Pizza Dough

Turning Pizza Size Into Exact Flour, Water, Salt, and Yeast Amounts

Pizza dough is measured with baker’s percentages: flour is always the 100% baseline, and every other ingredient is expressed as a percentage of that flour weight. This calculator first finds how much total dough your pizzas need using the widely-cited “Rule of 22” (about 22 grams of dough per inch of finished diameter), then works backward through the baker’s-percentage math to find exactly how much flour, water, salt, and yeast that requires.

The Formula

$$\vA{\text{Dough Ball Weight}} = \vB{\text{Diameter (in)}} \times \vC{\text{Grams per Inch}}$$ $$\vD{\text{Total Dough Weight}} = \vA{\text{Dough Ball Weight}} \times \text{Number of Pizzas}$$ $$\vE{\text{Flour}} = \frac{\vD{\text{Total Dough Weight}}}{1 + \text{Hydration\%} + \text{Salt\%} + \text{Yeast\%}}$$

Water, salt, and yeast are each just the flour weight multiplied by their own percentage. The default 65% hydration and 2.5% salt sit within the 60-70% hydration and 2-3% salt ranges widely cited for home pizza dough (Crust Kingdom; Baking Steel); the default 1% yeast matches a typical same-day instant-dry-yeast dose — use less if you’re fermenting overnight or longer.

Worked Example

2 pizzas, each 12 inches across, at the default 22 g/in, 65% hydration, 2.5% salt, and 1% yeast:

1. $\vA{12} \times \vC{22} = 264$ g per dough ball.
2. $264 \times 2 = \vD{528}$ g total dough weight.
3. $\vE{\text{Flour}} = \frac{528}{1 + 0.65 + 0.025 + 0.01} = 313.4$ g.
4. Water: $313.4 \times 0.65 = 203.7$ g. Salt: $313.4 \times 0.025 = 7.8$ g. Yeast: $313.4 \times 0.01 = 3.1$ g.

Key Factors to Consider

• Higher hydration doughs are wetter, stickier to work with, and generally produce a more open, airy crumb. Neapolitan-style pizzerias often push hydration well above the 60-70% home-baking range this calculator defaults to, but a wetter dough is genuinely harder to shape by hand — higher hydration is a real tradeoff between crumb texture and ease of handling, not a strictly “better” setting.
• Yeast quantity should scale down significantly for a longer, slower (cold) fermentation. The 1% default here matches a same-day rise — an overnight or multi-day cold-ferment (refrigerated) dough typically uses far less yeast, since the extended time at cooler temperatures lets a much smaller amount of yeast do the same work more slowly, developing more flavor along the way.
• Salt does more than season the dough — it also slows fermentation and strengthens gluten structure. This is why the widely-cited 2-3% range isn’t purely a taste preference — too little salt can lead to a weaker, less structured dough, while too much can meaningfully slow the yeast’s activity.
• Baker’s percentages make it easy to scale a recipe up or down while keeping the same dough character. Because every ingredient is expressed relative to flour weight, doubling a batch (or making a single smaller pizza) preserves the exact same hydration, salt, and yeast ratios — which is exactly what this calculator automates when the pizza count or size changes.

Common Mistakes

• Using the same grams-per-inch rate for every crust style. The default 22 g/in works well for a typical home pizza, but a thin, cracker-style crust needs less dough per inch (around 18-19 g/in) while a thick pan style like Detroit or Sicilian needs more (around 26-28 g/in) — using one flat rate for every style can leave a pan pizza too thin or a thin-crust pizza too doughy.
• Not adjusting yeast for a longer, cold fermentation. The 1% default yeast is calibrated for a same-day rise — using that same amount for an overnight or multi-day cold ferment produces dough that over-proofs and can develop an unpleasant, overly sour flavor long before baking time.
• Measuring ingredients by volume instead of weight. Baker’s percentages are built on weight ratios, not volume — a cup of flour can vary meaningfully in weight depending on how it’s scooped, which throws off the hydration and salt ratios this calculator relies on. A kitchen scale gives far more consistent results.

Useful to Know

• Need to scale this recipe up or down to a different number of servings or batch size? Recipe Scaling Calculator scales ingredient quantities for any recipe.
• Substituting a different flour, sweetener, or other ingredient in the dough? Ingredient Substitution Calculator finds common ingredient substitutes and their conversion ratios.
• Working with another recipe that uses baker’s percentages? Baker's Percentage Calculator converts between ingredient weights and baker’s percentages for any dough or batter.