentage for Pizza: Flour Share vs Biga Hydration

Keep prefermented flour percentage separate from Biga hydration, calculate the final additions, and reconcile the whole dough without double counting.

Pizza Flour W Strength: Why It Is Not Protein Percentage

Interpret W and P/L as flour technical measurements, compare manufacturer specifications, and avoid inventing a protein-to-W conversion or exact fermentation rule.

Desired Dough Temperature for Pizza: Set Mixing Water Deliberately

Use the conventional three- and four-factor DDT equations, measure mixer friction, and convert Fahrenheit adjustments without applying a temperature offset.

Browse all guides · Calculation methods and assumptions · Open the master dough calculator