Add the full formula percentage
Start with flour at 100%. Add every other percentage included in the formula. A simple arithmetic example of 65% water, 2% salt and 1% yeast totals 168%. Written as a multiplier, that is 1.68 times the flour mass.
For a target combined ingredient mass of 840 g, the flour is 840 ÷ 1.68 = 500 g. Water is 325 g, salt is 10 g and yeast is 5 g. Add the unrounded ingredient masses to check that they return to 840 g.
Plan portions without confusing raw and baked weights
If you plan two dough pieces of 420 g each, their total is 840 g before any extra handling allowance. Four pieces of 420 g require 1680 g, giving 1000 g flour with the same formula percentages. This preserves the ingredient relationships while changing batch size.
A dough-piece target is not a prediction of baked weight. Baking and handling change the mass, and this calculator does not model those changes. If you need a finished-product target, use observed results from your own process rather than treating raw ingredient mass as the finished yield.
Formula mass, divided dough-piece mass and finished baked mass answer different questions. This tool solves only the first of them.
Update the total when optional ingredients change
Adding 10% sugar and 5% oil/fat changes the example formula from 168% to 183%. If the total must remain 840 g, the flour becomes 840 ÷ 1.83 ≈ 459.02 g. Leaving the flour at 500 g would produce a larger ingredient total instead.
This is why the calculator offers two bases. “Flour weight” keeps your chosen flour mass fixed and computes the combined mass. “Total dough weight” keeps the combined target fixed and solves the flour. Change the label first, then enter the quantity you actually intend to hold constant.
Check the calculation before practical rounding
The displayed rows round to two decimal places for readability. The underlying calculation keeps more precision. A few rounded rows can therefore sum to a displayed value that differs slightly from the displayed total. Make any weighing-rounding decisions once, on the final ingredient list.
Very small yeast or salt masses can fall below a particular scale’s useful resolution. A calculator displaying a decimal does not establish that a scale can reproduce it. This site’s examples demonstrate the arithmetic and do not claim to be tested formulas or replace a recipe’s method.
References & further reading
These references support the ingredient and pan context. The worked numbers and diagrams above are our own explanatory examples.