Baker's Math
Baker's Percentage Explained: Master the Math Behind Sourdough
10 min read
What is Baker's Percentage?
Baker’s percentage is a method of expressing ingredient ratios where flour is always 100% and every other ingredient is expressed as a percentage of the flour weight. It’s the standard language of professional bakers, and once you learn it, recipes become dramatically easier to understand and scale.
The System
- Flour = 100% (by definition, always)
- Water = hydration % (usually 65–85%)
- Salt = 2% (typical for artisan bread)
- Starter = 15–30% (depending on desired fermentation speed)
Why Use Baker's Percentage?
Scalability: Want to double the batch? Multiply every weight by 2. Want a 600 g loaf instead of 1000 g? Multiply everything by 0.6.
Consistency: Maintains identical ratios regardless of batch size.
Communication: Bakers worldwide share recipes using the same standardized language.
Example Recipe
For a 1000 g loaf at 75% hydration with 20% starter and 2% salt:
- Flour: 500 g (100%)
- Water: 375 g (75%)
- Starter: 100 g (20%)
- Salt: 10 g (2%)
- Total: 985 g (close enough to 1000 g)
Our calculator does this math for you instantly and lets you save favorite percentage combinations.