Dough Batch Scaler
Turn a target dough weight and your hydration, salt, and starter percentages into exact gram weights for every ingredient.
Keep salt around 1.8 to 2.2% of flour weight. Less tastes flat; more slows fermentation down more than you probably want.
How it works
Instead of scaling every ingredient by hand, tell the calculator how much dough you actually want (either loaves times weight per loaf, or a total gram figure) and your baker's percentages for hydration, salt, and starter. It works backward from the total: flour is whatever's left once you account for the water, salt, and starter that ride along with it as percentages, then every other ingredient is that flour weight times its own percentage.
Worked example: a 1,000 g batch of dough at 75% hydration, 2% salt, and 20% starter (a fairly standard country loaf) breaks down to 508 g flour, 381 g water, 10.2 g salt, and 102 g starter. Add those up and you land right back at 1,000 g of dough, just split into the right proportions instead of guessing.
FAQ
Why does the flour weight change when I raise hydration or starter?
Because the total dough weight is fixed, and flour, water, salt, and starter all have to add up to it. Raise hydration or starter percentage and every remaining ingredient (including flour) shrinks slightly to keep the total the same. That's the opposite direction from most printed recipes, which start from a flour weight and build up from there.
What if I want two loaves instead of one?
Switch to loaves times loaf weight and set the loaf count. A 900 g loaf is a common size for a standard boule; two of them is 1,800 g of total dough, and the calculator scales everything from there.
Is 20% starter typical?
It's on the higher, faster end. Many sourdough recipes use 15 to 25% starter (by flour weight) for a same-day bulk rise at room temperature. Less starter means more time; more starter means less time, though flavor and structure shift too, not just speed.
What happens if salt is set too low or too high?
Below about 1.8%, bread tastes flat and the dough ferments faster, since salt slows yeast activity. Above 2.2%, fermentation drags and the crust can taste harsh. Most bakers land somewhere in that 1.8 to 2.2% window and rarely stray far from it.
For the reasoning behind these numbers, see baker's percentages explained, why salt matters in bread, and sourdough feeding ratios explained.