Pizza Dough Hydration Calculator

Focus on flour and water. The initial example uses 500 g flour, 65% water and 2.5% salt, with no commercial yeast or optional additions included.

Full recipe controls · All tools

Interactive Formulation

Calculate your dough

Focus on flour and water. The initial example uses 500 g flour, 65% water and 2.5% salt, with no commercial yeast or optional additions included.

1

Batch Size & Dough Ball Weight

Choose how many pizzas and how large each dough ball is

Calculation Mode

Total Flour Weight (g)

Total flour is the fixed 100% baseline. Water and ingredients scale directly.

Dough Balls Count

Divides resulting dough batch into equal balls.

2

Hydration (Water Content)

Controls dough stickiness, extensibility, and open crumb texture

Water % (of Flour)

65%Standard

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 %0.00%

Lower doseEditable percentageHigher dose

⚙️

Advanced Baker Settings

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

Fine Sea Salt %2.5%

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

Pre-Ferment (Poolish · Biga · Sourdough)

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

838 g

Balls

4

Per Ball

209 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 %

Flour500 g100%

Water325 g65%

Fine Sea Salt12.5 g2.5%

Instant Dry Yeast (IDY)0 g0.00%

Olive Oil / Fat0 g0%

Sugar / Honey0 g0%

Diastatic Malt0 g0%

Bake context

Oven planning example: 290°C / 550°F. Adjust for your oven and recipe.

Flour Recommendation

High-protein bread flour (W300+, 12.7–14% protein)

Hydration is based on total flour

500 g flour at 65% hydration needs 325 g water. With 12.5 g salt, this mathematical batch totals 837.5 g before leavening or other additions. The master calculator can turn this comparison into a full recipe.

Compare water changes clearly

A five-point hydration change adds or removes 25 g water for 500 g flour. Keep flour, portion weight, fermentation and bake setup comparable when testing. More water is not automatically a better crust.

Count starter contributions

If the recipe contains starter or preferment, count its flour and water inside the totals. Use the dedicated preferment tool or master calculator for that allocation instead of adding it on top of this comparison.

Sources and scope

King Arthur Baking: Baker’s PercentageFlour-based ingredient percentages.
King Arthur Baking: WaterWater’s role in dough formation.

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

60% vs 65% vs 70% Pizza Dough Hydration

Run a controlled hydration comparison, see the flour-first and fixed-batch arithmetic, and choose a water level by handling and baked results.

Pizza Dough Hydration Chart: Compare Water Ratios

Read hydration as water divided by all flour, compare practical trial ratios, and account for preferment water without confusing hydration with dough moisture.

Pizza Dough Hydration for a Home Oven

Choose hydration around your flour, bake time and shaping process; diagnose a pale base or wet center before adding more water.

Pizza Dough Sticking to the Peel: Fix the Launch Workflow

Keep a pizza moving on the peel, limit moisture and delay before launch, and diagnose sticking separately from the dough’s hydration.

Pizza Dough Tears When Stretching: Find the Weak Point

Diagnose holes caused by uneven stretching, dry skin, dough development or weakening, and distinguish tearing from simple resistance.

Pizza Dough Too Sticky: Diagnose Before Adding Flour

Separate surface sticking from a formulation or proofing problem, check water and starter accounting, and make a controlled adjustment for the next batch.

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