🥖 Baker’s Percentage & Water Temperature

About Baker’s Percentages

Bakers express every ingredient as a percentage of the flour weight: flour is 100%, and a dough at 65% hydration has 650 g of water per kilo of flour. This tool turns those percentages into grams, for the flour weight or the number of dough pieces you want, taking into account the flour and water brought by a sourdough starter. A second tab works out the water temperature.

How to Use the Tool

• Percentages: start from the flour weight, or from the number and weight of dough pieces; enter hydration, salt, yeast, starter and any extra ingredients.
• Starter: enter its hydration and choose whether its flour and water are added on top of the formula or already included.
• Water temperature: pick the mixing method and the desired dough temperature, then measure the flour and the room (and the starter if needed).
• Copy the result to print it or keep it with your recipe.

Formulas Explained

• Grams: flour weight × percentage. From a dough weight: flour = total dough ÷ (sum of percentages ÷ 100).
• Starter: a 100% hydration starter is half flour, half water; at 50%, two thirds flour.
• Effective hydration: (water + starter water) ÷ (flour + starter flour).
• Base temperature: the sum of flour, room and water temperatures. Water = base − (flour + room), or base − (flour + room + starter) with a starter.
• Base by mixing method (°C): about 72 by hand, 68 to 70 at slow speed, 62 to 64 for an improved mix, 54 to 57 for an intensive mix, for a dough at about 24 °C. The tool uses 3 × (desired temperature − friction heat), which gives these values. In °F it is the same method (the “desired dough temperature” method).

Tips

• Check the dough temperature at the end of mixing and adjust the friction value for your mixer: it varies the most.
• In summer, keep the flour cool and use iced water; in winter, lukewarm water is often enough.
• Salt: 1.8 to 2.2% is the usual range for bread.
• High hydration: hold back some water and add it at the end of mixing.

Common Mistakes and Limits

• Mixing up the two starter conventions: depending on the recipe, the starter is added to the flour or is part of it; check the setting.
• Dry vs fresh yeast: dry yeast is about three times stronger.
• Guessed temperatures: use a thermometer; 2° off on the flour changes the water by 2°.
• Rule of thumb: the base temperature method is empirical; real friction heat depends on the mixer, the batch size and the mixing time.

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