Bread Baking Calculator — Hydration & Quantities

Bread Baking Guide

What do I need to know about Baker's Percentages?

Professional bakers express all ingredients as percentages of the flour weight — this is baker's percentage. Flour is always 100%. Water = hydration% of flour weight. Salt = 1.8-2% of flour weight (typically 2g per 100g flour). Instant yeast = 0.5-1% of flour weight (0.5-1g per 100g flour). This system means recipes scale perfectly: a recipe calling for '65% hydration' means add 65g water per 100g flour regardless of batch size. It also allows direct comparison of recipes — a 70% hydration focaccia dough is noticeably wetter and stickier to handle than a 60% hydration sandwich loaf, regardless of the total batch size.

What should I know about Hydration and Dough Handling?

Low hydration (55-65%): firm, easy to handle, rolls and shapes easily. Good for bagels, pretzels, traditional sandwich bread. Medium hydration (65-75%): slightly sticky but manageable with floured hands and bench. Good crumb structure. Most everyday loaves. High hydration (75-85%): very sticky — requires wet hands or bench scraper technique, not flour (additional flour changes the recipe). Produces open, irregular crumb (ciabatta, sourdough tartine). Folding technique replaces kneading for high-hydration doughs, since they're too wet and slack to knead conventionally without sticking to everything.

What should I know about Yeast Conversion?

The three forms of yeast are not interchangeable by weight. Fresh yeast → active dry: multiply by 0.5. Fresh yeast → instant: multiply by 0.4. Active dry → instant: multiply by 0.75. A standard 7g sachet of instant yeast (the common UK packet size) leavens approximately 500g flour. Reducing yeast amount increases fermentation time — a long, slow rise at lower temperatures produces more flavour: use 0.1-0.2% instant yeast for a 12-18 hour room-temperature fermentation, or 0.5-1% for a 1-2 hour proof — less yeast and more time consistently produces better flavour than more yeast and less time.

What do I need to know about Baking Temperature and Steam?

Steam in the first 10-15 minutes of baking is crucial for bread crust. Steam prevents the crust from setting too early, allowing the loaf to spring and expand fully. Without steam: the crust sets quickly and the loaf cannot rise — producing a dense, tight crumb. Steam methods at home: place a baking tray in the bottom of the oven during preheating, pour boiling water in when you load the bread. Bake inside a preheated Dutch oven for the first 20 minutes (lid on), then remove lid. Professional deck ovens inject steam directly, which is what a Dutch oven or a tray of boiling water is attempting to replicate at home.