Baker’s Percentages

Everything you need to know about baker’s ratios and why they are important.

What is a baker’s percentage?

A baker’s percentage is also known as baker’s ratio. It represents the quantity of each ingredient as a percentage.

How does it work?

At the core of baker’s percentage is the flour. Flour always represents 100%. Every other ingredient is just a percentage of that ingredient. Grams are the most common measurement when using baker’s percentage.

Why do people use baker’s percentage?

Well, professional bakers coined baker’s percentage because they found it easier to work with formulas versus recipes. With a baker’s percentage, you can really make the recipe as big or as large as you want and still get the same results. This is important because consistency is everything in baking.

Example:

One loaf, 500 grams

100% flour- 500 grams

2% salt- 10 grams

68% water- 340 grams

30% leaven- 150 grams

* I multiply the percentage by the amount of flour I chose to use. Remember that this can change. If I wanted to make 3 loaves, 500 grams each, my total flour would be 1500 grams.

Three loaves, 1500 grams

100% flour- 1500 grams

2% salt- 30 grams

68% water- 1020 grams

30% leaven- 450 grams

Need help keeping track of your journey? Try my sourdough logbook. It’s designed with your success in mind.

Happy baking,

Gracey Cakes