Pizza Dough Calculator
A pizza dough calculator converts baker's percentages into exact gram weights for flour, water, salt and yeast. Pick a style, say how many balls and how big, set how long the dough ferments and at what temperature, and the yeast is scaled to match.
Oil and a little sugar give the foldable slice its chew and colour.
Fill in 2 more fields
Tell me how many dough balls you want and how big each one is, then press Calculate.
Created by James Caldwell
Last updated: October 1, 2026
What Is a Pizza Dough Calculator?
A pizza dough calculator converts baker's percentages into exact gram weights for flour, water, salt and yeast, based on how many pizzas you are making, how big each dough ball is, and which style you are baking. You give it a target and it works backwards to the ingredients.
It removes the three sums that go wrong by hand. It scales a recipe to any batch size without drifting, it sizes the dough ball to the area of the pizza rather than its diameter, and it sets the yeast from how long and how warm the dough will ferment. Those three are covered in turn below.
- Baker's percentage: flour is always 100%, and every other ingredient is a percentage of the flour weight.
- Hydration: the water as a percentage of the flour. 60% hydration means 600 g of water for every 1,000 g of flour.
- Dough ball weight: how much dough one pizza takes, usually 200 g to 290 g for a 12 inch round, more for a pan.
What Is Baker's Percentage?
Baker's percentage is how every pizza recipe worth copying is written. Flour is always 100%, and every other ingredient is given as a percentage of that flour weight. Water at 60% means 60 g of water for every 100 g of flour. Salt at 2.5% means 2.5 g.
The point is that the recipe stops depending on batch size. A formula of 100% flour, 60% water, 2.5% salt and 0.3% yeast is the same dough whether you are making two pizzas or two hundred. You scale the flour and everything else follows. It also means two recipes can be compared at a glance, which is impossible when one is in cups and the other is in kilos.
Note that the percentages add up to more than 100. That is expected. A dough at 60% hydration with 2.5% salt totals 162.5%, and that total is what turns a target dough weight back into a flour weight.
The Pizza Dough Formula: How to Calculate Flour, Water, Salt and Yeast
The pizza dough formula works backwards from the dough you need: add the percentages together, divide the target dough weight by that total, and you have the flour. Decide how many balls and how heavy each one is, and the rest follows:
Then every other ingredient is just a share of that flour:
A worked example
Four Neapolitan balls of 250 g each, so 1,000 g of dough. The formula is 60% hydration, 2.8% salt, no oil or sugar, fermented 24 hours at 20 C, which calls for 0.083% instant dry yeast.
- Percentages total 100 + 60 + 2.8 + 0.083 = 162.88
- Flour = 1,000 x 100 / 162.88 = 613.9 g
- Water = 613.9 x 0.60 = 368.4 g
- Salt = 613.9 x 0.028 = 17.2 g
- Yeast = 613.9 x 0.00083 = 0.51 g
Add those four up and you get 1,000 g exactly, which is the check that the arithmetic is right. If your ingredients do not weigh what you asked for, a percentage has gone astray.
How Much Dough Per Pizza? Ball Weight by Size
Dough weight should follow the area of the pizza, not its diameter. A 16 inch pizza has more than twice the area of an 11 inch one, so it needs more than twice the dough. Pizzaiolos handle this with a thickness factor: ounces of dough per square inch of base.
Set the factor once for the crust you like and every size scales correctly from it.
| Pizza size | Cracker thin (0.065) | Neapolitan (0.075) | New York (0.09) | Detroit pan (0.14) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 in | 145 g | 167 g | 200 g | 312 g |
| 12 in | 208 g | 240 g | 289 g | 449 g |
| 14 in | 284 g | 327 g | 393 g | 611 g |
| 16 in | 371 g | 428 g | 513 g | 798 g |
| 18 in | 469 g | 541 g | 649 g | 1,010 g |
Rectangular pans work the same way with length times width instead of . A 10 by 14 inch Detroit pan is 140 square inches, which at a factor of 0.14 comes to 556 g of dough.
Pizza Dough Hydration Explained
Hydration is the water weight as a percentage of the flour weight. It is the single number that most changes how a dough behaves.
- Under 55% is stiff and rolls out rather than stretches. This is cracker and deep dish territory.
- 55% to 65% is the comfortable range. It shapes by hand, holds its edge and does not stick. Start here.
- 65% to 75% gets noticeably slack and needs a well floured bench, but opens into a lighter, more open crumb.
- Above 75% is for trays and long slow ferments. Roman al taglio lives at 75% to 85% and is poured more than shaped.
Flour matters as much as the number. A strong bread flour or an Italian 00 with high protein absorbs more water than a soft all purpose flour, so 65% in one bag can feel like 70% in another. If a dough is unmanageable, drop the hydration a few points before blaming your technique.
How Much Yeast for Pizza Dough
There is no single answer, because yeast is not an ingredient you dose by taste. It is set by how long the dough has to ferment and how warm the room is. Longer or warmer means less yeast.
| Schedule | Instant dry yeast | On 500 g of flour |
|---|---|---|
| 4 hours at 20 C | 0.50% | 2.5 g |
| 6 hours at 20 C | 0.33% | 1.7 g |
| 8 hours at 20 C | 0.25% | 1.3 g |
| 24 hours at 20 C | 0.083% | 0.4 g |
| 24 hours cold, 2 h out then the fridge | 0.19% | 1.0 g |
| 48 hours cold | 0.10% | 0.5 g |
| 72 hours cold | 0.070% | 0.35 g |
Why a warm kitchen changes everything
Fermentation roughly triples in speed for every 9 C the dough warms up. That is not a small effect. The same eight hour rise needs 0.25% yeast at 20 C but only 0.094% at 28 C, and 0.41% at 16 C. A recipe that worked in November will overproof in July if you do not adjust, which is why so many summer doughs collapse.
The calculator above handles this by adding your stages together into the hours the yeast actually experiences, then setting the dose from that.
Swapping between yeast types
Fresh, active dry and instant yeast are not interchangeable gram for gram, because they hold different amounts of water. Fresh is roughly 70% water, active dry about 8%, instant about 3%. The ratio is fresh : active dry : instant = 3 : 1.25 : 1. So where a recipe asks for 0.33% instant, use 0.42% active dry or 1.0% fresh.
Cold Ferment vs Same Day: How Long to Proof Pizza Dough
A same day dough is mixed in the morning and baked that evening, four to eight hours at room temperature. It works, and it tastes like fresh bread.
A cold ferment gives the dough a couple of hours out of the fridge to get going, then 24 to 72 hours chilled. Almost no gas is produced down there, but the enzymes keep working on the starch and protein, and that is where the flavour comes from. Cold dough is also easier to handle and easier to time, because it will wait for you.
Past about 72 hours the gluten starts to degrade and the dough turns slack and sticky, so three days is a sensible ceiling for most home flours. Take the balls out an hour or two before you bake so they are not fighting you cold.
Pizza Dough Recipe by Style
Each style is really just a different set of percentages and a different thickness. These are the ranges the presets above use.
| Style | Hydration | Salt | Oil | 12 in ball |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neapolitan | 55 to 65% | 2.5 to 3% | none | 240 g |
| Neapolitan, modern | 68 to 82% | 2.5 to 3% | none | 240 g |
| New York | 55 to 65% | 2 to 2.5% | 0 to 3% | 289 g |
| New Haven | 63 to 70% | 2 to 2.5% | 0 to 3% | 273 g |
| Detroit | 63 to 72% | 2 to 2.5% | 1 to 3% | 449 g |
| Sicilian | 55 to 65% | 2 to 2.5% | 1 to 3% | 433 g |
| Roman al taglio | 72 to 85% | 2.5 to 3% | 0 to 3% | 321 g |
| Pinsa Romana | 72 to 85% | 1.5 to 2% | 1 to 1.5% | 289 g |
| Chicago deep dish | 43 to 52% | 1.5 to 2% | 12 to 22% | 513 g |
| Cracker thin | 35 to 50% | 1.5 to 2% | 3 to 10% | 208 g |
Two things stand out. Neapolitan carries no oil and no sugar at all, which is why it burns and blisters so readily at 450 C. Chicago deep dish runs 12% to 22% oil, closer to a shortcrust pastry than to bread, which is what makes it crumble rather than chew.
Poolish vs Biga: Using a Preferment
A preferment is a portion of the flour and water mixed with a pinch of the yeast the night before, left to ripen on its own, then added to the rest. It buys you much of the flavour of a long ferment without a three day schedule.
The two classic versions differ only in how wet they are:
- Poolish is 100% hydration, equal flour and water. It is loose and pourable, ferments quickly, and leans sweet and slightly nutty.
- Biga is around 50% hydration, stiff and shaggy. It ferments more slowly and tastes sharper and more acidic.
Twenty to forty percent of the total flour is the usual share. On a 1,000 g batch at 30%, a poolish takes 182 g of flour and 182 g of water, while a biga takes the same 182 g of flour with only 91 g of water. The calculator splits the totals for you and shows what is left for the final mix, so nothing gets counted twice.
Using a Sourdough Starter Instead of Yeast
A starter is flour and water as well as leavening, so it cannot simply be dropped on top of a recipe. Its flour has to come out of the flour you were going to add, and its water out of the water, or the dough ends up wetter and heavier than you planned.
For four 250 g balls at 60% hydration with a 20% starter at 100% hydration, the calculator works out 121 g of starter, which is 61 g of flour and 61 g of water. You then scoop 545 g of flour and pour 303 g of water, and the totals still come to 605 g of flour at 60% hydration. Get this wrong and a 20% starter will push a 60% dough to nearly 64% without you noticing.
Ten to twenty percent starter is typical. A stiff starter nearer 50% hydration is handled the same way, just with a different split between its flour and its water.
How to Use This Pizza Dough Calculator
- Pick a style. That loads the hydration, salt, oil, sugar and thickness it is normally made at. Every one of those stays editable, and Custom leaves them all to you.
- Say how much dough. Either give a ball weight directly, or switch to Pizza size and let the thickness factor work it out from the diameter or the pan dimensions, in inches or centimetres.
- Set the schedule. Hours and temperature at room temperature, plus the fridge stage if you are cold fermenting. The yeast follows from these, so they are not decoration.
- Add a preferment if you want one under Extras, along with a bowl loss allowance. Two to three percent covers what sticks to the bowl and your hands, so the balls still come out at full weight.
- Press Calculate. After that the recipe keeps pace with every change you make, and Copy recipe puts the whole thing on your clipboard.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much dough do I need for a 12 inch pizza?
Between 208 g and 449 g depending on how thick you want it. A cracker thin base is 208 g, Neapolitan 240 g, New York 289 g and a Detroit style pan 449 g. The figure comes from the area, 113 square inches, times the thickness factor for that style.
What is baker's percentage?
A way of writing recipes where flour is 100% and everything else is a percentage of the flour weight. It lets you scale a recipe to any batch size and compare two recipes directly.
What is the best hydration for pizza dough?
Between 55% and 65% for most people and most flours. It shapes by hand without sticking and suits Neapolitan and New York alike. Go higher only once you are comfortable handling slack dough, and expect to need a stronger flour.
How much yeast do I need for pizza dough?
It depends entirely on time and temperature. Roughly 0.25% instant dry yeast for an eight hour rise at 20 C, 0.19% for a 24 hour cold ferment, and 0.070% for 72 hours cold. Warmer rooms need less.
Can I use active dry yeast instead of instant?
Yes, use 1.25 times as much and dissolve it in some of the water first. Fresh yeast needs three times the instant amount. The ratio is fresh : active dry : instant = 3 : 1.25 : 1.
How long should pizza dough rise?
Four to eight hours at room temperature for a same day dough, or 24 to 72 hours in the fridge for more flavour. Beyond about 72 hours the gluten starts breaking down and the dough goes slack.
Why does my pizza dough overproof in summer?
Because fermentation roughly triples in speed for every 9 C warmer. A recipe tuned for a 20 C kitchen is running about three times fast at 29 C, so the same yeast and the same hours give you a collapsed, sour dough. Cut the yeast or shorten the rise.
How much salt in pizza dough?
Two to three percent of the flour weight. Neapolitan sits at the top of that range at 2.5% to 3%, most other styles at 2% to 2.5%. Salt also slows fermentation, so leaving it out does more than make the pizza bland.
Do I need oil in pizza dough?
Not for Neapolitan, which is traditionally flour, water, salt and yeast only. New York style uses up to 3% for softness and browning, pan styles 1% to 3%, and Chicago deep dish 12% to 22%, which is what gives it that crumbly, pastry like texture.
How do I scale a pizza dough recipe?
Keep the percentages and change the flour. That is the whole advantage of baker's percentage. Enter the number of balls and the weight you want each one to be, and the calculator does the scaling, including an allowance for the dough left in the bowl.