Calculate exact flour, water, salt, and yeast amounts for your pizza dough based on hydration percentage and ball weight.
Pizza dough recipes are built using baker's percentages, where every ingredient is expressed as a percentage of the flour weight. Hydration (water as a percent of flour) is the single biggest factor in how the dough handles and bakes, while salt and yeast percentages control flavor and rise.
Total Dough Needed = Number of Pizzas × Ball Weight
Flour = Total Dough ÷ (1 + Hydration% + Salt% + Yeast%)
Water = Flour × Hydration%
Salt = Flour × Salt% | Yeast = Flour × Yeast%
Enter how many pizzas you're making and your target dough ball weight, then set your hydration percentage (65-70% is typical for home ovens, 55-62% for thinner New York style), salt percentage, and instant yeast percentage. The calculator works backward from your total dough weight to the exact flour, water, salt, and yeast needed.
For 4 pizzas at 250g per ball (1,000g total dough) at 65% hydration, 2.5% salt, and 0.3% yeast, you'd need about 588g flour, 382g water, 15g salt, and 1.8g instant yeast.
The ratio of water weight to flour weight in a dough recipe, expressed as a percentage.
(water weight ÷ flour weight) × 100.
Higher hydration doughs tend to produce a chewier, more open crumb, while lower hydration doughs are easier to handle and produce a denser crust.