Using Baker’s Percentages

Baker’s percentages are an enormously useful tool when you are practised at making bread and want to understand how you can adjust a recipe through changes to the type or quantities of ingredients. An experienced baker can look at a formula and know from the relationship between the flour and the water or the starter and the flour what type of bread to expect.

When you look at other recipes or want to convert yeast-based recipes to make a sourdough version, you will find bread formulas are given in one of two ways. When baking at home, I prefer to use the method that gives each of the ingredients a percentage, including the flour and water in the starter. This makes the relationship between all ingredients easier to understand. For example, the amount of fermented flour in the starter may be 15% and the flour in the mix is 85% making a combined total of 100%. The required weight of the salt can be worked out based on the total flour. The same principle applies for the hydration which will also take into account the water in the starter.