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You asked
What is baker's percentage and how do I use it?
Baker's percentage: flour = 100%, everything else as percentage of flour weight. Standard bread: 100% flour, 60-75% water, 2% salt, 1% yeast. Example: 500g flour + 350g water (70%) + 10g salt (2%) + 5g yeast (1%) = 865g dough.
The full answer
What baker's percentage is
Baker's percentage (BP) is a notation system where flour is always 100%, and every other ingredient is expressed as a percentage of the flour weight. It's the universal language of professional baking — used in bakeries, milling industry, and serious home baking.
The advantages over standard recipes
- Scales infinitely: same recipe works for 1 loaf or 10,000 loaves
- Compares recipes universally: 70% hydration is 70% hydration whether for 100g or 100kg flour
- Eliminates ambiguity: no cup-vs-tablespoon-vs-handful confusion
- Reveals dough character at a glance: 60% hydration = stiff dough; 80% = wet/sticky
- Industry-standard: bakery recipes always written in BP
Standard percentages by bread style
| Bread style | Flour | Water | Salt | Yeast | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sandwich bread | 100% | 65% | 2% | 1% | 4% sugar, 2% butter |
| Pizza dough | 100% | 60-65% | 2% | 0.5% | (none) |
| Sourdough (rustic) | 100% | 75% | 2% | (starter 20%) | |
| Sourdough (high-hydration) | 100% | 80-90% | 2% | (starter 20%) | |
| Baguette | 100% | 67% | 2% | 0.5% | |
| Brioche | 100% | 45% | 2% | 1% | 50% butter, 20% sugar, 30% egg |
| Bagel | 100% | 56% | 2% | 1% | 4% malt |
| Whole wheat | 100% | 70% | 2% | 1% | |
| Rye bread | 100% | 75% | 2% | (or 30% rye starter) | |
| Focaccia | 100% | 80% | 2% | 1% | 10% olive oil |
| Croissant | 100% | 45% | 2% | 1% | 50% butter (laminating) |
How to convert a standard recipe to baker's percentage
- Identify the flour weight in grams (e.g., 500g)
- Divide every other ingredient by flour weight × 100
Example recipe converted: - "500g flour + 350g water + 10g salt + 5g yeast" - = 100% flour + 70% water (350÷500×100) + 2% salt + 1% yeast
How to scale a baker's percentage recipe
To make 5kg dough total: 1. Sum all percentages: 100% + 70% + 2% + 1% = 173% 2. Total dough = flour × (173 ÷ 100), so flour = 5000 ÷ 1.73 = 2890g flour 3. Other ingredients: water = 2890 × 0.70 = 2023g; salt = 2890 × 0.02 = 58g; yeast = 2890 × 0.01 = 29g
Hydration matters most
Hydration % (water as % of flour) determines dough character:
| Hydration | Texture | Bread style |
|---|---|---|
| 45-55% | Stiff, dense | Bagels, pretzels, croissants |
| 55-65% | Standard | Sandwich bread, baguette |
| 65-75% | Medium-wet | Rustic loaves, sourdough |
| 75-85% | Wet | High-hydration sourdough, ciabatta |
| 85%+ | Very wet | Focaccia, panettone, some sourdoughs |
Higher hydration = more open crumb, more flavor development, harder to handle.
Common pitfalls
- Forgetting to convert grams — using cup measurements + percentage = chaos. Always weigh in grams.
- Confusing flour as 100% with total dough as 100% — flour is 100% in BP, dough total is 173-200%.
- Adding ingredients without recalculating — adding 30% sugar to a sandwich loaf shifts everything; recalculate hydration impact.
- Not adjusting for sourdough starter — starter contains ~50% water + 50% flour. A "20% starter" recipe needs adjustment to actual water/flour totals.
Cross-reference: see /pages/what-ratio-of/sourdough-hydration for sourdough-specific math + /pages/what-ratio-of/water-to-flour-bread for hydration → texture + /pages/how-long-does/sourdough-rise for fermentation timing.
Time ranges by condition
| Condition | Duration | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Standard sandwich bread | BP: 100% flour + 65% water + 2% salt + 1% yeast | Plus 4% sugar + 2% butter if enriched |
| Pizza dough | BP: 100% flour + 60-65% water + 2% salt + 0.5% yeast | Lean dough |
| Sourdough | BP: 100% flour + 75% water + 2% salt + 20% starter | Adjust for starter water content |
| High-hydration artisan | BP: 100% + 80-90% water | Very wet; sticky; requires technique |
What changes the time
- Flour type. AP flour vs bread flour vs whole wheat: same BP recipe absorbs water differently. Whole wheat absorbs more.
- Hydration target. Higher water = open crumb but harder to handle. Match your skill level.
- Salt percentage. 2% standard; below 1.5% = slack dough; above 2.5% = stiff + inhibits yeast
- Yeast amount. More yeast = faster rise but less flavor. Pro bakers minimize yeast (0.5-1%).
Common questions
Why do bakers use percentages instead of cups?
Three reasons: (1) Universal scaling — same recipe works for 1 loaf or 10,000 loaves; just multiply flour by desired total. (2) Precision — eliminates the 30-50% variance of cup measurements (a cup of flour can weigh 100-180g). (3) Recipe comparison — "70% hydration" is unambiguous; "1 cup water" depends on what cup. Cup measurements compound errors across multi-step recipes; percentages stay precise.
My BP recipe calls for 70% water but my dough feels dry — what to do?
Likely your flour is more absorbent than the recipe expected. Modern artisan flour (high-protein, finely milled) absorbs more water. If 70% feels stiff: increase to 72-75% gradually. If 70% feels right: stay there. Brand variation matters: Bob's Red Mill flour absorbs differently than King Arthur Sir Galahad. Most home bakers learn their flour's "true hydration sweet spot" over 5-10 bakes.
How do I calculate sourdough levain percentage?
Levain (sourdough starter) is itself ~50% flour + 50% water. A "20% levain" recipe means 20% of flour weight (in g) of starter. Adjust water + flour totals accordingly: if recipe says 500g flour + 20% levain (= 100g starter), the dough actually has 500 + 50 (from levain) = 550g flour and 350 + 50 = 400g water. Recalculate hydration based on total flour + total water, not just the "main flour + main water."
Sources
We cite primary research, expert practice, and authoritative reference. Higher-tier sources weighted heavier. See methodology.
- T2Jeffrey Hamelman, "Bread" — Industry-standard professional baking reference; baker's percentage canon
- T2Peter Reinhart, "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" — Detailed baker's percentage instruction for home bakers
- T2Ken Forkish, "Flour Water Salt Yeast" — Practical BP-based home baking
- T2King Arthur Baking — Baker's Percentage — Authoritative published explanation
- T1Modernist Bread (Myhrvold) — Comprehensive baker's percentage application across breads
Books referenced in this answer
This answer draws on these books. Want to read the full source? Find them on Amazon.
As an Amazon Associate, AskedWell earns from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. These are the same books we cite as sources above — we link them only because the answer draws on them. See our disclosure.
- Flour Water Salt Yeast — Ken ForkishFind on Amazon
- Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes — Jeffrey HamelmanFind on Amazon
- Modernist Bread — Nathan MyhrvoldFind on Amazon
Cite this page
de Vries, P. (2026). What is baker's percentage and how do I use it?. AskedWell. Retrieved 2026-08-29, from https://askedwell.com/pages/what-ratio-of/baker-percentage-flour-base
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