Hi all, I just thought I'd share with you one of the single most useful baking related tidbits I've ever come across - the baker's percentage
I've been making breads and pizzas using this easy calculation for months now and not once have I ever ended up making something that didn't work out brilliantly. Using this you will give yourself an almost 100% guarantee of success when it comes to anything bread based, be it high hydration sourdough or a pizza base. So here's an example of how it works, you will need a kitchen scale to use it to the best effect -
Strong bread flour - 600g - 100%
Consider your bread flour to be 100% and base all other percentages on this
Water - 420ml - 70%
Easily worked out - 1% of 600 is 6, multiply by 70 and there you have it
Yeast - 6g - 1%
1% dried yeast for most breads is usually fine, any more and you risk over-proofing
Salt - 12g - 2%
You'll want 1-2% salt in breads, I tend to use 1% if I'm making pizza dough, but 2% for most other loaves
And it's that easy, that recipe will give you a 1.2kg ball of dough at 70% hydration. The proofing and baking process will vary from person to person so I won't go into that, but this calculation's a foolproof way of making dough.
As far as the hydration goes - for the vast majority of purposes, a 60% to 70% hydration is your best bet. A drier dough (55% to 60%) will be easier to work with, but you won't get as much rise in the oven and will end up with a more dense bread. A higher hydration - 67.5% to 75% will be much harder to work with and will start off as a sticky mass that takes quite a lot of kneading to get to a workable dough, but you'll be rewarded with a much higher rising, lighter loaf
Obviously you can add other ingredients to your dough, such as olive oil for added crunch and flavour to a pizza crust, but bear in mind that it will affect the hydration of the dough so adjust the measurements accordingly
Finally - DO NOT flour your work surface and resist all temptation to add any more flour when you're kneading - it'll only mess up the hydration and you won't get the same results if you make the bread again. If the dough ends up being really really sticky then rub some olive oil into your hands and carry on kneading, it'll come together eventually
Finally, here's an improvised example of how you can use this calculation -
725g of strong bread flour - 100%
489ml water - 67.5%
7.2g yeast - 1%
15g salt - 2%
A couple of handfuls of sunflower and pumpkin seeds and a few pinches of caraway seed
Kneading - 10 minutes
First rise - 60 minutes (dough rubbed with olive oil, placed in a bowl, covered and left in a warm place)
Shape bread and proof** - 45 minutes
Bake -
10 minutes at 520F
Reduce temperature to 350F and bake for another 25 minutes
Turn off oven, crack open door and rest for 10 minutes
Place on wire rack and leave to cool completely
Eat.
**Proof simply means rise - you want to get your bread risen by 3/4 before you put it in the oven
The initial very high temperature will give the yeast a very active burst and ensure that you have a full rising loaf, it'll also help to develop crust colour and the final rest will help to thicken the crust
And, well, there you have it!
I've been making breads and pizzas using this easy calculation for months now and not once have I ever ended up making something that didn't work out brilliantly. Using this you will give yourself an almost 100% guarantee of success when it comes to anything bread based, be it high hydration sourdough or a pizza base. So here's an example of how it works, you will need a kitchen scale to use it to the best effect -
Strong bread flour - 600g - 100%
Consider your bread flour to be 100% and base all other percentages on this
Water - 420ml - 70%
Easily worked out - 1% of 600 is 6, multiply by 70 and there you have it
Yeast - 6g - 1%
1% dried yeast for most breads is usually fine, any more and you risk over-proofing
Salt - 12g - 2%
You'll want 1-2% salt in breads, I tend to use 1% if I'm making pizza dough, but 2% for most other loaves
And it's that easy, that recipe will give you a 1.2kg ball of dough at 70% hydration. The proofing and baking process will vary from person to person so I won't go into that, but this calculation's a foolproof way of making dough.
As far as the hydration goes - for the vast majority of purposes, a 60% to 70% hydration is your best bet. A drier dough (55% to 60%) will be easier to work with, but you won't get as much rise in the oven and will end up with a more dense bread. A higher hydration - 67.5% to 75% will be much harder to work with and will start off as a sticky mass that takes quite a lot of kneading to get to a workable dough, but you'll be rewarded with a much higher rising, lighter loaf
Obviously you can add other ingredients to your dough, such as olive oil for added crunch and flavour to a pizza crust, but bear in mind that it will affect the hydration of the dough so adjust the measurements accordingly
Finally - DO NOT flour your work surface and resist all temptation to add any more flour when you're kneading - it'll only mess up the hydration and you won't get the same results if you make the bread again. If the dough ends up being really really sticky then rub some olive oil into your hands and carry on kneading, it'll come together eventually
Finally, here's an improvised example of how you can use this calculation -
725g of strong bread flour - 100%
489ml water - 67.5%
7.2g yeast - 1%
15g salt - 2%
A couple of handfuls of sunflower and pumpkin seeds and a few pinches of caraway seed
Kneading - 10 minutes
First rise - 60 minutes (dough rubbed with olive oil, placed in a bowl, covered and left in a warm place)
Shape bread and proof** - 45 minutes
Bake -
10 minutes at 520F
Reduce temperature to 350F and bake for another 25 minutes
Turn off oven, crack open door and rest for 10 minutes
Place on wire rack and leave to cool completely
Eat.
**Proof simply means rise - you want to get your bread risen by 3/4 before you put it in the oven
The initial very high temperature will give the yeast a very active burst and ensure that you have a full rising loaf, it'll also help to develop crust colour and the final rest will help to thicken the crust
And, well, there you have it!
I think metric is the only way to go when making bread
