Flour is 100%. Everything else is a percentage of flour. That's the entire secret.
Why Baker's Percentage Beats Cups
A cup of flour can weigh 120g on a dry day and 150g on a humid one — a 25% swing that silently changes hydration. Baker's percentage ignores scooping entirely: if your dough formula says 70% hydration, then for any flour weight you use exactly 70% of that weight in water. The math is identical for a 300g test batch or a 5kg bakery batch. This is the same logic our sourdough hydration calculator uses, applied to every dough.
Reading a Formula
- Neapolitan (62%): low hydration, high heat (60-90s), 250-270g balls. AVPN standard.
- NY (65%): slightly higher hydration for a chewy, foldable slice. 250-280g per pie.
- Roman (70%): tall, airy base — extensible dough, long cold ferment, baked in sheet pans.
- Detroit (70% + oil): pan pizza with a fried, crispy bottom — oil in the dough and the pan.
- Bagels (55%): stiff and dense, boiled before baking.
- Focaccia (75-80%): very wet, dimpled, olive-oil-soaked.
- Sourdough (72% standard): starter adds water too — see the note below.
The Sourdough Catch: Starter Water Counts
A 100% hydration starter is half flour, half water. When a sourdough formula says 20% starter, 10% of your total flour weight arrives as starter flour and 10% as starter water. This calculator accounts for that the same way the sourdough tool does: starter water is subtracted from the water you add, so the true system hydration matches your target.
How Much Yeast to Use
Yeast percentages are small but critical. Neapolitan dough uses as little as 0.1% instant yeast because it ferments long; NY and bagels use 0.5%; Detroit pushes to 1% for a same-day dough. If a recipe calls for active dry or fresh yeast, use the conversion above — 1 part instant = 1.33 parts active dry = 3 parts fresh by weight.
Pizza Dough Troubleshooting
Why won't my pizza dough stretch? ▼
Cold or under-developed dough snaps back. Let the dough rest at room temperature for 30-60 minutes before stretching, or do a longer bulk ferment. Stretching cold dough is the #1 cause of snap-back — this is a timing problem, not a hydration problem.
My dough is too sticky to handle — should I add flour? ▼
Try not to. Adding raw flour late creates dense spots. Oil your hands and the counter instead — a light film of olive oil lets high-hydration dough release without changing the formula.
My pizza crust is dense and tough. What went wrong? ▼
Usually one of three: too-low hydration (below 60% makes a cracker-like crust), under-fermentation (not enough gas developed), or over-working the dough after shaping. Check the hydration preset for your style and let the dough double before shaping.
Do I really need 00 flour for pizza? ▼
For Neapolitan at high heat, 00 flour is ideal — it's finely milled and stretches thin without tearing. For NY, Roman, or Detroit at home-oven temperatures, bread flour or all-purpose works great and may even be more forgiving. The percentages above work with any flour.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is baker's percentage? ▼
Flour weight is set to 100% and every other ingredient is a percentage of that flour. 70% hydration = 70g water per 100g flour. The formula scales to any batch size automatically.
What hydration is Neapolitan pizza dough? ▼
About 62% hydration with 2.5% salt (AVPN range 55-65%). A 250-270g ball makes a 30cm pizza.
What hydration is best for bagels? ▼
About 55% hydration — a stiff dough that keeps bagels dense and chewy. Salt 2%, sugar or malt 2-2.5%.
How do I convert active dry, instant, and fresh yeast? ▼
By weight: 1 part instant = 1.33 parts active dry = 3 parts fresh (cake) yeast. Fresh yeast is about 70% water, so it takes much more. Our conversion box above does this instantly.
Is this the same as the sourdough calculator? ▼
Same baker's math core, different depth. This page covers many dough types (breadth). The
sourdough tool goes deep on starter hydration, pH, temperature, and poke-test diagnosis.
Data Sources
Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN) — International Regulations visit ↗
King Arthur Baking ingredient weights visit ↗
Serious Eats visit ↗