Baker's percentage writes every ingredient as a percent of the flour weight, and the flour is always 100%. So if a dough uses 500 g of flour and 330 g of water, the water is 330 ÷ 500 × 100 = 66%, no matter how big or small the batch.
| Ingredient | Baker's percentage | Grams for 500 g flour |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 100% | 500 g |
| Water | 66% | 330 g |
| Salt | 2% | 10 g |
| Yeast | 1.2% | 6 g |
| Total | 169.2% | 846 g |
Those percentages come from King Arthur Baking's white bread example.
How baker's percentage works
There's one formula: divide an ingredient's weight by the flour weight, then multiply by 100. King Arthur Baking's own example uses a big bakery batch: 33 lb of water with 50 lb of flour is (33 ÷ 50) × 100 = 66%. The units don't matter as long as both numbers use the same ones.
Because everything is compared to flour, and not to the whole dough, the percentages always add up to more than 100. King Arthur Baking's French bread formula, for example, totals 168.25%: flour 100%, water 65%, salt 2% and yeast 1.25%.
If a recipe uses more than one flour, they're added together, and that combined weight is the 100%. King Arthur Baking's example: 700 g all purpose, 200 g whole wheat and 100 g rye make 1,000 g of flour, so they're 70%, 20% and 10%.
What the numbers tell you
Once a recipe is in percentages, you can read its personality at a glance. The water percentage is called hydration, and it tells you how wet the dough will be.
- White bread (King Arthur Baking): 66% water, 2% salt, 1.2% yeast.
- French bread: 65% water, 2% salt, 1.25% yeast.
- Ciabatta: 73% water, 1.8% salt, 1.1% yeast.
Ciabatta's 73% means it carries more water for the same flour than the other two, so expect a wetter dough. Comparing two recipes this way is much easier than comparing cups and teaspoons.
Turning percentages into grams for any batch
This is where baker's percentage pays off. Say you want exactly 1,000 g of French bread dough.
- Add up the percentages: 168.25%.
- Find the flour: 1,000 ÷ 1.6825 = about 594.4 g.
- Multiply the flour by each percentage: water 594.4 × 0.65 = 386.4 g, salt 594.4 × 0.02 = 11.9 g, yeast 594.4 × 0.0125 = 7.4 g.
- Check the total: 594.4 + 386.4 + 11.9 + 7.4 = 1,000.1 g, which is 1,000 g once you allow for rounding.
Want a smaller batch? Start from the flour instead. With 250 g of flour at 66% hydration, you'd use 165 g of water.
Common mistakes
- Using the total dough as 100%. Only the flour is 100%. Everything else is measured against it.
- Mixing cups and grams. Baker's percentage only works with weights.
- Rounding salt and yeast too hard. At 2% and around 1%, a gram or two is a big change. Keep a decimal place.
- Expecting it to add to 100. It never will, and that's fine.
If you're new to baking by weight, our post on measuring ingredients by weight covers the basics.
A practical tip: the flour is easy, but 11.9 g of salt and 7.4 g of yeast are where precision counts. The MeasureMate digital measuring spoon scoops and weighs in one step, reads in 0.1 g steps and has a tare button to zero it between ingredients. It weighs up to 500 g, so for bigger flour amounts, weigh in batches.
Quick questions
Why is flour always 100% in baker's percentage?
Flour is the base of most bread doughs, so every other ingredient is measured against it. That lets you compare and scale recipes easily.
What does 70% hydration mean?
It means the water weighs 70% of the flour. With 500 g of flour, that's 350 g of water.
How do I convert an existing recipe to baker's percentages?
Weigh everything in grams, then divide each ingredient by the flour weight and multiply by 100.
Weights based on King Arthur Baking's baker's percentage guide and its baker's math article.