Pizza Dough Calculator
Get exact dough quantities using baker's percentages. Set your dough balls and hydration — I'll do the flour, water, salt, yeast and oil.
| Ingredient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Flour | — |
| Water | — |
| Salt | — |
| Yeast | — |
| Oil | — |
| Total dough | — |
Percentages are baker's percentages (relative to flour weight) — the standard way pizzaioli and bakers scale dough. Adjust hydration up for a lighter, airier crust; down for an easier-to-handle dough.
Starting from flour: how much water for pizza dough?
The calculator above works from the number of dough balls, but most doughs start the other way round — with a bag of flour on the counter. The arithmetic is one multiplication: water = flour weight × hydration. At 62% hydration, the calculator's everyday default, 750 g of flour takes 465 g of water (750 × 0.62); a 500 g bag takes 310 g and a full kilo 620 g. And since water weighs 1 g per mL, 465 g is exactly 465 mL — though a scale beats a measuring jug for accuracy.
| Flour | Water at 60% | Water at 62% | Water at 65% | Water at 70% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 250 g flour | 150 g | 155 g | 163 g | 175 g |
| 500 g flour | 300 g | 310 g | 325 g | 350 g |
| 750 g flour | 450 g | 465 g | 488 g | 525 g |
| 1000 g flour | 600 g | 620 g | 650 g | 700 g |
| 1500 g flour | 900 g | 930 g | 975 g | 1050 g |
| 2000 g flour | 1200 g | 1240 g | 1300 g | 1400 g |
Add the salt and yeast — 2.5% and 0.3% of the flour, the defaults above — and the same flour amounts turn into finished dough like this:
| Flour | Water (62%) | Salt | Yeast | Total dough | ≈ 275 g balls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 500 g | 310 g | 13 g | 1.5 g | 824 g | 3 |
| 750 g | 465 g | 19 g | 2.3 g | 1236 g | 4–5 |
| 1000 g | 620 g | 25 g | 3 g | 1648 g | 6 |
| 1500 g | 930 g | 38 g | 4.5 g | 2472 g | 9 |
| 2000 g | 1240 g | 50 g | 6 g | 3296 g | 12 |
So 750 g of flour becomes about 1236 g of dough — four generous 309 g balls, or five 247 g balls for thinner 12-inch pizzas. Every cell is computed from the percentages, so the tables always agree with the calculator.
How much water is really a style decision
There is no single right answer to “how much water for 750 g of flour”, because hydration is the main thing separating the pizza styles. The official AVPN rulebook for true Neapolitan doses by water — 1 liter per 1.6–1.8 kg of flour, “depending on absorption” — which works out to 55.6–62.5%, drier than the 60–65% figure usually passed around for it. A Detroit or Sicilian pan pizza runs near 74%. So the same 750 g of flour legitimately takes anywhere from 417 g to 551 g of water — a third more at the wet end.
| Style | Hydration | Water for 750 g flour | Anchored to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neapolitan — official AVPN rules | 55.6–62.5% | 417–469 g | 1 L water per 1.6–1.8 kg flour (AVPN Disciplinare) |
| New York style | 57.2–66.7% | 429–500 g | King Arthur 57% · Serious Eats (Kenji) 67% |
| Grandma-style pan | 62.6% | 470 g | King Arthur — 283 g water / 452 g flour |
| Pan / focaccia-style | 68.8–70.8% | 516–531 g | Serious Eats pan 69% · King Arthur pan 71% |
| Detroit style | 73.3% | 550 g | Serious Eats — 220 g water / 300 g flour |
| Sicilian | 73.5% | 551 g | King Arthur — 397 g water / 540 g flour |
Percentages computed from the published gram amounts of each source (AVPN Disciplinare 2024; King Arthur Baking; Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt), not copied from stated ranges. Even King Arthur's basic pizza crust prints its water as a range — 198–255 g on 360 g of flour, i.e. 55–71% — because wetter bakes airier and crisper in a pan while drier is easier to stretch by hand.
Two conventions to know when comparing recipes. Oil doesn't count toward hydration — Kenji's New York dough is 67% water plus 32 g of olive oil (≈5% of the flour) listed separately, and the AVPN rules forbid any fat or sugar in a true Neapolitan dough entirely. And AVPN doses salt by the water, not the flour: 40–60 g per liter, about 2.2–3.7% of the flour — the top of the usual 2–3% range.
Frequently asked questions
What hydration should pizza dough be?
Most pizza dough sits between about 56% and 74% hydration, and the style decides where. The official AVPN rules for true Neapolitan work out to 55.6–62.5% (1 liter of water per 1.6–1.8 kg of flour); New York style runs about 57–67%; pan styles like Detroit and Sicilian run 69–74%. If you're starting out, 62% is a good middle — enough water for an open crumb, still easy to stretch by hand.
How much water do I need for 750 g of flour?
Multiply the flour by the hydration: at 62%, 750 g of flour takes 465 g of water (750 × 0.62). For official-spec Neapolitan that drops to 417–469 g, New York style is 429–500 g, and a wet Detroit or Sicilian pan dough takes 550–551 g. With 2.5% salt (19 g) and 0.3% instant yeast (2.3 g) on top, 750 g of flour at 62% makes about 1236 g of dough — four generous 309 g balls or five 247 g balls.
How many pizzas does 500 g or 1 kg of flour make?
At 62% hydration with standard salt and yeast, 500 g of flour makes about 824 g of dough — three 275 g balls, i.e. three 12-inch pizzas. A full kilo makes about 1648 g, or six. It scales linearly: every 250 g of flour is roughly another 412 g of dough, about one and a half pizzas.
What is the ratio of flour to water for pizza dough?
By weight, the everyday middle is about 8:5 flour to water — 500 g flour to 310 g water, which is 62% hydration — with real recipes ranging from roughly 9:5 (dry Neapolitan) to 4:3 (Sicilian pan). Always work by weight, not volume: a cup of flour can swing by ~25 g depending on how you scoop, which moves the hydration by several points before you've measured anything.
How much does a pizza dough ball weigh?
A typical 12-inch pizza uses a 250–280 g ball. Personal pizzas use ~180–220 g, large pizzas ~300 g.
How much salt and yeast go in pizza dough?
Salt is usually about 2–3% of the flour weight, and instant dry yeast roughly 0.2–0.5% for a slow rise (more for a fast same-day dough). The AVPN Neapolitan rules dose salt by the water instead — 40–60 g per liter — which works out to about 2.2–3.7% of the flour, the top of the usual range.
Does olive oil count toward hydration?
By convention, no — hydration is water divided by flour, and oil is listed separately. Kenji López-Alt's New York dough is 67% water plus 32 g of olive oil (about 5% of the flour) on top; King Arthur's crusts do the same. True AVPN Neapolitan goes further: the official rules forbid any fat or sugar in the dough at all.
Need to weigh flour by cups? Use the flour cups-to-grams converter. Building a bread formula instead? The baker's percentage calculator keeps weights and percentages in sync. Making sourdough pizza? The sourdough hydration calculator counts the flour and water hiding in your starter — King Arthur's sourdough crust works out to about 62%.