For one thing, we know at a glance that the bread has a 66% hydration (hydration is defined as the percentage of liquid in a dough, again based on the flour weight). It is worth noting that by simply looking at the percentages we can ascertain important things about this bread. When we follow the same method, we arrive at the following values for the salt and yeast: flour To determine the percentage of the other ingredients, we divide the weight of each one by the weight of the flour, and then multiply the result (which is in decimal form) by 100 to convert it to a percent.įor example, to calculate the percentage of water, we divide its weight by the flour's and multiply by 100: We can begin to express the formula as follows: flour We will begin with a straightforward recipe for white bread: flourĪs mentioned above, when using baker's percentage, the flour is represented as 100%, and all the other ingredients are expressed as a percentage of the flour's weight. In this discussion, we will talk about converting a simple bread formula into percentages transferring from percentages to pounds and how to compute the Formula Conversion Factor for use in scaling a recipe up or down. This common language enables the baker to not only communicate with other bakers, but also makes it possible to quickly assess a formula simply by seeing the percentages used. And last, it allows bakers to share a common language.Second, it is quite easy to scale a formula up or down when we are working with baker's percent.First, since each ingredient is weighed, it enables us to work with precision using only one unit of measure.There are good reasons for using baker's percent for our formulas. Although balance beam scales are still widely used, more and more bakers are turning to electronic scales for weigh outs, and gallon pitchers are giving way to liquids that are weighed along with the dry ingredients. Most American bakers who have been baking professionally for a couple of decades or more will remember when the only scale in most shops was a balance beam scale, and when liquids were almost always measured in gallon pitchers, not weighed. In using baker's percentage, each ingredient in a formula is expressed as a percentage of the flour weight, and the flour weight is always expressed as 100%. When writing a formula, the easiest method is to do so using what is known as baker's percentage, or baker's math.
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