Baker’s Percentages Explained with a Simple Worked Example

In baker’s percentages, the total flour weight is treated as 100%. Each other ingredient is expressed relative to that flour weight. The percentages therefore do not need to add up to 100%, because they are not shares of the total dough.

This makes it easier to compare bread formulas and calculate ingredient quantities. It does not tell you how long to mix, ferment or bake. Those remain recipe and process decisions.

King Arthur Baking’s professional reference explains the system. Start with a simple straight-dough calculation before trying to account for preferments or several sources of water.

Here is an arithmetic example, not a tested bread recipe: flour 100%, water 65%, salt 2% and yeast 1%. With 500 g flour, multiply the flour weight by each percentage expressed as a decimal.

Water is 500 × 0.65 = 325 g. Salt is 500 × 0.02 = 10 g. Yeast is 500 × 0.01 = 5 g. The total dough mass before process losses is 840 g.

The percentages total 168%. That is correct because all four quantities are compared with the flour, not with the total dough. The example’s yeast amount is for calculation only; use the type and quantity specified by a tested recipe when baking.

Using the same arithmetic example, suppose you want 1,008 g of dough before process losses. Divide by the total percentage expressed as a decimal: 1,008 ÷ 1.68 = 600 g flour.

Then calculate water at 390 g, salt at 12 g and yeast at 6 g. Add them to check: 600 + 390 + 12 + 6 = 1,008 g.

This is a mass calculation, not a guarantee of baked yield. Dough left in the bowl and moisture lost during baking affect the final weight. Record actual yield separately rather than promising that the finished loaves will weigh the same as the mixed dough.

In this simple flour-and-water example, water is 65% of flour weight. More complex formulas need careful accounting: a preferment contributes flour and water, while other ingredients may contain water without being entirely water.

Do not compare percentages from two recipes until you know what each calculation includes. A higher hydration number is not a quality score, and changing it changes handling as well as arithmetic.

Use our recipe-scaling guide for the distinction between calculation and a successful larger batch. The dough observation guide helps record the process. Explore Bakery & Patisserie for study options. First practise the calculations on paper, check the totals, and then use a tested formula for the actual bake.

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