How baker's percentages work
Pizza recipes are written in baker's percentages, and once they click, every dough recipe becomes easy to read and scale. The flour is always 100%, and every other ingredient is a percentage of the flour's weight — not of the whole dough. A dough at 60% hydration has 60 g of water for every 100 g of flour. The same idea works for salt, yeast and oil, which is why a pizza dough ratio like "60% water, 2.8% salt" means the same thing whether you make one pizza or twenty.
To turn percentages into grams, the calculator works backwards from the dough you need. Four 250 g dough balls is 1,000 g of dough. Add up every percentage — 100 + 60 + 2.8 + 0.2 = 163 — and divide: 1,000 ÷ 1.63 gives 613 g of flour. The rest follows from the flour: 368 g of water, 17.2 g of salt and 1.2 g of instant yeast. If percentages in general are rusty, the percentage calculator covers the basics.
Hydration by pizza style
Hydration is the single number that most changes a dough. Lower hydration is firmer and easier to handle and bakes up crisper; higher hydration is soft and sticky and bakes into an open, airy crumb.
Neapolitan dough sits around 55–62%. The traditional rules allow 1.6 to 1.8 kg of flour per litre of water, no oil and no sugar, and dough balls of 200 to 280 g, and it bakes in about a minute in a very hot oven. New York style uses a little more water, around 60–65%, plus a spoonful of oil for a tender, foldable slice from a home oven, with balls of about 280–300 g for a 12–14 inch pie. Roman thin crust drops to around 55% with a splash of oil so it rolls out paper-thin and crackles. Detroit pan pizza goes the other way, to 70% or more, because it is pressed into a pan rather than stretched by hand, and the extra water gives it a light, focaccia-like inside.
Yeast, rise time and temperature
Yeast is the ingredient people most often get wrong, because the right amount depends on time. A dough that has to be ready in two hours needs far more yeast than one that rises slowly for three days in the fridge — and the slow one tastes better, because the long ferment develops flavour. That is why the calculator asks for your rise time and sets the yeast for you instead of asking for a yeast percentage.
The amounts assume instant dry yeast at a normal room temperature of around 20–22°C. Active dry yeast is weaker by weight, so you need 1.25 times as much; fresh yeast needs about three times as much. A warm kitchen speeds everything up, so if your dough is rising too fast, use a little less yeast next time.
A basic pizza dough method
Weigh everything — the grams above are only as good as your scale. Stir the salt into the water, add the yeast, then mix in the flour until no dry flour remains. Rest the dough for 15–20 minutes, then knead until it is smooth and springs back when pressed. Add the oil, if your style uses it, towards the end of kneading.
Let the dough rise, covered, for the time you chose — on the counter or in the fridge. Divide it into balls of the weight you entered, cover them and let them rise again until soft and relaxed; cold dough needs an hour or two out of the fridge first. Then stretch, top and bake as hot as your oven will go.
FAQ
How much dough do I need per pizza?
It depends on the size and style. For Neapolitan pizza the traditional guidance is 200 g of dough for a 22–24 cm pizza and up to 280 g for a 28–35 cm pizza — 250 g is a good middle ground. New York style uses about 280–300 g for a 12–14 inch pie, and a Roman thin crust around 180 g for a 30 cm pizza.
Enter your ball weight and the number of pizzas, and the calculator scales every ingredient to match.
What hydration should I use for Neapolitan pizza dough?
Traditional Neapolitan dough uses 1.6 to 1.8 kg of flour per litre of water, which is about 55–62% hydration. 60% is a reliable starting point. Go higher only once you're comfortable handling sticky dough — wetter dough is airier but harder to shape.
How do you calculate baker's percentages for pizza dough?
Flour is 100% and everything else is a percentage of the flour's weight. To find the flour for a target dough weight, divide the total by 1 plus all the other percentages: for 1,000 g of dough at 60% water, 2.8% salt and 0.2% yeast, that's 1,000 ÷ 1.63 = 613 g of flour. Then multiply the flour by each percentage — 60% of 613 g is 368 g of water.
How do I convert instant yeast to active dry or fresh yeast?
Use 1.25 times as much active dry yeast as instant, and about 3 times as much fresh yeast. So 1 g of instant yeast is 1.25 g of active dry or 3 g of fresh. Pick your yeast type in the calculator and it converts the amount for you.
Can I measure pizza dough ingredients in cups?
You can, but it's the main reason homemade dough turns out inconsistent. A cup of flour can weigh anywhere from about 120 g to 150 g depending on how it's scooped, which throws off the hydration by several percent. A basic kitchen scale is the best upgrade for your pizza — and yeast and salt amounts this small really need one.
Why is my pizza dough too sticky?
Usually the hydration is higher than you're used to, or the flour absorbs less water than the recipe assumed. Try lowering the hydration by 2–3%, knead a little longer so the gluten can hold the water, and use wet hands or a bench scraper rather than adding lots of extra flour, which dries out the crust.
How long should pizza dough rise?
Anywhere from a couple of hours to three days. A short rise at room temperature works, but a slow rise of 24–72 hours in the fridge gives a more flavourful, easier-to-digest crust. The longer the rise, the less yeast you need — the calculator adjusts it when you change the rise time.