Pizza Dough Calculator
Calculate flour, water, yeast, salt, oil, and sugar for any number of pizzas using baker's percentages. Style presets for Neapolitan, NY, Detroit, Sicilian, Thin, Roman.
Pizza Dough Calculator
Baker's percentages (% of flour weight — flour is always 100%)
How to use the Pizza Dough Calculator
Pick a pizza style preset
Six well-documented styles + custom mode: Neapolitan (AVPN-spec, 60% hydration, no oil — the OG); New York (62%, light oil + sugar for browning); Detroit (70%, no dough oil — oil goes in the pan); Sicilian (70%, generous oil); Thin & crispy (55%, cracker-style); Roman al taglio (70%, 4% oil, long cold ferment). Each preset comes with notes on intended fermentation time and style-specific guidance.
Set dough ball count and weight
Dough ball weight depends on pizza size: 200g = 10-inch personal; 250g = 12-inch standard (most home oven sweet spot); 280-300g = 14-inch large; 600g+ = 16-inch+ NY-style or Detroit/Sicilian pan-size. The calculator uses baker's percentages, so any number of balls or weight works — flour scales linearly. For a dinner party of 8 making one 12-inch pizza each: 8 balls × 250g = 2000g total dough, ~1190g of flour.
Read the gram-precise ingredient list
Output gives exact grams for flour, water, salt, instant yeast, oil, sugar. Always weigh — pizza dough is unforgiving of volume-measurement errors. The yeast conversion shows equivalents for Active Dry Yeast (ADY = 1.25× IDY) and fresh yeast (3× IDY) if your shop sells those instead. For ASEAN cooks: Singapore / Malaysia / Indonesia bakery-supply shops sell IDY in 11g sachets (Saf-Instant, Mauripan, Bruggeman) — 11g ≈ 3.5% of 320g flour, so a typical 4-pizza batch uses ~1g IDY, not the whole sachet.
Mix, cold-ferment, ball, bake
Standard workflow: mix flour + water (autolyse 20-30 min), add salt + yeast, knead 5-10 min, bulk ferment 1-2h at room temp until ~50% rise, divide and ball, cold ferment in the fridge (24-72h depending on style), pull 2-4h before baking to warm and proof, stretch (don't roll — preserve gas) and bake. For best results in home ovens, max-temp the oven with a baking steel or stone preheated 45+ minutes; for outdoor pizza ovens (Ooni, Roccbox, Solo Stove Pi), 450°C+ is the sweet spot for Neapolitan.
Pizza dough math — baker's percentages, hydration, and why grams beat cups
Pizza dough is one of the simplest doughs in baking — typically just four ingredients (flour, water, salt, yeast) and sometimes a fifth (oil) or sixth (sugar). The complexity is in the ratios, not the ingredient list. Professional pizzaiolos and serious home cooks all use baker's percentages — every ingredient expressed as a percentage of flour weight, with flour itself always at 100%. So "62% hydration" means 62g of water for every 100g of flour, regardless of how much flour you're using. This system makes scaling trivial (double the flour, double everything else), comparing recipes instant (a 65% hydration dough is wetter than a 60% one, period), and troubleshooting precise (too much salt? drop from 2.5% to 2.0%). The system originated in industrial bakeries early 20th-century and is now the universal language of bread + pizza baking.
Why hydration is the single most important variable
Hydration % — water as a fraction of flour weight — determines almost everything about how a pizza turns out. 55-60%: stiff dough, easy to handle, crisp crust, low elasticity (cracker-style, NY-classic, traditional Neapolitan). 62-65%: balanced, the sweet spot for most home-baker NY-style pizzas. 68-72%: high hydration, slack and sticky, requires confident handling, produces airy and open crumb (Detroit, Sicilian, Roman). 75%+: very high hydration, near-impossible to hand-shape (requires Maximilian-style fork stretching, banneton support, or pan-baking only). Every percentage point shifts the dough's behaviour and final texture. Start with the style preset, adjust by 1-2% based on your flour's protein content and your local humidity, taste, and refine.
Hydration is the single most expressive variable in pizza. A 60% Neapolitan and a 70% Detroit are fundamentally different products — same four ingredients, different ratios, completely different pizzas.
The yeast math — and why less is often more
Pizza dough recipes specify yeast in surprisingly small amounts: 0.05% IDY for Neapolitan (~0.5g per kg of flour) up to ~0.5% for thin-crust (~5g/kg). Higher yeast = faster rise = less flavor development. Lower yeast = slower cold-fermentation = more lactic + acetic acid + diastatic enzymes producing flavors that taste "deeper" and more complex. Most serious pizzaiolos err on the low side and compensate with longer cold ferments. Real Neapolitan at AVPN-spec uses 0.05% IDY because the dough cold-ferments for 24-48 hours; the yeast colony grows over that time and produces flavor along the way. For 24h cold ferment: ~0.1-0.3% IDY. For 48h+: 0.05-0.15%. For same-day pizza (4-8h total): 0.5-1% IDY. The IDY-to-ADY conversion is 1.25× (ADY is older technology, less active per gram); to fresh yeast it's 3× (fresh contains 70% water).
The ASEAN pizza-flour angle
Pizza flour selection across ASEAN is its own puzzle. Authentic Neapolitan pizza calls for Italian "00" flour (Caputo Pizzeria, Caputo Nuvola, or Le 5 Stagioni) — fine grind, 11-12% protein. These are imported and available at premium grocers (Cold Storage, Mercato, Eats, Phoon Huat in Singapore; Jaya Grocer, Village Grocer in KL; Ranch Market in Jakarta) and online (RedMart, Lazada, Tokopedia, Shopee). Cost: 2-3× the price of bread flour. Most home cooks substitute with local bread flour: Singapore — Prima Top Flour, Phoon Huat "Sungold Bread Flour" (~12% protein, works well at 60-65% hydration). Malaysia / Indonesia — Cap Sauh or Cap Cakra Kembar bread flour. Thailand / Vietnam / Philippines — UFM bread flour, Bob's Red Mill imports, San Miguel Mills bread flour. For 70%+ hydration pan styles (Detroit, Sicilian), high-protein bread flour (13-14%) handles the wetter dough better than 00. The Roman-style al taglio specifically uses lower-protein "0" flour (9-11%) for tender crumb — substitute with Asian all-purpose flour at the lower hydration end (60-65%) if you can't find proper 0.
10 Things to Know About Pizza Dough
Baker's percentages express every ingredient as % of flour weight. Flour is always 100%. This system is the universal language of professional baking.
True Neapolitan pizza per AVPN spec uses just 4 ingredients: 00 flour, water, salt, yeast. No oil, no sugar. 60-62% hydration, 24-48h cold ferment.
"Hydration" % is water as a fraction of flour weight. 60% = 600g water per 1000g flour. Higher = wetter dough = more open crumb.
The yeast amount in good pizza dough is tiny: 0.05-0.3% of flour weight. Lower yeast + longer ferment = better flavor.
Cold fermentation (24-72h at 4°C / 39°F) develops flavor via enzyme activity and slow yeast metabolism. The single biggest upgrade for home pizza.
1g IDY = 1.25g ADY = 3g fresh yeast. IDY (instant) is the modern standard — direct-add, no proofing needed. ADY is older technology.
The AVPN (Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana) certifies authentic Neapolitan pizzerias. Their dough spec is publicly published and freely available.
Pizza dough should be stretched, not rolled. Rolling pushes out the CO₂ that fermentation built up, killing the open crumb that makes good pizza great.
The Detroit deep-dish style is famous for "cheese-to-the-edge" caramelisation — the cheese touches the pan, browns, and forms a frico (crispy lace) crust.
A home oven maxing at 250°C is ~half the temperature of a Neapolitan wood oven (450-500°C). A baking steel or stone closes ~half the gap by storing thermal mass.
Frequently Asked Questions
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A system for expressing dough recipes where every ingredient is a percentage of the flour weight. Flour is always 100%. So "62% hydration, 2% salt, 0.3% yeast" means 620g water + 20g salt + 3g yeast per 1000g flour. The system makes scaling trivial (multiply everything by the same factor), comparing recipes easy (which is wetter? higher hydration %), and troubleshooting precise. It's the universal language of bread + pizza baking worldwide.
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Depends on style and your comfort with sticky dough. Beginners + thin crust + cracker styles: 55-60%. Classic NY / Neapolitan: 60-65%. Detroit / Sicilian / Roman: 68-72%. Advanced (focaccia-adjacent): 75%+. Higher hydration = more open crumb but harder to handle. Start at the lower end of your style's range; bump up 2-3% per batch as you develop dough-handling confidence. Local humidity matters — humid tropical climates make doughs feel wetter than the same hydration in dry climates.
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Pizza dough uses very small yeast amounts (0.05-0.5% of flour weight) because the yeast colony multiplies during the long ferment. More yeast = faster rise = less flavor development. Less yeast + longer cold ferment (24-72h at 4°C) lets enzymes break down starches and develop complex flavors. For Neapolitan-style 48h cold ferment: 0.05% IDY (0.5g per kg flour) is enough — the yeast multiplies 50-100× during fermentation. For same-day dough (4-8h total): bump to 0.5-1% IDY for faster rise at the cost of flavor depth.
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All are the same yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) at different moisture levels. IDY (Instant Dry Yeast): ~5% moisture, can be mixed directly with flour, most active per gram, modern standard. SAF-Instant, Fleischmann's Instant, Bruggeman are common brands. ADY (Active Dry Yeast): ~6-8% moisture, traditionally requires proofing in warm water first (though modern ADY can be direct-mixed). Use 1.25× IDY amount. Fresh / cake yeast: ~70% moisture, sold in foil-wrapped cakes, very perishable (2-week shelf life refrigerated). Use 3× IDY amount. All three produce identical results; IDY is the most convenient and widely available.
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For AVPN-certified authentic Neapolitan: yes, you need 00 flour (Caputo Pizzeria or Le 5 Stagioni). For pizza that looks and tastes "Neapolitan-style": no, bread flour works fine at slightly lower hydration (60% instead of 62%). The differences: 00 is more finely ground (smoother dough texture); 00 protein content varies by brand (11% for Caputo Pizzeria, perfect for ~450°C wood ovens); bread flour at 12-13% protein develops more gluten and produces a chewier crust at home-oven temps (~250°C). For a Singapore / Malaysia / Indonesia cook making pizza in a domestic oven, local bread flour at 60-62% hydration produces excellent results.
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The single biggest upgrade for home pizza. Minimum useful cold ferment: 24h (good). Sweet spot: 48-72h (great). Maximum: 5-6 days (still good, but flavor plateaus). The fridge slows yeast activity to ~5% of room-temp rate, giving enzymes time to break down starches into sugars (= deeper flavor + better browning) and develop lactic + acetic acids. After cold ferment, pull dough 2-4 hours before baking to warm to room temp and proof. Skip cold ferment and bake the same day: still pizza, but missing the flavor depth.
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Either works. Stand mixer (KitchenAid, Kenwood) is faster (5-7 min on speed 2-3) but can over-knead and heat the dough. Hand-kneading (8-12 min) gives you feel for the dough but takes effort. The "stretch and fold" technique (no kneading — stretch + fold dough every 30 min for 2 hours) works beautifully for high-hydration doughs and requires almost no effort. For Neapolitan dough at 60-62% hydration, hand-kneading is traditional. For high-hydration Detroit / Sicilian / Roman, stretch-and-fold is easier than wrestling sticky dough in a bowl.
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Rolling with a rolling pin pushes out the CO₂ that fermentation built up in the dough. That CO₂ is what gives well-fermented dough its open, airy crumb. Once you roll it out, the dough deflates and bakes denser and tougher. Hand-stretching preserves the gas: lift the dough at the edges, let gravity stretch it, work in a circle. For thin crust (where you WANT the dense flat texture), rolling is acceptable. For Neapolitan, NY, Detroit, Sicilian, Roman — always stretch.
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No. All calculations run entirely in your browser via JavaScript. There's no server roundtrip — open DevTools → Network and confirm zero outbound requests. Your dough recipes stay on your device. Safe for proprietary pizzeria formulations, restaurant menu testing, or signature recipes that shouldn't leave your kitchen.
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For NY / Detroit / Sicilian / Thin styles: any home oven at max temperature (250°C / 480°F) with a preheated baking steel ($60-100) or stone ($30-50) works well. Steel beats stone — better thermal conductivity, faster bottom-crust browning. Preheat 45+ minutes. For Neapolitan: you need higher temperatures than home ovens reach. Options: outdoor pizza ovens (Ooni, Roccbox, Gozney, Solo Stove Pi — $300-600, hit 450-500°C); broiler-and-steel hack (cook 60s on steel, then 60s under broiler for top-char); wood-fired backyard ovens for the serious. Without high heat, "Neapolitan" at home is closer to a hybrid NY-style.
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