This pizza dough calculator builds dough the baker’s way — by percentages of flour weight. Set the number and size of dough balls, hydration, salt and yeast, and get every ingredient in grams.
Fresh yeast ≈ 3× the instant amount; active dry ≈ 1.25×. Cold-fermenting 24–72 h? Drop yeast to 0.1–0.25% and let time do the flavor work.
Baker’s Percentages: Flour Is Always 100%
Professional bakers express every ingredient as a percentage of the flour weight — flour 100%, water = hydration, salt ~2%, yeast a fraction of a percent. The power: the formula scales to any batch size without changing its character (the same trick, generalized, powers our Recipe Scaler). Given a target dough mass, the calculator inverts the sum: flour = total ÷ (1 + hydration + salt + yeast). Part of our Food Calculators collection.
Worked Example (Verified)
Two 250 g balls (500 g total) at 65% hydration, 2% salt, 0.5% instant yeast:
- Flour: 500 ÷ 1.675 = 298.5 g
- Water: 298.5 × 0.65 = 194.0 g | Salt: 6.0 g | Yeast: 1.5 g
- Sum check: 298.5 + 194.0 + 6.0 + 1.5 = 500.0 g ✔
Style Guide (Starting Points Worth Trusting)
| Style | Ball | Hydration | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neapolitan | 250 g (12″) | 58–65% | 00 flour, wood-fire 60–90 s, leopard crust |
| New York | 280–300 g (14–16″) | 60–63% | +1–2% sugar & oil for browning in home ovens |
| Roman / al taglio | — (tray) | 70–80% | High hydration, long ferment, airy crumb |
| Detroit / pan | — (pan) | 68–73% | Cheese to the edges, frico crust |
| Thin & crispy | 220 g (12″) | 50–55% | Roll it thin, dock it, bake it hard |
Fermentation Notes (Where Flavor Actually Comes From)
- Yeast % is a timer, not a flavor dial: 0.5% at room temperature proofs in ~2 hours; 0.1–0.2% in the fridge stretches to 1–3 days and tastes dramatically better — acids and complexity are time’s work, not yeast’s.
- Salt above ~3% starts noticeably slowing fermentation; below 1.5% the dough tastes flat and ferments wild. 2–2.5% is the sweet band.
- Hydration past ~70% gets sticky for beginners: wet hands, bench scraper, and no extra flour confetti. The dough relaxes as gluten develops.
Related Tools
- Recipe Scaler Calculator
- Food Calculators — the full collection
Frequently Asked Questions
How much dough do I need for a 12-inch pizza?
About 250 g per Neapolitan-style 12″ pizza (thin center, puffy rim). New York style at 12″ runs 250–280 g; deep and pan styles more. Scale ball weight with area: a 16″ pizza needs roughly (16/12)² ≈ 1.8× the dough of a 12″.
What does 65% hydration mean?
Water weighs 65% of the flour weight (300 g flour → 195 g water). Higher hydration = airier, more open crumb and stickier handling; lower = stiffer, crispier, easier.
How do baker’s percentages work?
Every ingredient is expressed against flour = 100%. Salt 2% means 2 g per 100 g flour, yeast 0.5% means half a gram per 100 g. This calculator sums the percentages to back out the flour for any total dough weight.
Can I use fresh or active dry yeast instead of instant?
Yes: fresh (cake) yeast ≈ 3× the instant weight; active dry ≈ 1.25×. Bloom active dry in warm water first per its instructions.
Why is my calculated yeast so tiny?
Because yeast is potent: 1.5 g (about half a teaspoon) genuinely suffices for 500 g of dough given time. Recipes calling for a whole packet (7 g) are buying speed at the cost of flavor — slow fermentation wins for pizza.
Is this pizza dough calculator free?
Yes — free, instant, no sign-up.