Pizza dough calculator

How the maths works

The calculator uses baker’s percentages [1]: flour is always 100% and every other ingredient is a percentage of the flour weight. You choose the dough you want, and the calculator works back to the flour.

Total dough (g) = number of balls × ball weight (g)
Total percentage = 100 + hydration + salt + yeast + oil + sugar
Flour (g) = total dough (g) × 100 ÷ total percentage
Each ingredient (g) = flour (g) × its percentage ÷ 100

Hydration counts water only; oil has its own percentage. For bread or sourdough, use the baker’s percentage calculator. If a recipe gives cups, convert it with the ingredient weight chart.

Worked example: four 250 g balls

Four 250 g balls make 1,000 g of dough. At 60% hydration, 3% salt, 0.05% instant yeast and no oil or sugar, the total percentage is 163.05. Flour = 1,000 × 100 ÷ 163.05 = 613 g. Water = 613 × 60 ÷ 100 = 368 g, salt 18 g and instant yeast 0.31 g. The rounded amounts add up to 999 g; the missing gram is rounding.

Starting points by style

Typical ranges for each style, in baker’s percentages. The calculator’s presets sit inside them. Treat both as starting points: flour, oven and kitchen temperature all change how a dough behaves.

The AVPN (Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana) sets its dough per litre of water: 1,600 to 1,800 g flour, 40 to 60 g salt and 0.1 to 3 g fresh yeast, with dry yeast at a third of the fresh weight [2]; the table converts these to baker’s percentages. New York and pan ranges come from published home and trade formulas [3][4][5][6][7][8].

Dough weight and baking

Dough weights, oven temperatures and bake times come from the same formulas [2][9][7]. A home oven cannot reach Neapolitan temperatures, so a home bake takes minutes, not seconds. For another pan size, scale the dough weight by the area factor from the baking pan size converter.

Instant, active dry and fresh yeast

The three types are not interchangeable gram for gram. Fresh (compressed) yeast is about 68 to 73% water, against about 7% for active dry and 5% for instant [10], so dried yeast is more concentrated. As a starting point [11][12][13][14]:

The calculator applies your percentage to the yeast type you select and does not convert it. To swap 0.4% instant yeast, use about 1 to 1.2% fresh yeast or 0.4 to 0.5% active dry. Follow your yeast packet when in doubt.

Fermentation: assumptions, not promises

Each preset assumes a typical schedule:

• Neapolitan: 12 to 24 hours in total, with proofing cabinets ideally at 18 to 20 °C (64 to 68 °F) [2].
• New York style: mix the dough to 27 to 29 °C (80 to 85 °F) and refrigerate the balls. They are ready after about 12 hours and usable for up to 72, with 2 to 3 hours at room temperature before shaping [4]. For a same-day dough, about 0.2% instant yeast and 8 to 10 hours at room temperature works [3].
• Pan pizza: refrigerate the dough for 24 hours at about 3 °C (38 °F), then pan it and proof it until airy [6].

Warmth speeds every schedule up and cold slows it, so treat recipe times as a guide and check early [15]. Judge the dough, not the clock: it should look puffy and feel springy. Press in a floured fingertip. If the dent stays, it is ready; if it springs straight back, wait; if the dough feels fragile or sinks, it has gone too far.

Common fixes

• The dough shrinks back. Cover it, rest 10 to 15 minutes and stretch again [9]. Cold dough needs 1 to 3 hours at room temperature first.
• It is too sticky. Dust with flour as you shape; next time lower the hydration a few points.
• The crust stays pale. Preheat a steel or stone for an hour and finish under the grill. A little sugar in a New York dough helps it brown in a cooler home oven [16]; Neapolitan dough has none [2].
• The dough tears or collapses. It has probably over-fermented. A gentle reshape can help; next time use less yeast, a cooler spot or a shorter rise.
• You want more flavour. Ferment for longer rather than adding more yeast [16]. Or try a preferment: see poolish, biga and levain compared.

Keep the recipe with your others

CookBook saves recipes from websites, social posts, photos and cookbooks and organises them. In cooking mode you can change servings and the measurement system; ingredient amounts scale, but cooking time does not.

Sources

1. King Arthur Baking: What is baker's math, and how can I use it in my everyday bread baking?
2. AVPN: International Regulations for Verace Pizza Napoletana (PDF)
3. King Arthur Baking: New York-Style Pizza
4. PizzaMaking.com: New York Style Pizza Crust (American Institute of Baking formula)
5. Pizza Today: NY-Style Pizza Dough
6. Pizza Today: Detroit-Style Pizza Dough
7. King Arthur Baking: No-Knead Pan Pizza
8. King Arthur Baking: Sicilian-Style Pizza
9. King Arthur Baking: New York-Style Pizza workbook (PDF)
10. BCcampus: Understanding Ingredients for the Canadian Baker, Yeast
11. Lesaffre, SAF-Instant: Craft baking
12. Red Star Yeast: Yeast conversion chart
13. King Arthur Baking: Yeast (professional reference)
14. Pizza Today: Dough Doctor: Back to Basics
15. King Arthur Baking: How to tell if bread dough has risen enough
16. PMQ Pizza: Q&A with the Dough Doctor