Flour is always 100%
Baking is about percentages. One loaf? Three loaves? A dozen loaves? Most recipes can be adjusted in regard to the amounts of ingredients and their final yield. Baker’s math is about percentages and helps with that. By the way, bakers use weight instead of volume to measure the ingredients properly.
As a baseline, the total amount of the recipe’s flour is always 100%. The following formula is an example of how to calculate Baker’s percentages for most bread recipes.
Baker’s % = (Weight of Ingredient / Weight of Total Flour) x 100
Here is an example of some dough:
| 1000g | Flour | = | 100% |
| 750g | Water | = | 75% |
| 20g | Salt | = | 2% |
Dough made based on these amounts is called 75% hydrated.
Levain / Main Dough & Baker’s Percentages Calculator
Your bread recipe most likely asks for a specific amount of levain (a one-time offshoot of ripe culture) as one of its ingredients. Use this form to decide how much flour and water to use in feeding or refreshing an offshoot of ripe culture, one or a few more times, for the amount of levain required by a bread recipe.
All default values are my preferences for a yield of two loaves. Fields marked with an * (asterisk) require an entry. Again, these forms reflect my bias towards the use of whole wheat flour.
