A Free Tool · Baker's Percentages · Weigh in Grams
Exactly how much flour, water, salt & yeast?
Enter the number of dough balls and the weight of one ball, set your hydration, salt,
and yeast, and get the precise grams of flour, water, salt, and yeast to weigh out. It
runs on baker's percentages — the standard method where flour is 100% and everything
else is measured relative to it — with presets for Neapolitan, New York, and Detroit.
Flour, water, salt & yeast in grams·Neapolitan / NY / Detroit presets·Baker's-percentage method
Read this first
These figures come straight from baker's percentages and assume you weigh ingredients on a
gram scale — not measure flour by the cup, which can be off by 20%. Treat hydration,
salt, and yeast as starting points and adjust to your flour, your oven, and your taste.
Yeast amounts especially depend on temperature and how long you ferment: a long, cold rise
needs less yeast than a fast, same-day one.
Pick a style to load typical defaults (or choose Custom), then set the number of balls, ball weight, and your percentages. The result is the flour, water, salt, and yeast you weigh out — they add up to your total dough weight.
One ball makes one pizza.
Neapolitan ~250 g · NY ~280 g · Detroit ~350 g.
Water as a % of flour. Neapolitan 58–62, NY 60–65, Detroit 65–70.
2.5–3% is typical; 2.8% by default.
Sets the yeast % below; edit it freely.
Less for a long, cold rise; more for a fast one.
Flour (100%)
Water
Salt
Yeast
Total dough
How it works
Baker's percentages, step by step
In baker's math, flour is always 100% and every other ingredient is a
percentage of the flour weight. So 62% hydration means the water weighs 62% of the flour,
2.8% salt means the salt weighs 2.8% of the flour, and so on. Because everything is tied
to the flour, the same formula scales to any batch size.
You start from how much dough you want, not from the flour. First,
total dough = balls × ball weight. Then add up the percentages as a
denominator: denom = 1 + hydration% + salt% + yeast% (each written as a
decimal — 62% becomes 0.62). The flour is
flour = total dough ÷ denom, and everything else scales from it:
water = flour × hydration%, salt = flour × salt%,
and yeast = flour × yeast%.
A worked example: 4 balls at 260 g is 1040 g of dough. At 62% hydration,
2.8% salt, and 0.4% instant yeast, the denominator is
1 + 0.62 + 0.028 + 0.004 = 1.652. So flour is
1040 ÷ 1.652 = 629.5 g, water is 390.3 g, salt is
17.6 g, and yeast is 2.5 g — which add back up to about
1040 g. That is exactly what the calculator returns for those inputs.
Pizza styles at a glance
Typical ball weights and hydration ranges for the common styles. These are the figures the
style presets load — starting points, not rules. Adjust to your flour and your oven.
Style
Ball weightper pizza
Hydrationwater % of flour
Notes
Neapolitan
~250 g
58–62%
Thin, soft, blistered. Hot wood or gas oven; short bake.
New York
~280 g
60–65%
Foldable slices, crisp-chewy. Larger pies, often with oil and sugar.
Detroit
~350 g
65–70%
Rectangular pan, airy crumb, crispy cheese edge.
Sicilian
~400 g
65–70%
Thick square pan pizza; high hydration for an open, bready crumb.
Ball weights assume one ball per pizza at a typical diameter for the style; larger or
smaller pies scale the weight up or down. Hydration ranges are conventional, not strict
— competition and home recipes both stray outside them.
Worked batches
A few full batches computed with the same formula the calculator uses, all at 62%
hydration, 2.8% salt, and 0.3% instant yeast. Use them as a sanity check against your own
numbers.
Batch
Totaldough
Flour100%
Water62%
Salt2.8%
Yeast0.3%
2 × 250 g
500 g
374 g
232 g
10.5 g
1.1 g
4 × 250 g
1000 g
748 g
464 g
20.9 g
2.2 g
4 × 280 g
1120 g
838 g
519 g
23.5 g
2.5 g
6 × 350 g
2100 g
1571 g
974 g
44.0 g
4.7 g
Rounded for display: flour and water to the nearest gram, salt and yeast to one decimal.
Because of rounding the four ingredients may sum to a gram or two off the total — the
underlying math balances exactly.
Reading the result well
Numbers on a screen are a starting point. Four things worth knowing before you mix.
Weigh, don't cup
A cup of flour can weigh anywhere from about 120 to 150 grams depending on how it is scooped and settled — a 20% swing. Since hydration is defined as water relative to flour weight, measuring flour by volume throws off the whole recipe. A cheap digital gram scale is the single biggest accuracy upgrade for dough, which is why every figure here is in grams.
Match hydration to the style and your hands
Lower hydration (58–62%) is firmer and easier to shape; higher hydration (65–70%) gives a more open, airy crumb but a stickier, more demanding dough. Neapolitan sits low, New York in the middle, Detroit and Sicilian high. If a dough feels unmanageable, drop a few points of hydration before blaming your technique.
Yeast and time trade off
Yeast percentage and fermentation time work against each other: more yeast and a warm room mean a fast rise, while less yeast and a cold fridge mean a long, more flavorful one. The defaults here (0.3–1.0% by type) suit a same-day to overnight rise. For a 48–72 hour cold ferment, cut the yeast further. Temperature matters as much as the percentage.
Salt earns its place
Salt does more than season — it tightens the gluten and slows fermentation. Too little gives a slack, fast-blowing dough; too much blunts the yeast. The 2.8% default is a safe middle. Always weigh it: fine and coarse salts pack very differently by the spoon, so volume measures are unreliable.
Where to buy
Got your numbers? Here's where to pick up what you need:
The terms behind the calculator, in plain English. Background definitions, not a recipe
— treat the percentages as starting points and adjust to your flour and oven.
Baker's percentage
A way of writing a dough formula where flour is 100% and every other ingredient is stated as a percentage of the flour weight. It makes recipes scale cleanly to any batch size, because all the ratios stay fixed. It is the standard method for bakers and pizzaioli.
Hydration
The weight of water as a percentage of the flour. 62% hydration means 62 g of water for every 100 g of flour. Higher hydration gives a more open, airy crumb but a stickier dough; lower hydration is firmer and easier to handle.
Dough ball
A portioned, rounded piece of dough that becomes one pizza. Its weight sets the size of the finished pie — about 250 g for Neapolitan, 280 g for New York, 350 g for Detroit. The calculator works from balls × ball weight back to ingredients.
Instant dry yeast
Fine-grained yeast that mixes straight into the flour with no proofing step. Slightly more potent than active dry, so it is used at a lower percentage — about 0.3% of the flour for a typical rise.
Active dry yeast
Larger-granule yeast traditionally dissolved in warm water before use. A touch weaker than instant gram for gram, so recipes use a little more — around 0.4% of the flour.
Fresh yeast
Moist cake yeast, weaker by weight than the dry forms, used at roughly 1.0% of the flour. It is more perishable and less common at home, but some pizzaioli prefer its flavor.
Fermentation (proofing)
The rise, when yeast produces gas and the dough develops flavor and structure. Yeast percentage and temperature together set the timing — less yeast and colder temperatures mean a longer, more flavorful ferment, from a few hours up to a few days in the fridge.
Frequently asked
It depends on the style and diameter. A 12-inch Neapolitan uses a dough ball of about 250–280 g; a New York slice pie is roughly 280–320 g for a 14–16-inch pizza; a Detroit pan pizza is about 350 g. Pick your ball weight, multiply by the number of pizzas, and the calculator works backward to the flour, water, salt, and yeast you need.
Baker's percentage states every ingredient as a percentage of the flour weight, and flour is always 100%. So 62% hydration means the water weighs 62% of the flour, and 2.8% salt means the salt weighs 2.8% of the flour. Because everything is relative to the flour, a recipe scales to any batch size without changing the ratios — the standard way bakers and pizzaioli write and scale dough formulas.
Neapolitan typically runs 58–62%hydration. The lower end is easier to shape by hand; the higher end gives a more open, airy crumb but a stickier dough. New York sits a little higher at 60–65%, and Detroit is wetter still at 65–70%. Start at 62% if you are unsure and adjust from there.
Very little. As a percentage of flour, use about 0.3% instant dry, 0.4% active dry, or 1.0% fresh for a typical same-day to overnight rise. For a 600 g flour batch that is under 2 g of instant yeast. Long, cold ferments (24–72 hours in the fridge) use even less. The calculator lets you pick the yeast type and edit the percentage directly.
Instant dry (also sold as instant or rapid-rise) has smaller particles and mixes straight into the flour with no proofing. Active dry has larger granules and is traditionally dissolved in warm water first, though modern active dry can usually go straight in too. Active dry is slightly less potent gram for gram, so recipes use a little more — about 0.4% versus 0.3% for instant. Fresh (cake) yeast is weaker still, used at about 1.0%.
A common approach is a short bulk rise at room temperature followed by a long, cold ferment — often 1–2 hours at room temperature, then 24–72 hours in the fridge, which develops flavor and makes the dough easier to handle. A faster same-day dough can rise 4–6 hours at room temperature with slightly more yeast. The yeast percentage and the temperature together set the timing: less yeast and colder temperatures mean a longer, more flavorful rise.
Flour compacts unevenly, so a cup can weigh anywhere from about 120 to 150 grams depending on how it is scooped, sifted, or settled — a swing of around 20%. Since hydration is water relative to flour weight, a mis-measured cup throws off the whole recipe. A digital gram scale removes the guesswork. Every figure from this calculator is in grams for exactly this reason.
Around 2.5 to 3% of the flour weight is typical, and this calculator defaults to 2.8%. Salt does more than season — it tightens the gluten and slows fermentation, so cutting it too low gives a slack, fast-rising dough while too much can blunt the yeast. Weigh the salt rather than measuring by spoon, since fine and coarse salts pack very differently by volume.
Common mistakes
Four errors that undermine pizza dough before it ever hits the oven.
Measuring flour by the cup instead of weighing it
A cup of flour can weigh anywhere from about 120 to 150 g depending on how it is scooped, sifted, or settled — a swing of around 20%. Since hydration is defined as water relative to flour weight, a mis-measured cup throws off the entire formula. At 62% hydration, a 25 g flour error shifts the water ratio by about 5 percentage points — enough to produce visibly different dough. Weigh ingredients on a gram scale; every output from this calculator is in grams for exactly this reason.
Using the same yeast percentage for a long cold ferment as for a same-day rise
Yeast percentage and fermentation time work against each other: more yeast plus a warm room produces a fast rise; less yeast plus cold fridge produces a slow, flavourful rise. The 0.3% instant yeast default here suits a same-day to overnight room-temperature rise. For a 48–72 hour cold ferment, typical yeast amounts drop to 0.1% or less. Using standard yeast amounts for a 3-day cold ferment produces over-proofed dough that collapses and bakes flat.
Setting hydration without accounting for the dough style
High hydration (65–70%) gives an open, airy crumb but produces a sticky, demanding dough that tears easily when shaped by hand. Neapolitan dough sits lower (58–62%) for a reason: at high oven temperatures with hand-shaping, a firmer dough is more forgiving. If a dough feels unmanageable — too sticky, tears under stretching — the most reliable fix is to reduce hydration by 3–5 percentage points rather than adding more flour mid-mix, which changes the formula in an uncontrolled way.
Measuring salt by the spoon rather than by weight
Fine table salt, coarse kosher salt, and flaky sea salt pack very differently by volume: a teaspoon of fine table salt weighs roughly 6 g, while the same volume of coarse kosher salt weighs about 4 g. At the 2.8% default, a 600 g flour batch calls for about 16.8 g of salt. Measuring by the teaspoon and guessing the conversion can easily be off by 30–50%, which affects both flavour and gluten development. Weigh it.