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Pizza calculator

Pizza Dough Calculator

Pick a style, set how many pizzas you want, and get a recipe you can weigh out.

A New York style cheese pizza
Pizza style

AVPN dough balls are 200–280 g for a 9–14 inch (22–35 cm) pizza.

g
Size
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Salt, oil & sugarSalt 3% · Oil 0% · Sugar 0%
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Your dough

Makes 4 dough balls of 250 g (8.8 oz) each.

Total dough
1000 g35.3 oz
Per ball
250 g8.8 oz
Hydration
60%water : flour

What the dough is made of, by weight.

  • Flour100%'00' pizza flour · ≈ 5 1/4 cups + 1 tbsp613 g21.6 oz
  • Water60%≈ 1 1/2 cups + 1 tbsp368 g13.0 oz
  • Salt (table)3%≈ 1 tbsp18 g0.65 oz
  • Fresh (cake) yeast0.1%weigh it0.61 g0.02 oz
  • Oil0%0 g0 oz
  • Sugar0%0 g0 oz

Percentages are baker's percentages (flour = 100%). Cups and spoons are approximate, based on King Arthur Baking's ingredient weights; a kitchen scale gives the best results.

How it works

Pizza recipes are written in baker's percentages: flour is always 100% and every other ingredient is a share of the flour weight. To turn the dough you want into the flour you need, divide the total dough weight by 1 plus all the other percentages:

flour = total dough ÷ (1 + water% + salt% + yeast% + oil% + sugar%)

Every other ingredient is then flour × its percentage.

Worked example

Four pizza dough balls proofing in a floured wooden tray, one being pressed with fingertips
Four 250 g dough balls
  1. 4 Neapolitan dough balls of 250 g = 1,000 g of dough.
  2. With 60% water, 3% salt and 0.1% fresh yeast: flour = 1,000 ÷ (1 + 0.60 + 0.03 + 0.001) = 1,000 ÷ 1.631 = 613 g.
  3. Water = 613 × 0.60 = 368 g. Salt = 613 × 0.03 = 18.4 g. Fresh yeast = 613 × 0.001 = 0.6 g.
  4. Check: 613 + 368 + 18.4 + 0.6 = 1,000 g.

Size presets scale the dough by the pizza's area, the method described by dough expert Tom Lehmann: grams per square inch from a known pizza, times the area of the one you want. A 16-inch pizza has 1.5 times the area of a 13-inch one, so it needs about 1.5 times the dough. New York sizes start from King Arthur's 300 g for 13 inches; Detroit and Sicilian pans from their recipe pan. Neapolitan sizes are the AVPN's own ball weights, because bigger Neapolitan pizzas are stretched thinner.

The style presets come from published formulas: Neapolitan from the AVPN International Regulations (1 liter of water, 1.6–1.8 kg of flour, 40–60 g of salt and 0.1–3 g of fresh yeast), and New York, Detroit and Sicilian from King Arthur Baking's recipes, converted to baker's percentages. When you change the yeast type, the amount is converted with the 1 : ⅓ fresh-to-dry ratio, so the dough rises at the same pace.

FAQ

What hydration should I use for pizza dough?

It depends on the style and your oven. Neapolitan dough under the AVPN rules works out to about 55–63% (1 liter of water per 1.6–1.8 kg of flour). New York dough is often 57–65%. Pan pizzas like Detroit and Sicilian go higher, around 70–75%, because the pan supports the dough. Wetter dough is harder to handle but bakes up lighter.

How much dough do I need for a 12-inch pizza?

About 250–280 g. The AVPN specifies 200 g for a 9-inch (22–24 cm) Neapolitan pizza and up to 280 g for a 11–14 inch (28–35 cm) one. King Arthur Baking uses about 300 g for a 13-inch New York pizza. Use less for a thinner crust and more for a thicker one.

Can I use instant yeast instead of fresh yeast?

Yes. Use one third of the fresh yeast weight in instant or active dry yeast, which is the ratio given by both King Arthur Baking and the AVPN. The calculator does this for you when you change the yeast type.

Why are the amounts shown as baker's percentages?

Baker's percentages describe every ingredient relative to the flour, which is always 100%. That makes a recipe easy to scale: 60% water means 60 g of water for every 100 g of flour, whether you make one pizza or twenty.

Should I measure pizza dough by weight or by cups?

By weight if you can. A cup of flour can weigh anywhere from about 110 to 150 g depending on how it is scooped, which changes the hydration a lot. The cup and spoon amounts here are approximations based on the King Arthur Baking ingredient weight chart.

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Sources