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Flour 100% {{ stageHydrationLabel }} {{ stagePrefermentLabel }} Final mix
Start from a familiar bread style or keep the current custom values.
The formula percentages stay fixed while the calculator solves the matching weights.
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g
The final-mix water row subtracts water already present in the preferment.
45%{{ formatNumber(hydration_percent, 1) }}%95%
% flour
Use the formula's intended salt level; the range note is advisory only.
% flour
Set zero for straight dough. The calculator separates its flour and water before final-mix scaling.
0%{{ formatNumber(preferment_percent, 1) }}%60%
% flour
This value determines how much flour and water are already inside the mature preferment.
% water
Choose the yeast you will weigh; set the dry-yeast reference to zero for naturally leavened dough.
Long ferments often use very small percentages; sourdough can keep this at zero.
% flour
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% flour
The neutral default is zero; use a small measured allowance when production loss matters.
% extra
Choose the increment supported by the scale used for this batch.
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% direct flour
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A target batch weight and a flour-based formula answer different questions. The batch target says how much dough is needed. Baker's percentage says how that dough is built by treating all flour as 100% and expressing every other ingredient against it.

That shared flour basis makes formulas portable. A 65% hydration dough with 2% salt keeps those proportions whether the flour basis is 500 g or 50 kg. When the desired mixed-dough weight is known instead, the sum of all baker's percentages can be used to solve backward for the flour required.

Quantity What it counts Common mistake
Total flour Direct flour plus flour already inside a preferment. Treating only the final-mix flour as the 100% basis.
Overall hydration All water divided by all flour. Adding the full hydration water again after starter water is counted.
Formula total The sum of flour-relative ingredient percentages. Expecting the total to stop at 100% like an ordinary composition chart.
Prefermented flour The share of total flour fermented before final mixing. Confusing preferment weight with flour weight inside the preferment.

Preferments make the accounting less obvious because a levain, poolish, biga, or sponge carries both flour and water. Its hydration determines that split. A 100% hydration preferment contains equal flour and water by weight, while a stiffer preferment contributes a larger flour share.

Hydration helps anticipate handling, but it does not describe dough behavior by itself. Flour protein and extraction, whole grains, soaked seeds, sugar, fat, mixing, temperature, and fermentation all change how a given percentage feels. The same number can produce very different doughs with different ingredients and methods.

Baker's math preserves ratios and makes the weigh-out auditable. It does not repair an unsuitable source formula or choose fermentation time. Bench judgment still matters after the numbers are scaled.

How to Use This Tool:

Choose the scaling basis first, because flour-led and dough-target plans solve for different starting quantities.

  1. Select a Formula preset as a starting point or keep the custom values from the source formula.
  2. Set Scale by to total flour when the flour basis is known, or target mixed dough when the finished batch weight is the requirement.
  3. Enter Total hydration, Salt, mature preferment percentage, and Preferment hydration. Use zero preferment for a straight dough.
  4. Choose the yeast being weighed and enter the Dry-yeast reference. Leave it at zero for a naturally leavened formula without commercial yeast.
  5. Use Advanced for enrichment, inclusions, production allowance, weigh-out rounding, and the direct-flour blend. Named direct-flour shares must total no more than 100%.
  6. Read Water to add rather than total water at final mix when a preferment is present, and use the selected scale increment for the practical weigh-out column.

Interpreting Results:

Formula sheet gives the ingredient weights for the batch. Overall hydration includes water already in the preferment, while Water to add is only the final-mix water. Using overall water as the final addition would make a prefermented dough wetter than planned.

Formula total is expected to exceed 100% because flour is the reference, not the whole dough. Mixed dough includes any production allowance. Exact values remain the calculation basis; 0.1 g, 1 g, or 5 g rounding changes only the weigh-out display.

Hydration labels are handling cues rather than universal bread standards. Confirm the result against the actual flour, formula style, fermentation schedule, and available scale before mixing.

Technical Details:

Every ingredient percentage shares one denominator: total flour, including flour carried by the preferment. The calculation separates preferment flour and water before solving final-mix quantities.

Formula Core:

For flour basis F and ingredient percentage P, ingredient weight is:

W = F×P100

W is the ingredient weight in grams. A preferment percentage L at hydration H is split into flour and water percentages as follows:

Lflour = L1+H100 , Lwater = L-Lflour

Direct flour percentage is 100 minus preferment flour percentage. Final-mix water percentage is target hydration minus preferment water percentage. A valid formula therefore requires preferment flour below 100% and preferment water no greater than target hydration.

When scaling by target dough, the flour basis is solved from the sum of all formula percentages:

F = GPtotal100 × 1+a100

G is the requested mixed-dough weight before allowance, Ptotal is the formula total, and a is the production allowance percent. When scaling by flour, the entered flour basis is multiplied by the same allowance factor.

Rule Exact treatment
Instant yeastDry-yeast reference × 1.0
Active dry yeastDry-yeast reference × 1.0
Fresh cake yeastDry-yeast reference × 2.7
Stiff doughOverall hydration below 58%
Moderate hydrationOverall hydration from 58% through 68%
Open-crumb rangeOverall hydration above 68% through 78%
High hydrationOverall hydration above 78%

The hydration bands and the 1.8% to 2.4% salt note are non-prescriptive handling cues. Flour splits apply only to direct flour; any unassigned share is reported as other flour. Full-precision gram values remain canonical until the selected weigh-out increment is applied for display.

Worked Examples:

Country sourdough with a liquid preferment

With 1,000 g total flour, 72% hydration, and 20% mature preferment at 100% hydration, the preferment contributes 100 g flour and 100 g water. The final mix therefore needs 900 g direct flour and 620 g water to add. Adding 200 g preferment and 20 g salt gives 1,740 g total dough before any production allowance.

References: