Understanding and working in baker’s percentages, also known as baker’s math, is a key skill for the home and professional baker alike.
The amount of dough needed in a 12–inch pizza is determined by the size and shape of the pizza. A 12-inch pizza is 113.04 square inches; dough per square takes 0.0884642 ounces of dough.
So we know the size of a 12 inches pizza is 3.14*36=113.04 square inches, then 12 inches:113.04 square inches* 0.0884642= 9.99999 ounces (10 ounces). So, according to the mathematical explanation, we know that 12 ounces of pizza require 10 ounces of dough.
This article will tell about the math of 12-inch pizza dough and what kind of ingredients are needed to make pizza dough. Here’s more about the ounces and grams that you will use to make your pizza dough, and we’ll find out how much a 12-inch pizza dough ball should weigh. Let us know the percentage of dough hydration and the role of dough weight hydration.
If you’re planning on making a pizza for yourself or others, it’s important to know how much dough you need. A 12-inch pizza requires about 255 grams or 285 grams of dough.
Additionally, it is helpful to have some idea of the dimensions of your pizza pan. A 12-inch pizza will fit nicely in a 13 x 9-inch baking pan, while a 14-inch pizza will fit in a 15 x 10-inch pan.
If you’re looking for a pre-made pizza that comes with the most mouthwatering dough in town, you can order authentic Neapolitan pizza
However, there’s lots more to know about perfecting your pizza dough. Without any further ado, let’s begin.
How Much Dough Do I Need For a 12-Inch Pizza?
Using a weight calculator can be a great way to find out how much dough you need for a 12-inch pizza. Most people have difficulty determining the amount of dough they need for a pizza.
Why don’t you include the sourdough starter flour and water in the calculations?
This is an important point and something I’ve struggled with here at The Perfect Loaf (and in my baking in general) for years: should I include the sourdough starter flour and water in my overall calculations? For a formula to be wholly correct and account for all flour and water, the flour and water in the starter should be included. However, I typically do not include them for clarity and ease of use. Instead, I treat the starter as a single, cohesive unit.
I see this as a tradeoff between complete correctness and clarity. For example, if I included my starter in my formulas here, you’d always see rye flour as an ingredient (because it’s in a tiny percentage of my sourdough starter feeds). Including that bit of flour would be the correct thing, but it means strange percentages for all the other ingredients, which will lead to questions and confusion.
In the end—and maybe just for now!—I’ve settled on not including the starter flour and water in my calculations. This is because, in many of my formulas, my starter is included in such a small percentage that the impact of that flour and water on the total formula is minimal.
If you’re a TPL Member, you’ll notice in my baking spreadsheets that I offer the option to include your sourdough starter in the calculations for a dough formula if you wish to be 100% correct.
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The amount of dough you will need for a 12 inch pizza will vary depending on how thick or thin you like your crust. For a thick thick crust, you will need approximately 10 ounces of dough. For a thin crust, you will need 8 ounces of dough.
If you’re making a hand-tossed pizza, you will need 10 to 12 ounces of dough. For a deep dish pizza, you will need 12 to 16 ounces of dough. If you’re using a store-bought pizza crust, it typically comes with 10 ounces of dough.
The weight of 1 pizza dough can vary significantly depending on the size of the pizza crust. For a standard 12 – 14 inch pizza, the dough usually weighs about 14 ounces. However, for a larger 16-inch pizza, the dough typically weighs approximately 20 ounces.
For a small 10-inch pizza, the dough typically weighs around 9 ounces. The amount of dough used is directly related to the size of the pizza and can range from a thin crust to a thick, traditional style pizza.
When making homemade pizza dough, it is best to use a kitchen scale to ensure the dough is the appropriate weight for the size of the pizza crust.
Most bread recipes give you a time range for rising, but because kitchen conditions can vary, time isn’t always the best way to measure your dough’s readiness. For instance, if you’re given a rise time of 60 to 90 minutes, should you pull your dough at the front end of that range or later?
Hotline member Maggie is here with all the cues to look for so your next loaf comes out perfectly. Here are her recommendations for nailing your proof:
But first, why it’s important to hit that proofing sweet spot
Bread recipes typically call for two rises: The first is the “bulk” rise when the dough rises in the bowl, while the second rise comes after the dough has been shaped, like when a sandwich dough proofs directly in the loaf pan. “While you have some wiggle room with the first rise, the second rise needs to be more accurate to get a nice full loaf,” Maggie explains. If baked too soon or too late, loaves can collapse and have a dense, gummy center.
“There are so many factors that affect rise time, so exact time will vary for every baker. Things like the water and air temperature, humidity, how large the pieces of dough are, the vessel the dough is in, and how it was shaped will all change the way and the speed that dough rises,” says Maggie. With so many variables in play, think of the times provided in a recipe as a guideline rather than a hard and fast rule. Getting to know the look and feel of proofed dough will be your key to successfully nailing both rises.
Because of its straight sides, a Dough-Rising Bucket allows you to easily measure if bread dough has doubled in volume.
Visually assess your dough
For the first rise of the recipe, use a Dough-Rising Bucket with measurements up the side to easily know when your dough has doubled. If you have another straight-sided vessel without measurements up the side, you can use a piece of masking tape to mark the dough’s height when you set it to rest. You’ll be able to clearly see when it has doubled.
For the second rise, many recipes baked in loaf pans will recommend baking once the dough has reached 1” over the lip of the pan. Grab your ruler and check your dough periodically to ensure your dough isn’t under or overproofed. (For accurate results, be sure to use the size of loaf pan listed in your recipe.)
A good rule of thumb: Once your dough has reached 1” over the edge of a loaf pan, it’s typically ready to bake.
With free-form breads like rolls, pizza crust, or boules, it can be trickier to tell by visuals alone. You can’t gauge rise using the dough’s height over the loaf pan, and if you aren’t a frequent bread baker, it can be tricky to tell if the dough has doubled in volume. While you could measure your shaped dough’s height with a ruler, the dough will be rising outward as well as up, so this is where the poke test can be a better way to gauge readiness.
Physically test your dough with the poke test
“Don’t be afraid to touch your dough!” Maggie advises. “When ready, it should feel a bit elastic and have some bounce to it, but it shouldn’t feel dense or stiff in any way.”
What bakers call the “poke test” is the best way to tell if dough is ready to bake after its second rise. Lightly flour your finger and poke the dough down about 1″. If the indent stays, it’s ready to bake. If it pops back out, give it a bit more time.
The poke test is especially helpful for free-form breads like cinnamon rolls.
This method works with dough in many forms: pan loaves, free-form loaves, rolls, pizza, and more. Start poke-testing your dough toward the beginning of the rise-time window specified in the recipe. If the temperature and humidity in your kitchen are high, it’s likely your dough will rise faster than you expect. On the flip side, expect longer rise times when the air is cold and dry. Either way, testing early is better than missing your ideal window.
Practice makes perfect
With more experience, you’ll become better at identifying the sweet spot when your dough is proofed. To really nail things down, take notes on the timing and conditions of your dough that you can refer to next time. Soon you can use these learnings when baking other bread recipes as well.
For a more hands-off approach to mastering the perfect proof, a Folding Bread Proofer creates the ideal environment for your dough to thrive.
What size pizza is a 10-inch pizza?
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A 10-inch pizza is a medium-sized pizza. It is generally cut into 8 slices and serves 2-3 people. It is the most popular size of pizza and is a great option for large groups as well. The 10 inch pizza has a total surface area of about 78 square inches, and a total crust edge length of about 20 inches.
For comparison, a small 6-inch pizza has 28 square inches of surface area and a crust edge length of about 12 inches, while a large 14-inch pizza has 154 square inches of surface area and a crust edge length of about 28 inches.
What’s next?
And there you have it, my (hopefully clear and not too scary) introduction to baker’s percentages. If things are still unclear, or I’ve missed something here, please comment below, and I’ll get back to you with an explanation. I’d also love to hear if you have any tricks or suggestions on how you work in baker’s percentages (besides just using a spreadsheet!)—there’s always more to learn and, dare I say, more fun!
What is Needed to Make Ideal Pizza Dough?
No special skills or tools are required to make excellent and effective pizza dough. You can easily make it at home; one thing to remember is not to use old yeast to make dough. Since you will be making 12-inch pizza dough, we will know how many tool ingredients it will take for each inch.
You must first add 2 ½ teaspoons of active dry yeast, and ½ cup of warm water with a temperature of 95 to 110 F. You need to mix ½ teaspoon of sugar and salt. Give 1- tablespoon vegetable oil and finally 2 cups flour. 12-inch pizza dough has to make 10 ounces of dough so you can get an excellent dough with just the right amount of these ingredients.
Finding Out the Dough Math
It was once a mystery how many ingredients you would need to make pizza dough of different sizes and weights. You can solve this mystery by using simple basic mathematics nowadays. If you want to make a 12-inch pizza, its surface area will be 3.14 * 36 = 113 square inches (PI * R SQUARED or 3.14 * R SQUARED).
Again, if we divide the dough by the pan’s surface area, we get 0.08849 ounces of flour per square in this application. It will provide accurate information about your pizza dough to keep the 12-inch pizza crust and tick in all directions, and you will get perfect pizza dough.
How do You Understand Ounces and Grams?
Guessing pizza dough ounces may seem an exception to many people who understand the grams but don’t understand ounces is a small tip. The weight of the dough is-
1. 5 ounces = 141 grams.2. 8 ounces = 226 grams.3. 10 ounces = 283 grams.4. 12 ounces = 340 grams.5. 15 ounces = 425 grams.
Most experts say you need to test out the exact weight of pizza dough and how many ingredients it will take, but you can get a perfect dough if you use 1 ounce of flour per square inch.
The 12-inch pizza is standard, and everyone’s favorite order is at the top of the list most of the time; and can calculate its surface area in terms of its dough weight using PI (3.14) to find out the flour weight and flour per square inch.
How Much Should the Pizza Dough Balls Weigh?
The weight of each ball depends on the pizza you make. If you make a 12-inch pizza, then the weight of the ball should be 283 grams.
Does Pizza Dough Hydration Have Anything to Do with Weight?
The hydration percentage refers to the amount of water used in pizza dough. However, sometimes the percentage of dough water mixture to make pizza may vary, but it may be possible to avoid it with a rule.
- You should give new York-style pizza dough 60% water.
- Add 55% water to Chicago-style pizza dough.
- Add 70% water to the Detroit-style pizza dough.
The amount of water in the pizza dough is crucial because it affects its quality. Dough rich in high hydration will be more fluffy and airy, later transforming into a delicious pizza.
You can watch this video to know how to make 12-inch pizzas at home.
How to calculate the prefermented flour percentage
Another common term is the prefermented flour (PFF) percentage. This is the percentage of flour that’s fermented ahead of time before the main dough is mixed. This percentage can vary widely depending on the recipe (and whether you’re using only sourdough, instant yeast, a mixture), all the way down to 1%, and up to 50% — and even outside those extents.
Continuing with my Simple Weekday Sourdough example from above, that recipe has a prefermented flour percentage of 8.00% (listed in the Vitals table). This means that 8% of the total flour in the recipe is in the preferment (levain); let’s see how:
Over time, this percentage will begin to convey something instinctively to you, much like the hydration percentage. You’ll see 5% or 10% or 25% and think, ok, that’s a recipe’s low, medium, or high PFF percentage. Based on this intuitive assessment, you’ll need to pay attention and make a larger sourdough starter to build the levain (if high PFF), or perhaps start with the assumption that the dough will move very slowly for a long fermentation time (if low PFF).
Explaining The Perfect Loaf Tables and Charts
I know there are many tables on this website, but I think it is the most concise and clear way to convey a bread formula. Here at The Perfect Loaf, I like to split up a bread formula into four tables: Vitals, Total Formula, Levain Build, and Dough Mix.
The Vitals table (see right) is a roll-up of all the important aspects of a recipe:
- the total dough weight (how much the recipe makes)
- the prefermented flour percentage (the amount of preferment in the recipe with respect to the total flour in the recipe, more on this below)
- the hydration percentage (the amount of water in the recipe with respect to the total flour in the recipe)
- the yield (how many loaves, buns, rolls, etc., the recipe makes).
Simple Weekday Sourdough Vitals
The Total Formula table (see earlier in this post) is a snapshot of the entire formula, taking the levain into account: the total flour required, the total liquid, total fats, total sugars, and so on. In addition, the TF table also shows the baker’s percentages for everything so you can get a sense of the recipe outright (as I discussed at the beginning of this post).
The Levain Build table (see earlier in this post) is what you need to mix to make the levain—the off-shoot of your sourdough starter (see my post here on the differences between a sourdough starter and levain) for a single bake—for the recipe. The levain is usually some percentage of sourdough starter, some flour, and some water that’s made some number of hours before the rest of the recipe begins.
Finally, the Dough Mix table is what you need when you get to your counter and start combining ingredients. This table doesn’t have baker’s percentages because, at this point, you just need the weights of everything to know what to add to your mixing bowl.
Why Are the Ingredient Weights Here Rarely Round Numbers?
You might have already figured out the answer to this by now, but it’s worth stating: almost every one of the recipes you see here will have strange ingredient weights that aren’t usually round numbers. For example, in the Simple Weekend recipe used above the high protein bread flour is 805.8g, not 800g. Why?
In essence, I know for me a 76% hydration dough is low to moderate hydration, and it’s also a manageable dough for many. Finally, when I use those percentages and set the total dough yield to be 1,800g (to make two beautiful boules), the math spits out the actual weights I need for each ingredient to satisfy the percentage concerning the total yield. And because I’m focusing on working in percentages (usually round), the actual weights can be whatever the math says they should be—and generally not round.
Loaf Tins
Loaf tins come in standard sizes for the most part. Usually in 0.5lb (225g) increments. I own tins that are 2lb (900g), 1.5lb (680g), 1lb (450g), and 0.5lb (225g).
Rarely, would there be a case for using more dough than suggested on the tin. Perhaps if making a rye bread which can be quite dense.
This formula is not only useful for making the loaf for the tin. When it comes to making several individual rolls or loaves, then these calculations will come in handy too.
It all comes down to Baker’s Percentage
You must understand baker’s math to be able to calculate any ingredient for breadmaking. I have made a full video covering this topic and you can find it in the Principles of Baking playlist on my channel.
Baker’s percentage is a way of calculating the amount of any ingredient in relation to the total amount of flour in the recipe. No matter how much flour is being used, be it 250g or 250kg, the flour will always be 100%.
All other ingredients are a calculated as a percentage in relation to the flour.
Water can range from around 50% up to and over 100%. Yeast can be as little as 0.1% and up to 1.4% and more. Salt can be 0% in some cases and up to around 2.5%.
Example of calculating ingredients in relation to flour
Making a dough with 500g flour that has a 60% hydration, 1.2% yeast, and 2% salt.
60% of 500g = 300g. Or (500 x 0.6) = 300. That gives the amount of water.
1.2% of 500g = 6g. Or (500 x 0.012) = 6. This is how much yeast is needed.
2% of 500g = 10g. Or (500 x 0.02) = 10. That’s the salt.
This is a quick and easy way of writing a recipe. But it only allows us to choose a certain amount of flour and then calculate the other ingredients. If we want to find out the exact ingredient weights in a set dough mass, then we need some additional formulas.
Calculating individual ingredients from total dough mass
Let’s say you want to make a dough to for your 2lb (900g) loaf tin. It is a lean dough with relatively low hydration, so you will make the whole 900g.
The flour in the dough is 100%. The hydration is 60%, yeast is 1.2%, and salt is 2%. Same as the dough we calculated above.
We must add up all the percentage numbers of this dough.
(100 + 60 + 1.2 + 2) = 163.2. This is the total number of percent.
Now we must find out how many grams 1% of this dough weighs. To find this number we must divide the total dough mass with the total number of percent.
From here we only need to find out the amount of flour and then we can use baker’s math to calculate the other ingredients.
We know that the flour is always 100%. So, (100 x 5.51) = 551g. The rest of the ingredients are a percentage in relation to this number.
And that’s how simple it is. To make a recipe neater, I would round that flour number down to 550g and then calculate the other ingredients from there. All the numbers can be rounded just a bit to not have decimals. A fraction of a gram will not make a huge difference.
More advanced recipes
No matter how many ingredients there are, the principle stays the same. Let’s make an enriched dough with butter, eggs, and sugar. It will be light and rise high because of these ingredients, so we will make a smaller dough for our 2lb (900g) tin. It will weigh 800g.
Flour – 100%; Water – 47%; Yeast – 1.5%; Salt 2%; Sugar – 4%; Butter – 9%; Egg – 10%.
1% weight – (800 : 173.5) = 4.61g.
Flour – (100 x 4.61) = 461g. This is the only number you need to know. The other ingredients are just a percentage of it.
Making several rolls or loaves
Let’s say you want to make 10 burger buns which will weigh 125g each.
Total dough mass – (10 x 125) = 1250g. From here the calculations are the same as above. All you need to know are the percentages, which are up to you.
Figuring out percentages of ingredients in any recipe.
If you want to adjust the size of a dough from a set recipe you will need to know the percentages of ingredients. The easiest way to do this is by dividing any ingredient with the flour.
So, for example a recipe with 500g flour and 300g water. 300 : 500 = 0.6. This means that the water (hydration) is 60%. The same goes for all other ingredients.
How big of a pizza does 1lb of dough make?
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It depends on the size of the pizza you plan to make. To make one large standard size pizza you would need about 1. 25 lbs or 550 grams of pizza dough. To make two medium-size pizzas (about 12 inches or 30 cm in diameter) you would need about 1 lb or 450 grams of dough.
To make four personal size pizzas you would need about half a pound or 225 grams of pizza dough. Generally speaking, the more pizza dough you have available, the thinner the crust can be.
Dough Calculation
Another method is to use a dough calculator. The first calculator will tell you the weight of a finished dough ball. If the dough ball weighs 180 grams, it will be about the size of an orange or tangerine.
The dough ball will double in size after rising, so the larger the ball, the better the finished product. For a 12-inch thin-crust pizza, 225 grams of dough will be plenty.
Once you have the weight of the dough ball, you can calculate the surface area of your pizza. For instance, if your pizza has a thick crust, you need more dough. Deep-dish pizzas, however, need a larger amount of dough.
An Example
Now that we know how to calculate the baker’s percentage for a single ingredient, we apply this to all the ingredients in a recipe to fill out the total formula.
Let’s use my Simple Weekend Sourdough Bread as an example to work through. Below is a table you’ll typically see here called the Total Formula table; it shows the total weight for each ingredient and its corresponding baker’s percentage.
In the table below, you’ll see some typical percentages: the flour adds up to 100% (high protein bread flour at 80% and whole wheat flour at 20%), there’s water (usually 60% – 100%), some measure of salt (typically 1.8% – 2.3%), and some preferment percentage. For weights, I don’t often include sub-gram weights (I round everything up) since most home bakers do not have scales that measure to this precision, and it’s not necessary. I included those here, though, so the numbers work out precisely.
Total Formula
Total Flour = 1007.3g.
A few important things to note:
In addition to the total formula we also sometimes have a preferment such as a levain. Let’s look at that table.
Levain (Preferment)
Many bakes here rely on a dedicated preferment, or what’s typically called a levain (leaven) when working with sourdough. A levain is an off-shoot of your sourdough starter, and the difference is clear: the sourdough starter is the ongoing culture maintained indefinitely, whereas a levain ceases to exist once it’s mixed in with your dough (and eventually is baked in the oven).
Total Flour in Preferment: 80.6g.
Just like the Total Formula table above, each ingredient is listed with its corresponding weight and baker’s percentage. In this case, the baker’s percentage of each ingredient is derived from the total flour in the preferment, 80.6g. For example, for the hydration (and baker’s percentage) of this levain, we have:
Why Use Baker’s Percentages?
The cornerstone of using baker’s percentages is that we weigh each ingredient for accuracy (you are weighing, right?), and their individual weight is related to the total flour weight in a recipe. This means the water, salt, preferment, nuts — everything—is a percentage of the total flour weight.
And because we keep flour at the center of everything, it gives us a starting place from which to compare everything. Instead of ingredients as percentages with respect to everything else, they’re with respect to flour only. In this way, when we see a dough hydration of 80%, we instinctively know it will likely be a pretty wet dough1.
With baker’s percentages, you can:
- quickly scale up and down a recipe
- assess a recipe immediately and determine what the end bread might be like when baked (further, it helps us spot gross errors at the formula-creation level)
- add, remove, or change ingredient percentages without affecting the entire formula
First, let’s go through a simple calculation to set the stage. A nice stage. A gentle stage. A stage where math is our friend.
Calculating The Baker’s Percentage of a Single Ingredient
Here is how you calculate the baker’s percentage for any single ingredient in a bread formula:
And that’s it! If you want to know what the hydration of a recipe is (i.e., the baker’s percentage of the water), just take the total weight of the water, divide it by the total weight of the flour, and multiply it by 100. That’ll give you the hydration percentage. And you can do this with any ingredient in the recipe: mix-ins, butter, sugar, oil, etc.
Next, let’s work through an example.
What size dough ball for 12-inch Neapolitan pizza?
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The size of a dough ball for a 12-inch Neapolitan pizza will depend on several factors including the thickness of the crust, desired rise and the density of the dough. Generally, a 12-inch Neapolitan pizza will require approximately 14-16 ounces (400-450g) of dough.
If you are using 00 flour and a wet dough then you will likely need bigger balls of dough (up to 18 ounces or 500g). It is important to remember that the size of the dough ball is only one factor in making a great Neapolitan pizza, so be sure to check other elements such as the recipe for the dough, the cooking surface temperature, and the length of time desired for cooking.
How to scale up or down a bread recipe
Another handy reason to get comfortable with baker’s percentages is it becomes extremely easy to scale a recipe up or down (adjust the yield). I learned this method from Jeffrey Hamelman in his Professional Baker’s course (and this is also in his highly recommended book, BREAD). Note that this method works for any unit of weight in the formula: pounds, grams, or kilograms.
Steps to scale a formula:
- Sum all the percentages in the original formula
- Divide new desired total yield (the total weight you want) by the sum of percentages
- Round up the result and multiply it by each ingredient’s percentage to get the new weight of that ingredient
That’s it! Let’s work through an example. My Simple Weekday Sourdough recipe makes two 900g loaves, a total yield of 1,800g. Let’s say we wanted to make three loaves for a total yield of 2,700g.
Original Formula. Total yield: 1,800g.
Sum all the percentages in the formula
Divide the new desired total yield by the sum of percentages
Round up the result and multiply it by percentages
Scaled Up Formula. Total yield: 2,700.2g (3 x 900g loaves).
There you have it, my Simple Weekday Sourdough recipe scaled up to make three 900g loaves for a total yield of 2,700g. Notice it adds up to a bit more than 2,700g. That’s because we rounded up the formula conversion factor—as Jeffrey says, it’s better to have a little more dough than not enough.
Also, notice the percentages of each ingredient remain the same. We’re scaling everything up proportionally to the new desired yield—thank you, baker’s percentages!
How Much Pizza Dough Do You Need?
To make a beautiful and perfect pizza, you first need to know the weight of the pizza cake. Find the right flour to tick the weight of the pizza. If you want to make a perfect pizza, mix 1 ounce of flour with every inch of pizza. If you are worried about the size or weight of your pizza dough, be sure to add or subtract flour.
Since you will be making a 12-inch pizza, select the pizza pan accordingly, then you will have an accurate guess. Choosing the right pan will tell you exactly how much flour or space to make a pizza or the size of the pizza.
What are baker’s percentages?
Baker’s percentatges, also known as baker’s math or formula percentage, allow a baker to quickly scale up and down recipes, read formulas (recipes) and immediately understand the type of bread it represents, and a way to add and remove ingredients without affecting the entire recipe.
Download my baker’s percentage spreadsheets
TPL Members have access to my suite of baking spreadsheets which makes creating and editing bread formulas much easier. In other words, you don’t have to worry too much about the ins and outs of baker’s percentages; the spreadsheets do all the heavy lifting.
How to modify a bread formula (recipe)
Next, let’s say we wanted to add some walnuts to the Simple Weekday recipe. Where would we begin? We might instinctively say 15% would be a good amount: not too much, but just enough to get the flavor across3. And the beautiful thing about baker’s percentages is we can add the 15% walnuts to the recipe, and all the other ingredient percentages will remain the same. If we kept our final yield at 1,800g, their weights would decrease, but their percentages will stay the same.
And this is important: because we’re keeping the percentages the same, their relative effect on the dough will remain the same.
Now let’s look at the result. This is the ingredient list before:
And this is the ingredient list after adding in the walnuts (last row):
15% Walnuts Added. Total yield: 1,800g.
After adding 15% walnuts to the formula at right, the weights of all the other ingredients went down proportionally, but their percentages remained the same. This means the ingredients’ weights went down by the same amount across the board, giving “room” to add the walnuts to the recipe and still maintain a yield of 1,800g.
Baker’s percentages let us focus on a single ingredient and not worry about how it affects others in the formula.
Imagine for a minute what would happen if we added some walnuts to the recipe but didn’t have baker’s percentages. We’d have to blindly guess their weight and add the walnuts, this would mean our total yield would increase and we’d have an increased dough weight in the end — perhaps our dough wouldn’t fit in our desired proofing baskets or we wouldn’t be able to fit it in our oven.
With baker’s percentages, we can add any percentage of walnuts we desire, and the ratio of other ingredients will remain constant. This lets us focus on just the ingredient we’re increasing (or decreasing) and let the rest of the ingredients still play their role.
How do you measure flour for pizza dough?
If you are using measuring cups and spoons, you will have to do a bit of “guesstimating” to get the amount of flour you need for your pizza dough recipe. Generally, for a standard pizza dough recipe, you will need about 4 cups of all-purpose flour.
If you happen to be using a kitchen scale, the measurements can be a bit more precise. For each 10g of all-purpose flour, you’ll get approximately 1/2 cup of flour.
Regardless of what type of measuring device you use, be sure to also pay attention to the type of flour you are using for your pizza dough. Different types of flour have different weights and will therefore require different amounts when measuring.
For example, an Italian style pizza dough may call for 00 style flour rather than all-purpose flour, which you will need to take into account. Additionally, it’s important to take into account any other ingredients that you may be adding to the pizza dough recipe, such as herbs, spices, or oil.
It’s also important to remember that pizza dough recipes can vary wildly, so making sure to double check the measurements before starting will help ensure a successful outcome. The best advice is to use a combination of measuring cups and kitchen scales if possible.
This will help to ensure that you get the exact measurements for any recipe you might be trying.
Can a recipe for two loaves of bread be reduced by half to make just one loaf?
A bread formula (recipe) for a loaf of bread can be doubled to make four loaves or halved to only make a single loaf. To make only a single loaf, halve all the ingredients in the recipe, even the levain.
Let’s look at an example and continue with my Simple Weekday Sourdough and halve the recipe to make a single 900-gram loaf. All you do is take every ingredient and divide the weight of that ingredient by 2—including the levain build. The percentages will all stay the same, but the weights will be cut in half. So the total formula table will now be:
Total yield: 900g (Simple Weekday Sourdough recipe halved).
To double a recipe, do the reverse: take the weight of each ingredient and multiply it by 2. Again, the percentages will remain the same but the total yield will now be 3,600g.
How many grams of pizza dough per person?
The amount of pizza dough required per person can vary depending on the size of the pizza and how thick or thin the crust is. Generally speaking, one typical-sized 12″ pizza requires about 10 ounces (284 grams) of pizza dough, which will serve one to two people.
Therefore, for a single person, about 5 ounces (142 grams) of pizza dough should be sufficient. However, if you’re making thick-crust pizza with a focaccia-like texture, you may need to use 8 to 10 ounces (227 to 284 grams) of pizza dough per person.
Smart Apps
Luckily, there are some apps available to help you. PizzApp+ is one of them. You simply enter the weight of the dough ball you are using, and the app calculates the amount of dough needed for a 12-inch pizza.
Consider Topping Weight
A standard twelve-inch thin crust pizza weighs 195 grams. The weight will increase if you add extra-heavy toppings like mushrooms. This measurement is important for calculating the weight of the pizza.
The size of the slice is also important. Extra-large pizzas naturally have more weight because the surface area is larger.
The dough used for this type of pizza is thinner than the one used for standard crusts.
How Many Grams of Dough Do I Need for a 12-inch Neapolitan Pizza?
One of the most common questions from pizza makers is, “How much dough do I need for a 12 inch Neapolitan?” The answer is a bit complicated because this type of pizza requires a small amount of yeast, and the weight of the flour will vary depending on the type you use.
If you’re baking a Neapolitan pizza, you need relatively high-quality flour. W250-320 flour is ideal. The dough ball should be around 255 grams, resulting in an 11 to 12-inch thin-crust pizza.
The ingredients used in an authentic Neapolitan pizza dough are water, flour, yeast, and salt. The combination of these ingredients produces an incredibly flaky yet chewy crust.
How To Bake Neapolitan Pizza Dough
Depending on how big you want your pizza, you can adjust the weight per ball of dough. For a 12-inch pizza, for example, the weight of one dough ball is about 255 grams or 285 gms for thick crust.
Once you’ve made the dough, divide it into small balls and cover each with plastic wrap to prevent it from sticking to the surface. Once you have the dough, place it on a lightly floured surface and brush it with olive oil.
Then place the dough in the oven. Once it’s preheated, turn on the oven. The dough should be at least 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit) or hot enough to rise.
If you want to make a 12-inch pizza at home, you can buy a pizza dough machine or make it yourself. A stand mixer is great for this task because it has an automatic kneading function. It also makes the dough easier to work with and knead.
After it has rested, you can stretch the dough and then top it with your favorite toppings. Once it has rested for at least 30 minutes, your pizza is ready to bake.
How Many Grams Should a Pizza Dough Be?
When making pizza dough, you should keep in mind that you do not need to use a specific recipe, and you can experiment with different recipes to find what works best for you.
For example, you might use a 275g dough recipe for a 10-inch pizza with a large crust, while a 210g dough recipe for a small crust would work better.
To make the dough, simply place a large bowl on a scale, and weigh it. You can then measure out the total weight of the dough by recording the relative amounts of each ingredient.
For a typical 14-inch pizza with a New York-style crust, you’ll need 520 grams of dough. A Chicago-style deep-dish pizza needs 858 grams of dough. This is roughly the same amount of dough as a grapefruit.
The exact amount will depend on your personal preference, but you can adjust the amount of dough to match the size of your pizza. You can also adjust the dough size, but the smaller the ball of dough, the thinner the crust will be.
Good-quality pizza dough should contain a high amount of gluten. Gluten is a protein that is found in wheat. It helps hold the dough together and is responsible for its stretchability.
When water is added, it helps form a network of gluten proteins, giving the dough a distinctive structure. The more kneading you do, the stronger the gluten is. Once you’ve achieved the right consistency, it will be easy to roll out pizza dough.
After making the dough, store it in an airtight container or bowl covered with plastic wrap. Let it sit at room temperature for about an hour or overnight. Once it’s ready, divide the dough into balls and roll each into a disc. And, your pizza is ready!
How Much Cheese Do I Need For a 12-Inch Pizza?
To make a perfectly delicious pizza, you should add four to five ounces of cheese per twelve-inch. In addition to shredded mozzarella, you can use other types of cheese, like fontina or chopped Asiago.
For extra cheese, you can add an ounce or two of each type to the base of your pizza. Once you have a ballpark amount of cheese, you can begin topping your pizza!
Different pizzas have different numbers of slices, depending on how much you want it to be. If you plan to feed five people, then you will need two medium pizzas with three slices of each.
For the sake of simplicity, a standard 12-inch pizza is about a half-inch-thick from center to edge. A slice of cheese should be one-eighth to one-fourth inch thick. In general, a single twelve-inch pizza can serve two to three people.
If you’re not sure how much cheese to add, you should order several ahead of time. Ordering ahead will give the pizza guys enough time to prepare your order. So, without any further ado, order authentic Neapolitan pizza now and get the cheesy goodness of Italy.
Then, you’ll be able to customize your order with the cheesy toppings and sauce you prefer.
How Much Pizza Sauce Do I Need For a 12-Inch Pizza?
Depending on the size of your pizza, it may be necessary to add more or less sauce. A 12-inch pizza, for example, may have 4 ounces of sliced fresh mozzarella or shredded mozzarella cheese.
Adding too much or too little sauce to your pizza can result in a soggy center. In addition, the raw sauce has a sour flavor.
One way to measure your sauce for a pizza is by using a spoodle. A spoodle is a flat-bottomed ladle that helps portion the sauce and spread it evenly. Many pizza operators start out using a scale but eventually move away from it.
- First, heat up olive oil on medium-high heat.
- Add the grated onion and garlic.
- Add tomato paste and sauce.
- Stir well and add red pepper flakes.
- Pour the sauce onto the dough, covering it up to an inch from the edge.
- Serve thinly on top of the dough when you have the right consistency.
Conclusion
In conclusion, if you’re wondering, “how much dough do I need for a 12-inch pizza,” it really depends on how large your pizza will be.
For a small pizza, you will need about one and a half cups of dough. For a medium pizza, you will need about two and a half cups of dough. For a large pizza, you will need about three and a half cups of dough.
So, the answer to this question is really dependent on the size of your pizza! However, don’t forget to order Italian Margherita pizza to taste pure authenticity and deliciousness.
Final Words
We learned that a 12-inch pizza requires 10 ounces or 283 grams of dough. Also, we need to pay attention to the hydration percentage. Adding the same amount of ingredients for 283 grams of dough will give you the perfect crusts.
So, calculate the amount using expert mathematical formulas if you are worried about how much dough a 12-inch pizza needs.