Skip to main content
Lifestyle

Pizza Dough Hydration Calculator (Baker's Percentage)

Enter your flour weight (or pick a pizza style) and the tool uses baker's percentage to instantly return the water, salt and yeast doses plus the per-ball weight. Includes Neapolitan VPN, New York street, Sicilian, Roman al taglio and Detroit presets, with automatic conversion between instant dry, active dry and fresh yeast.

Water

Salt

Yeast

Total dough weight

Per dough ball

Computed with baker's percentage: flour = 100%, everything else is expressed as a fraction of the flour weight. References: Modernist Pizza vol. 2, the AVPN Neapolitan disciplinare, Bonci's "Il Gioco della Pizza" and the King Arthur Baking yeast-conversion table.

Formula

water = flour × hydration%; salt = flour × salt%; yeast (IDY) = flour × yeast%; fresh ≈ IDY × 3; ADY ≈ IDY × 1.33

Frequently asked

Is a higher hydration always better?

Not really — hydration mainly affects mouth-feel and handling difficulty. Low-hydration doughs (55–60%) are firm and easy to shape, perfect for Neapolitan or beginners. High-hydration doughs (70–85%) develop the big irregular "open crumb" but are sticky, require stretch-and-fold mixing, and demand skill to shape and bake. Home ovens (≤ 290 °C) struggle to crisp the bottom of very wet doughs, so start around 60–65% and push up as you build confidence.

How do I convert between IDY, ADY and fresh yeast?

The industry rule of thumb is IDY : ADY : fresh = 1 : 1.33 : 3 by mass. So 0.3% IDY ≈ 0.4% ADY ≈ 0.9% fresh yeast on the flour weight. IDY can be added straight to the flour; ADY should be bloomed in ~35 °C water with a pinch of sugar for 10 minutes first; fresh yeast is crumbled into cool water for a few minutes before mixing. Sources: King Arthur Baking yeast guide; SAF Instant technical datasheet; James Hoffmann's home-baking notes.

How heavy should each dough ball be?

It depends on size and style: Neapolitan 11–12" (28–30 cm) ≈ 230–280 g; New York 16" (40 cm) ≈ 540–600 g; home-oven 12" NY-style ≈ 400–450 g; Sicilian / Detroit 25 × 35 cm pan ≈ 800–900 g; Roman al taglio 30 × 40 cm pan ≈ 900–1000 g. The tool back-calculates flour from balls × ball weight, so set balls to 1 if you want a single test bake.

How much should I reduce yeast for a cold ferment?

Rule of thumb: each time you double the ferment, halve the yeast. 4 h at room temp ≈ 0.5% IDY; 24 h in the fridge ≈ 0.1–0.15%; 48 h ≈ 0.05–0.08%. Long, low-yeast ferments build flavour as amylases break starch into sugars and the yeast / wild bacteria produce esters and acids. Both Modernist Pizza and Hoffmann recommend 0.1% IDY + 24–36 h cold ferment as the home baseline — don't overdose yeast and bury the wheat flavour.

Related tools

Tip & Service Charge Calculator

Hong Kong service charge, extra tipping and bill-splitting in one tool.

Electricity Bill Calculator

Estimate monthly bill using the latest CLP / HKE tariff.

Fuel Cost Calculator

Estimate the fuel cost of a trip from distance, vehicle consumption and fuel price (one-way or round-trip).

Bill Splitter (round-up edition)

Enter the bill, service charge, tip and party size to get each person’s share — then round each share up to the nearest $1 / $5 / $10 / $20 / $50 to make cash collection painless.

Discount Calculator

Enter the original price and a percent off (or fixed amount off) to see the final price, money saved and effective discount.

Cooking Measurement Converter

Convert between cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, millilitres, ounces and grams — for following overseas recipes or halving / doubling portions.

Unit Price Comparison Calculator

Compare two products by price-per-unit (per g, kg, ml, L or each). Enter price + amount + unit for each — see which is cheaper and by how much.

Hourly ↔ Salary Converter

Convert hourly wage to monthly / annual salary or back — with customisable hours per week and weeks worked per year. Works for part-time, freelance and salaried jobs.

Dog Age Calculator (Dog Years to Human Years)

Estimate a dog's human-equivalent age from its actual age and size (small / medium / large / giant), with both the classic "×7" rule and modern research curves side by side.

Pizza Order Calculator

How many people, how hungry, and how many slices per pizza? Get the exact number of pizzas to order — no leftovers, no shortages.

Tile / Flooring Calculator

Enter room dimensions and tile size to estimate the number of tiles needed (including a configurable waste allowance) — for floor or wall jobs.

Paint Coverage Calculator

From room length, width and height, door and window area, paint coverage per litre and the number of coats, estimate how many litres of paint you need.

Coffee Brew Ratio Calculator

Pick a brew method (pour-over, French press, cold brew or espresso) and a desired output, and get the exact coffee dose and water weight to match the recommended ratio.

Wallpaper Rolls Calculator

Enter the room size, roll dimensions and pattern repeat to get the number of wallpaper rolls to order (with pattern-match waste included).

Smoking Cost & Quit-Savings Calculator

Enter cigarettes per day, price per pack and years smoked — see your total spend and how much you could save by quitting.

Roof Pitch Calculator

Convert any roof rise / run into the X-in-12 pitch notation used by builders, plus the slope angle in degrees, slope percentage and the rafter-length multiplier.

Concrete Slab Volume Calculator

Enter slab length, width and thickness with a waste factor and get the concrete volume (m³, yd³, ft³) plus the approximate number of 25 kg, 40 kg or 80 lb pre-mix bags required.

Stair Stringer / Step Calculator

Enter total rise and a target riser height to get the number of risers, actual riser height, tread depth, stringer length, pitch and a side-by-side compliance check against the IRC, IBC and UK Approved Document K.

Air Conditioner BTU Sizing Calculator

Enter room area, ceiling height, sun exposure, occupants and climate to find the recommended air-conditioner BTU rating / horsepower.

Wedding Anniversary Year Calculator

Enter your wedding date to see the anniversary number, days until the next one, and the traditional / modern gift theme (paper, silver, gold…).

Oven Temperature Converter (°C / °F / Gas Mark)

Convert oven temperatures between Celsius, Fahrenheit and British gas marks, with descriptive labels (slow / moderate / hot / very hot).

Recipe Scaling Calculator

Enter original servings and desired servings to scale every ingredient proportionally, with friendly rounding to common cookware-sized amounts.

Cat Age (Cat Years) Calculator

Enter your cat's real age to estimate the human-equivalent age using the standard veterinary formula and see the matching life stage (kitten, adult, senior, geriatric).

Cost Per Use (Cost Per Wear) Calculator

Enter price, expected number of uses and upkeep cost to compute true cost per use — see whether that item is really worth it.

Naismith's Rule Hiking Time Calculator

Estimate hiking time with the classic Naismith's Rule (1 h per 5 km plus 1 h per 600 m of ascent), with optional descent and rest-time corrections.

Power-to-Weight Ratio Calculator

Enter power (W / kW / hp) and weight (kg / lb) to instantly compute W/kg, hp/kg and hp/lb ratios with cyclist and car performance bands.

EV Charging Time Calculator

Enter battery capacity (kWh), charger power (kW) and the start / target state of charge to estimate how long an EV charging session takes, with adjustments for charging efficiency and the constant-current → constant-voltage taper above 80 %.

ABV from Specific Gravity (Homebrew)

Enter the original gravity (OG) and final gravity (FG) of a beer or wine ferment and the calculator returns the standard homebrewing ABV estimate ABV ≈ (OG − FG) × 131.25, plus apparent attenuation and a calorie estimate.

Mulch / Soil / Gravel Coverage Calculator

Enter the area and target depth to compute the volume of mulch, soil or gravel needed (in litres, m³ and cubic yards), and estimate bag count and total cost.

Aquarium Volume Calculator

Enter the dimensions of your tank — rectangular, cylindrical or bow-front — to get the water volume in litres, US gallons, UK gallons and water weight, with a fill-percentage adjustment for substrate and décor.