Pizza Dough Hydration Calculator

Pizza dough hydration is the ratio of water to flour expressed as a percentage. It is calculated using baker’s percentages, where flour is always 100% and every other ingredient is measured relative to the flour weight.

The formula is:

Hydration % = (Water weight / Flour weight) × 100

For example, if you use 1000 g of flour and 620 g of water, the hydration is 62%.

Hydration dramatically affects the texture, workability, and final result of your crust:

• 55 to 60% hydration: Stiff dough. Easy to handle, holds shape well. Best for cracker-thin crusts and Roman-style pizza. Common for commercial pizzerias using heavy rolling pins.

• 60 to 65% hydration: The classic range for New York-style and most home pizza recipes. Moderate chew, good stretch, easy to shape by hand.

• 65 to 70% hydration: Wetter than traditional Neapolitan, which is worth being clear about. The Vera Pizza Napoletana specification sits closer to 55 to 62%, and the dropdown’s 65% option is the modern home-oven interpretation rather than the Naples original. Many artisan bakers push to 70% for a lighter, more open crumb. Slightly sticky and requires more technique.

• 70 to 80% hydration: High-hydration dough for airy, focaccia-like crusts. Requires strong high-protein flour (13%+ protein), good gluten development, and an overnight cold fermentation. Very sticky: pan or parchment recommended.

Higher hydration increases:

• Open, airy crumb with larger bubbles
• Crust chewiness and char spots
• Steam inside the dough, making a crispier exterior

Higher hydration also makes the dough stickier and harder to stretch by hand. Beginners should start at 62 to 65%.

Salt and yeast, which the calculator also gives you

Baker’s percentages apply to everything, not just water. This page uses 2% salt and 0.3% instant dry yeast, both relative to flour weight, which is a standard same-day dough with no oil in it.

If you are cold-fermenting overnight or longer, cut the yeast hard: 0.1% or less for a 24-hour fridge rise, because the dough has all night to work and the full dose will exhaust itself and collapse. Salt stays at 2% either way. It is not only seasoning; it tightens the gluten and slows fermentation, and dough made without it is slack and blows out in the oven.

How many pizzas that makes

Dough balls run roughly 250 g for a 12-inch pizza and 280 to 300 g for a 14-inch. The calculator divides the total dough weight by 250 and again by 290 so you can see the batch both ways, which is usually the number people actually came for.

If you would rather work the other direction, starting from the pizza size and getting the ball weight, that is the pizza dough ball calculator. It builds a slightly richer dough, 2.5% salt with 1% olive oil in the New York and pan styles, so its totals will not match this page to the gram. Neither is wrong. Naples uses no oil at all and New York does, and the two pages reflect that.

This calculator works in both metric (grams) and imperial (ounces). Use a scale. Flour measured by volume varies by up to 20% depending on how it was scooped, which is more than the difference between two hydration levels on this list.