If you’ve ever found yourself tediously converting a recipe’s measurements into smaller or larger portions, you’ve probably already guessed why the baker’s percentage is a handy framework to have. Once you’ve converted a baking recipe into percentages, it’s a breeze to calculate and properly adjust the ingredient measurements on the fly. The fact that it’s all relative to the flour also means that you will avoid adding too much flour to your dough. All you have to do is take the weight of the flour and multiply it by each ingredient’s percentage moved two decimal places. For example, if you want to add 3% salt to 178 grams of flour, you’d be multiplying 178 by 0.03 to get 5.34 grams of salt.
While the baker’s percentage does primarily apply to bread baking, making a habit of using it is a good way to improve your baking in general. interpreting recipes through percentages gives you a better point of reference to start understanding how different ingredients each affect the end product. With some time and experience, you’ll be able to look at a percentage breakdown and make a very good guess as to how the dough will look, feel, and behave in the oven. By taking the guesswork out of tweaking and comparing recipes, the baker’s percentage will help you become a much more consistent baker.
