Questions,
answered.

How baker's percentage works, why flour is always 100%, how to read a percentage at a glance, why some ingredients exceed 100%, and the scaling math that makes every recipe resize cleanly.

• What is baker's percentage?

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  Baker's percentage expresses every ingredient as a percentage of the total flour weight. Flour is always 100%, so a recipe with 65% water and 2% salt uses 65g of water and 2g of salt for every 100g of flour. It is the standard way professional bakeries write recipes, because it makes a formula scalable to any size and easy to compare against another.

• Why is flour always 100% in baker's percentage?

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  Flour is the structural backbone of bread, so it makes the natural reference point that every other ingredient is measured against. Setting it to 100% means a single glance tells you how wet, salty, or enriched a dough is relative to its flour. If a recipe uses more than one flour, their weights are added together to make the 100% — so a loaf that is 80% bread flour and 20% rye still totals 100% flour.

• How do I read a baker's percentage at a glance?

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  Read the number as grams of that ingredient per 100g of flour. So 2% salt means 2g of salt per 100g of flour, and 75% water means 75g of water per 100g of flour. Once you are used to it, the percentages alone tell you the character of a dough before you weigh anything — roughly 2% salt and 65% water reads as a standard lean loaf.

• Why do some ingredients show more than 100%?

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  A percentage above 100% just means there is more of that ingredient than there is flour — which is normal and not a mistake. Only flour is pinned to 100%; everything else floats relative to it. Rich doughs and dessert batters routinely cross that line: a brownie can run sugar around 250% and butter around 130% of the flour weight, because they carry far more sugar and fat than flour.

• How does baker's percentage make a recipe scalable?

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  Because every ingredient is tied to the flour weight, you only ever change one number — the flour — and the percentages do the rest. Double the flour and every other amount doubles automatically; halve it and they halve. That is exactly what the calculator does behind the scenes when you ask for a different number of loaves or a different total dough weight.

• Is hydration the same thing as a percentage?

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  Hydration is one specific baker's percentage: the water weight as a percentage of the flour weight. A dough at 70% hydration has 70g of water per 100g of flour. It is the percentage bakers talk about most because it drives so much of the crumb and handling, but salt, yeast, fat, and sugar are all expressed the same way.

• Why does baker's percentage need weights instead of cups?

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  The whole system depends on a consistent reference, and volume measures are not consistent. A cup of flour can vary by 20% or more depending on how it is scooped and settled, which is enough to turn a 65% dough into a dry or soupy one. Weighing in grams is what makes a percentage mean the same thing every time, which is why every recipe here is written by weight.

Flour types, the three forms of yeast, sugar, fats, eggs, salt, and the difference between baking soda and baking powder — plus the swaps that work and the ones that do not.

• Can I use all-purpose flour instead of bread flour?

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  In most recipes, yes, with a small trade-off. Bread flour has more protein than all-purpose — King Arthur lists their bread flour at 12.7% against 11.7% for all-purpose — which means more gluten, more chew, and better structure for high-rise loaves. All-purpose works fine for softer breads, flatbreads, pizza, and most enriched doughs; the crumb is just a touch less chewy and the loaf may rise slightly less. For the chewiest, highest-structure breads like bagels and ciabatta, bread flour is worth seeking out.

• Can I use cake or pastry flour for bread?

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  No — they are too low in protein to build the gluten that bread needs. King Arthur lists cake flour around 10% protein and pastry flour around 8%, against 11.7% for all-purpose and 12.7% for bread flour. That low protein is exactly what makes them good for tender cakes and pie crust, and exactly why a yeast loaf made with them will be dense and slack instead of springy.

• What's the difference between instant yeast and active dry yeast?

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  They are interchangeable in these recipes with one difference in handling. Instant yeast — also sold as rapid-rise or bread-machine yeast — can be mixed straight into the flour. Active dry yeast is best bloomed first, stirred into a little of the recipe's warm water for 5 to 10 minutes until foamy, which both wakes it up and confirms it is alive. You can swap one for the other roughly 1:1; if a recipe calls for instant and you only have active dry, bloom it in part of the water and expect a slightly slower first rise.

• How does fresh (cake) yeast compare to dry yeast?

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  Fresh yeast — also called cake or compressed yeast — holds far more moisture than dry yeast, so you use much more of it by weight. The common rule is roughly three times the weight of instant yeast, so about 1g of instant in place of 3g of fresh. It is more perishable, needs refrigeration, and is harder to find in home quantities, which is why these recipes are written around dry yeast.

• What's the difference between baking soda and baking powder?

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  Baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate; it needs an acid (such as buttermilk, brown sugar, yogurt, or cocoa) plus moisture to release the carbon dioxide that lifts a batter. Baking powder is baking soda already combined with a powdered acid and a little starch, so it works on moisture alone — and most is double-acting, releasing some gas when wet and the rest from oven heat. They are not interchangeable one-for-one; in a pinch, about 1 teaspoon of baking powder can stand in for 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda plus 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar.

• Can I substitute oil for butter, or the other way around?

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  You can in many doughs, but they behave differently. Butter is about 80% fat and 16 to 18% water, and that water plus its milk solids add flavor and a little structure; oil is essentially 100% fat and stays liquid, so it gives a softer, longer-keeping crumb but less of butter’s flavor. For a 1:1 swap by weight in an enriched dough, expect a tender result either way; for laminated or creamed doughs that rely on solid butter, oil is not a drop-in replacement.

• What does salt do in bread, and can I leave it out?

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  Salt does more than season — it tightens the gluten network for better structure, and it slows fermentation so the dough rises at a controlled pace. Most lean breads land around 2% salt on the flour weight. You can reduce it, but leaving it out entirely gives a slack, fast-fermenting dough and notably flat-tasting bread, so cut it rather than skip it.

• What does sugar do in a bread dough?

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  In small amounts sugar feeds the yeast and speeds up early fermentation; it also browns the crust through the Maillard reaction and caramelization, and holds moisture so the bread stays soft longer. In high amounts, though, sugar pulls water away from the yeast and actually slows the rise, which is why sweet enriched doughs like brioche ferment more slowly and often use a bit more yeast to compensate.

• What do eggs do in baked goods?

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  Eggs bring structure, richness, color, and moisture. The proteins set during baking to support the crumb, the yolk’s fat and lecithin tenderize and emulsify, and the whole egg adds water and a golden color. These recipes assume a USA large egg, which is about 50g of egg out of the shell, so the calculator can move cleanly between an egg count and a gram weight.

Hydration, kneading and the windowpane test, proofing, kitchen temperature, how to tell when bread is fully baked, why a loaf failed to rise, and how to store and freeze what you bake.

• Why does dough hydration matter?

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  Hydration is the water weight as a percentage of flour weight, and it largely sets the texture and the handling. Lower-hydration doughs (around 55 to 65%) are firmer, easier to shape, and give a tighter crumb — bagels, pretzels, sandwich bread. Higher-hydration doughs (around 75 to 85%) are wetter and harder to handle but open up into the holey crumb of ciabatta, focaccia, and country sourdough. Each recipe shows a recommended hydration range, and the calculator warns you if you push outside it.

• What is the windowpane test, and how do I knead enough?

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  The windowpane test checks gluten development: tear off a small piece of dough and gently stretch it: when it pulls thin enough to let light through without tearing, the gluten is well developed. King Arthur frames it not as pass-or-fail but as a read on where the dough is in its development. Under-kneaded dough tears quickly and feels shaggy; properly developed dough stretches smooth and elastic.

• What if my kitchen runs colder or warmer than the recipe assumes?

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  Temperature is the biggest lever on fermentation speed: yeast activity roughly doubles for every 18°F / 10°C increase, the standard rule baking references cite. A cold kitchen (under about 65°F / 18°C) needs longer rises; a warm one (over about 78°F / 25°C) can finish proofing in close to half the time. Watch the dough — visible doubling, puffiness, and a slow-filling poke test — rather than the clock, since the recipe timings assume its target temperature.

• How warm should the water be for the yeast?

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  Aim for warm, not hot. Around 80°F / 27°C is a good target for a same-day rise, and cooler — closer to 65°F / 18°C — for a long cold ferment. The thing to avoid is water hot enough to damage the yeast: yeast cells start dying around 130 to 140°F / 54 to 60°C, so anything that feels more than gently warm to the wrist is too hot.

• How do I know when my bread is fully baked?

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  Internal temperature is the most reliable test, more so than color or time. Lean breads like baguette, sourdough, and ciabatta are done around 205 to 210°F / 96 to 99°C in the center; enriched breads like brioche and challah finish lower, around 190°F / 88°C, so the extra sugar and fat do not dry out. Without a thermometer, look for a deeply colored crust and a hollow sound when you tap the bottom — and when in doubt, give it a few more minutes, since underbaking leaves a gummy center.

• Why didn't my bread rise?

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  The most common cause is yeast that was dead or weakened — either old, or killed by water that was too hot. After that come a kitchen too cold for the yeast to work, salt added directly onto the yeast, a dough mixed too dry or too stiff, and simply not enough proofing time. The quickest diagnostic is to bloom a little yeast in warm water with a pinch of sugar: if it does not foam within about 10 minutes, the yeast is the problem.

• How should I store homemade bread?

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  Keep crusty lean breads at room temperature in a paper bag or cut-side-down on a board for a day or two, and avoid the fridge — the cold actually stales bread faster by speeding up starch retrogradation, as Serious Eats has shown. Soft enriched breads and sandwich loaves keep two to four days in a sealed bag or bread box. Most homemade bread has no preservatives, so it stales faster than store bread.

• Can I freeze bread, and how?

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  Freezing is the best way to save a loaf you cannot finish in a few days, and it beats the fridge by a wide margin. Slice the loaf first, wrap it well to keep air out, and freeze; then toast or reheat slices straight from frozen. Because freezing pauses staling rather than accelerating it the way refrigeration does, a well-wrapped loaf keeps its quality for weeks.

Output modes (count, weight, eggs, pan), grams versus ounces, how egg count and weight convert, pan sizing, saving and sharing your settings, and why none of it needs a signup.

• How do I scale a recipe to a different size?

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  Open any recipe page and use the calculator. You can set the output by count (loaves, balls, rolls), by per-piece weight, by pan dimensions, or by total dough weight — and the math runs in both directions, so you can drive it from the output you want or from a weight you have. Every weight in the method updates live as you scale.

• What do the different output modes do?

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  Each mode is just a different way to tell the calculator how much dough you want. Count mode asks for a number of loaves, rolls, or balls; weight mode asks for grams per piece or a total dough weight; pan mode asks for your pan dimensions and works out the dough to fill it. Whichever you pick, the underlying baker’s percentages stay fixed, so the recipe’s character never changes — only its size.

• Can I see the recipe in ounces instead of grams?

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  Yes — there is a unit toggle, where 1 ounce equals 28.3495 grams. Grams stay the working unit because they are precise to the gram and make the percentages clean, but ounces are there if that is what your scale or your intuition prefers. The calculator always computes from weight in either case, never from volume.

• How does the calculator handle eggs by count and by weight?

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  It converts between the two using a USA large egg of about 50g out of the shell, so 2 large eggs read as roughly 100g. When you scale a recipe down far enough that it calls for a fraction of an egg, the calculator shows the gram weight and a "less than half an egg" note rather than rounding up to a whole egg, which would throw off a small batch. You can view eggs either way depending on whether you want to crack whole eggs or weigh beaten egg.

• How does scaling by pan size work?

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  For breads that bake in a pan, you enter your pan’s dimensions and the calculator works out how much dough fills it to the right depth, then scales every ingredient to match. This is the easiest mode when you know the tin you want to use rather than a target weight — useful for sandwich loaves, focaccia, and brownies. If a recipe is not pan-based, that mode simply will not appear for it.

• How do I save a scaled recipe?

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  Save your settings from any recipe page and they appear on the /recipes page for later. The save records your chosen output and scale, so you come back to the exact size you dialed in. Everything is stored in your browser rather than on a server, so there is nothing to sign up for.

• Can I share a scaled recipe with someone else?

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  Yes — copy the share link for any recipe and it carries your scaled settings in the URL. Opening that link on another device or sending it to a friend reproduces the same size and options you set. It is also how you move a recipe between your own devices, since saves themselves stay local to one browser.

• Do I need an account, and does the calculator work offline?

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  No account is needed for anything — there is no signup, and the calculator runs entirely in your browser. Once a recipe page has loaded, the scaling math works without a connection, since it is just arithmetic on the stored ratios. Your saves and settings live in that browser’s storage, not on a server.

What is and is not vegan in bread (yeast, honey, sourdough), gluten-free options and what to expect from them, and the common nut, dairy, and egg notes to watch for.

• Is yeast vegan?

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  Yes. Baker's yeast is a single-celled fungus (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) — a microorganism, not an animal product — and mainstream vegan organizations treat it as vegan. The Vegan Society, for instance, notes that many vegans use fortified nutritional yeast as a source of vitamin B12. The same goes for the yeast that leavens bread.

• Is honey vegan?

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  No. Honey is made by bees, so it is an animal product, and The Vegan Society lists it among the substances vegans avoid. Many vegans specifically watch for it because it shows up in some breads and glazes. If a recipe calls for honey and you want to keep it vegan, maple syrup, agave nectar, or golden syrup are the usual swaps by weight.

• Is sourdough starter vegan?

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  Yes. A sourdough starter is just flour and water colonized by wild yeast and lactic-acid bacteria — all of which are microorganisms or plant-derived, with no animal product involved. The bread it leavens is vegan too, as long as the rest of the formula is (watch for honey, butter, eggs, or milk in enriched sourdoughs).

• Which breads are naturally vegan?

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  Most lean breads are vegan as written — flour, water, salt, and yeast, with nothing from an animal. Baguette, ciabatta, sourdough, focaccia, pizza dough, and many flatbreads fall in this group. The ones to check are enriched and sweet breads, which often carry butter, eggs, milk, or honey: brioche, challah, and many dinner rolls are not vegan unless adapted.

• Can I make these breads gluten-free?

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  Gluten-free baking is possible but it is not a straight flour swap, because gluten is what gives wheat bread its stretch and structure. Gluten-free blends lean on starches plus a binder like xanthan gum to mimic that structure — King Arthur’s gluten-free bread flour, for example, includes xanthan gum for binding. Expect a softer, more cake-like crumb and a wetter batter than a wheat dough; recipes here that offer a gluten-free view adjust the approach rather than just substituting the flour.

• Which breads contain dairy or eggs?

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  Lean breads almost never do — they are typically just flour, water, salt, and yeast. Dairy and eggs show up in enriched doughs: butter and milk in brioche and many sandwich loaves, eggs in challah and brioche, and sometimes an egg wash brushed on for shine. If you are baking for a dairy or egg allergy, check the full ingredient list of any enriched or sweet bread rather than assuming.

• Are there nuts in these recipes?

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  The core bread recipes are nut-free as written — none of the base formulas call for nuts or nut products. Nuts only appear when a recipe explicitly includes them, such as a topping or a mix-in, so the ingredient list will always tell you. As with any allergy, also consider cross-contact from the flour brand or your own kitchen, which is outside what a recipe can control.

Where your saved recipes live, why there are no accounts, how ads work, how accurate the nutrition figures are, and how to get in touch.

• Do you store any of my data?

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  No. Saved recipes and calculator settings live in your browser's localStorage. There is no signup, no server-side account, and no analytics that tie back to you. Clear your browser's storage and everything is gone — the trade-off being that saves do not sync across devices unless you use a share link.

• Why are there no accounts?

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  Keeping everything local means there is nothing to sign up for and no personal data sitting on a server to protect. The calculator is just arithmetic on stored ratios, so it does not need a login to work. The cost of that choice is that your saves stay on one device; share links exist to move a scaled recipe to another.

• Does the site run ads?

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  Yes — the site is free and supported by ads served through Google AdSense, which keeps the recipes and calculator open to everyone at no cost. Ads appear on content pages, not in the middle of the calculator’s working area. There is no paid tier on the web to remove them in v1.

• How accurate is the nutrition information?

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  Per-ingredient values come from USDA FoodData Central, weighted against the bread's ingredient ratios. Expect roughly ±10% accuracy: actual baked nutrition shifts with flour brand, milk fat, oil type, and bake length, since water evaporates during baking and concentrates the per-100g values above the raw-dough basis. The nutrition panel links out to the USDA source values.

• Where do the bread ratios come from?

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  Each recipe's ratios are built from established baking references and cross-checked rather than guessed — the kind of formulas you find in standard bread literature, expressed in baker's percentage. The aim is a vetted starting point that reliably works, with a recommended range on hydration and other key numbers so you can adjust within safe bounds. Where a number could be contentious, the recipes stay on the conservative, widely-agreed side.

• How do I get in touch?

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  Email hello@kitchenratios.com — that is the one address for questions, corrections, and feedback. If you spot a ratio or a fact that looks off, that is exactly the kind of note worth sending, since the recipes and answers here are meant to be accurate and are updated when something needs fixing.