Baker's percentage is a notation method indicating the proportion of an ingredient relative to
the flour used in a recipe when making breads, cakes, muffins, and other baked goods.
It is also referred to as baker's math, and may be indicated by a phrase such as based
on flour weight.
It is sometimes called formula percentage, a phrase that refers to the sum of a set of
bakers' percentages.
Baker's percentage expresses a ratio in percentages of each ingredient's weight to the total flour
weight:
Baker's percentage
ingredient
= 100
% ×
Weight
ingredient
Weight
flour
{\displaystyle {\text{Baker's percentage}}_{\text{ingredient}}=100\%\times {\frac {{\text{Weight}}_{\text{ingredient}}}{{\text{Weight}}_{\text{flour}}}}}
For example, in a recipe that calls for 10 pounds of flour and 5 pounds of water, the
corresponding baker's percentages are 100% for the flour and 50% for the water.
Because these percentages are stated with respect to the weight of flour rather than
with respect to the weight of all ingredients, the sum of these percentages always exceeds
100%.
Flour-based recipes are more precisely conceived as baker's percentages, and more accurately
measured using weight instead of volume.
The uncertainty in using volume measurements follows from the fact that flour settles in
storage and therefore does not have a constant density.
== Baker percentages == A yeast-dough formula could call for the following
list of ingredients, presented as a series of baker's percentages:
=== Conversions === There are several common conversions that
are used with baker's percentages.
Converting baker's percentages to ingredient weights is one.
Converting known ingredient weights to baker percentages is another.
Conversion to true percentages, or based on total weight, is helpful to calculate unknown
ingredient weights from a desired total or formula weight.
==== Using baker percentages ==== To derive the ingredient weights when any
weight of flour Wf is chosen:
Weight
ingredient
=
Weight
flour
×
Baker's percentage
ingredient
100 %
=
Weight
flour
×
Baker's percentage
ingredient
{\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}{\text{Weight}}_{\text{ingredient}}&={\frac {{\text{Weight}}_{\text{flour}}\times {\text{Baker's
percentage}}_{\text{ingredient}}}{100\%}}\\&={\text{Weight}}_{\text{flour}}\times {\text{Baker's percentage}}_{\text{ingredient}}\end{aligned}}}
In the example below, 2 lb and 10 kg of flour weights have been calculated.
Depending on the desired weight unit, only one of the following four weight columns is
used:
==== Creating baker's percentages ==== The baker has determined how much a recipe's
ingredients weigh, and uses uniform decimal weight units.
All ingredient weights are divided by the flour weight to obtain a ratio, then the ratio
is multiplied by 100% to yield the baker's percentage for that ingredient:
Due to the canceling of uniform weight units, the baker may employ any desired system of
measurement (metric or avoirdupois, etc.) when using a baker's percentage to determine
an ingredient's weight.
Generally, the baker finds it easiest to use the system of measurement that is present
on the available tools.
==== Formula percentage and total mass ==== The total or sum of the baker's percentages
is called the formula percentage.
The sum of the ingredient masses is called the formula mass (or formula "weight").
Here are some interesting calculations:
The flour's mass times the formula percentage equals the formula mass:
Formula mass
=
Mass
flour
×
Formula percentage
Formula mass Formula percentage
=
Mass
flour
{\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}{\text{Formula mass}}&={\text{Mass}}_{\text{flour}}\times
{\text{Formula percentage}}\\{\frac {\text{Formula mass}}{\text{Formula percentage}}}&={\text{Mass}}_{\text{flour}}\end{aligned}}}
An ingredient's mass is obtained by multiplying the formula mass by that ingredient's true
percentage; because an ingredient's true percentage is that ingredient's baker's percentage divided
by the formula percentage expressed as parts per hundred, an ingredient's mass can also
be obtained by multiplying the formula mass by the ingredient's baker's percentage and
then dividing the result by the formula percentage:
Mass
ingredient
=
Formula mass
×
True percentage
ingredient
True percentage
ingredient
=
Baker's percentage
ingredient
Formula percentage
× 100
%
Mass
ingredient
=
Formula mass
×
Baker's percentage
ingredient
Formula percentage
=
Formula mass
×
Baker's percentage
ingredient
Formula percentage
{\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}{\text{Mass}}_{\text{ingredient}}&={\text{Formula mass}}\times {\text{True percentage}}_{\text{ingredient}}\\{\text{True
percentage}}_{\text{ingredient}}&={\frac {{\text{Baker's percentage}}_{\text{ingredient}}}{\text{Formula
percentage}}}\times 100\%\\{\text{Mass}}_{\text{ingredient}}&={\text{Formula mass}}\times {\frac {{\text{Baker's percentage}}_{\text{ingredient}}}{\text{Formula
percentage}}}\\&={\frac {{\text{Formula mass}}\times {\text{Baker's percentage}}_{\text{ingredient}}}{\text{Formula
percentage}}}\end{aligned}}}
Thus, it is not necessary to calculate each ingredient's
true percentage in order to calculate each ingredient's mass, provided the formula mass
and the baker's percentages are known.Ingredients' masses can also be obtained by first calculating
the mass of the flour then using baker's percentages to calculate remaining ingredient masses:
Mass
ingredient
=
Formula mass Formula percentage
×
Baker's percentage
ingredient
=
Mass
flour
×
Baker's percentage
ingredient
{\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}{\text{Mass}}_{\text{ingredient}}&={\frac {\text{Formula mass}}{\text{Formula percentage}}}\times
{\text{Baker's percentage}}_{\text{ingredient}}\\&={\text{Mass}}_{\text{flour}}\times {\text{Baker's percentage}}_{\text{ingredient}}\end{aligned}}}
The two methods of calculating the mass of an ingredient are equivalent:
Formula mass
×
True percentage
ingredient
=
Mass
flour
×
Baker's percentage
ingredient
{\displaystyle {\text{Formula mass}}\times {\text{True percentage}}_{\text{ingredient}}={\text{Mass}}_{\text{flour}}\times
{\text{Baker's percentage}}_{\text{ingredient}}}
=== Weights and densities === The use of customary U.S. units can sometimes
be awkward and the metric system makes these conversions simpler.
In the metric system, there are only a small number of basic measures of relevance to cooking:
the gram (g) for weight, the liter (L) for volume, the meter (m) for length, and degrees
Celsius (°C) for temperature; multiples and sub-multiples are indicated by prefixes, two
commonly used metric cooking prefixes are milli- (m-) and kilo- (k-).
Intra-metric conversions involve moving the decimal point.Common avoirdupois and metric
weight equivalences: 1 pound (lb) = 16 ounces (oz)
1 kilogram (kg) = 1,000 grams (g) = 2.20462262 lb
1 lb = 453.59237 g = 0.45359237 kg 1 oz = 28.3495231 g.In four different English-language
countries of recipe and measuring-utensil markets, approximate cup volumes range from
236.59 to 284.1 milliliters (mL).
Adaptation of volumetric recipes can be made with density approximations:
Due to volume and density ambiguities, a different approach involves volumetrically measuring
the ingredients, then using scales or balances of appropriate accuracy and error ranges to
weigh them, and recording the results.
With this method, occasionally an error or outlier of some kind occurs.
== Drawbacks == Baker's percentages do not accurately reflect
the impact of the amount of gluten-forming proteins in the flour on the final product
and therefore may need to be adjusted from country to country, or even miller to miller,
depending on definitions of terms like "bread flour" and actual protein content.
Manipulation of known flour-protein levels can be calculated with a Pearson square.
In home baking, the amounts of ingredients such as salt or yeast expressed by mass may
be too small to measure accurately on the scales used by most home cooks.
For these ingredients, it may be easier to express quantities by volume, based on standard
densities.
For this reason, many breadmaking books that are targeted to home bakers provide both percentages
and volumes for common batch sizes.
Besides the need for appropriate readability scales, a kitchen calculator is helpful when
working directly from baker's percentages.
== Advantages == Baker's percentages enable the user to:
compare recipes more easily (i.e., which are drier, saltier, sweeter, etc.).
spot a bad recipe, or predict its baked characteristics.
alter or add a single-ingredient percentage without changing the other ingredients' percentages.
measure uniformly an ingredient where the quantity per unit may vary (as with eggs).
scale accurately and easily for different batch sizes.
== Common Formulations == Common formulations for bread include 100%
flour, 60% water/liquid, 1% yeast, 2% salt and 1% oil, lard or butter.
== Dough hydration == In a recipe, the baker's percentage for water
is referred to as the "hydration"; it is indicative of the stickiness of the dough and the "crumb"
of the bread.
Lower hydration rates (e.g., 50–57%) are typical for bagels and pretzels, and medium
hydration levels (58–65%) are typical for breads and rolls.
Higher hydration levels are used to produce more and larger holes, as is common in artisan
breads such as baguettes or ciabatta.
Doughs are also often classified by the terms stiff, firm, soft, and slack.
Batters are more liquid doughs.
Muffins are a type of drop batter while pancakes are a type of pour batter.
== Errata == † Except for creams and custards, when the
formula includes milk, bakers almost always use high-heat NFDM (non-fat dry milk).
In breads the usage is typically within a range of 5%-12%; fresh whole milk is 3.5%
milk fat, 88% water, and 8.5% milk solids.
†† A yeast flavor in the baked bread is generally not noticeable when the bakers'
percent of added yeast is less than 2.5%.
== Notes