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  1. #1
    You wouldn't know that though because you've demonstrably never picked up a book nor educated yourself on the matter. Let me guess, overweight housewife?
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    Anyone understand baker's percentages?

    On Saturday a few friends are coming over for a New Year's sleep over and we are going to be making pizza and wings. I have a dough recipe I really like and the ingredients are as follows:

    400 grams (14 ounces, about 2 1/2 cups) bread flour
    4 grams (about 1/2 teaspoon) instant yeast
    8 grams (about 1 tablespoon) kosher salt (or 1 1/2 teaspoons table salt) (I use table salt)
    2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
    260 grams (about 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons) water

    This recipe makes 2 10-inch pizzas.


    I'd like to convert it to the following:

    1-14 inch pizza

    3-14 inch pizzas

    1-7 inch pizza

    3- 7 inch pizzas

    6-7 inch pizzas

    Using the baker's percentage concept found here:

    http://slice.seriouseats.com/2010/10...omments-173103


    I feel overwhelmed and think I am going to fuck it up leaving some very bad pizza.


    If someone is really bored, it'd be awesome to have the values in between (ie 2 pizzas) as I'll make a spreadsheet for it.


    Note: Casual readers, you cannot just multiple the values.

  2. #2

    im confused here. why can't you just multiply the values? isn't that basically what you're doing, multiplying the values by a certain ratio? o.O

    i mean i get that a 14 inch pizza isnt going to use the same amount of dough as two 7 inch pizzas for instance... but that's because it doesn't have the same surface area as two 7 inch pizzas. you just need the amount of dough, by weight i think, that your recipe produces...so lets pretend it makes 16 oz of dough, as an example. that 16 oz makes 2 10 inch pizzas, so 2 x (pi x r^2) or 2 x ( pi x 5^2), or ~157 square inches surface area total. now that you have that, you want to make a 14 inch pizza, which has a surface area of (pi x 7^2) or ~153.86 square inches.... we'll call this a wash, since its almost the same amount of surface area. this does mean you need to triple the recipe for the 3 14 inch pizzas, however, and use the same amount in the recipe for a 14 inch as for the 2 10 inchers.

    so for a 7 inch pizza, that has a surface area of (pi x 3.5^2) or ~38.465 square inches. so now we finally have a ratio that's other than roughly 1/1, thats 38.465/157, or 0.245. thats almost 1/4, so you need to multiply all the ingredient amounts by that much to get the amount for 1 7 inch pizza. so roughly 100 grams of bread flour, 1 gram of yeast, 2 of salt, 1/2 a tablespoon of oil, and 65 grams water.

    knowing that, you simply triple that new quartered amount for the 3 7 inch pizzas (because they have triple the surface area of one 7 inch) and sextuple? that amount for 6 of em.

    granted, pizzas dough isn't going to make a 2 dimensional circle, its more of a very thin cylinder, but because the thickness (height) of the cylinders is going to be the same for all the pizzas, you can safely ignore it.

    ::edit:: actually, i'm not even sure you need to figure out how much the dough your recipe makes weighs. just knowing the ratio and applying it to the recipe seems to be enough. so uh... i guess i figured out the answer for you already. the single 14 inch pizza uses roughly the same amount (very slightly less) as the original recipe, triple the amount for 3 14 inch pizzas, a single 7 inch pizza takes roughly a quarter what the recipe calls for, but hey if you wanna multiply all the ingredients including tablespoons by 0.245 be my guest, the 3 7 inch pizzas require 3/4 the amount of the original recipe, and the 6 7 inch pizzas require 1.5x the original recipe.

  3. #3
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    You can actually just multiply the values. It is the math done in Psion's post. To summarize:
    1 14in pizza ~= 1*original recipe
    1 7in pizza ~= 1/4 * original recipe

    The reason that bakers use weight (and subsequently weight percentages) is that flour's volume is less reliable than weight. You can make a somewhat similar argument for salt because the packing density of the different types is so different.

    Anyway, if you have a scale then I recommend using it for the flour. Otherwise you can just multiply by the ratios above.

  4. #4
    You wouldn't know that though because you've demonstrably never picked up a book nor educated yourself on the matter. Let me guess, overweight housewife?
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    OK ty guys. when I tried to look up like a dough calculator tons of threads on bakers percentages popped up and I got overwhelmed trying to understand how they calculated the formulas.

  5. #5

    as far as weight goes, byrth is correct. in the old days before kitchen scales were common people would sift the flour using a sifter then level it off with a knife without packing it down in an attempt to keep the amount even...but a scale is much easier. also, i know for some scales, it often defaults to oz/lb instead of grams - if you hold the button...not the tare/zero button but the other one, it changes the measurement to grams, which is much more accurate.

    honestly that bakers percentage thing looks like one of those crazy people who enjoyed math class tried learning to cook. the whole post reeks of a nerd trying to overanalyze something when all you need is a simple ratio to multiply by. ...well ok, and the formula for surface area of a circle. BUT ONLY BECAUSE PIZZA DESERVES THE BEST.

  6. #6
    You wouldn't know that though because you've demonstrably never picked up a book nor educated yourself on the matter. Let me guess, overweight housewife?
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    Don't worry, I have a scale and know how to use it well. I count calories on my diet so have to calculate the grams to convert it all the time.


    With that said, I don't think it is a "nerd thing," but a professional thing. If you google baker's percentages you'll see how common it is.


    Outside of the party thing, I've been working on recreating a CT pizza as I miss it. I've gotten kinda close but I'm not quite there yet. To do so, I've been researching as much as I can, and I see those weights/hydration talks everywhere which can get rather confusing.

  7. #7
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    I make my own bread instead of buying, I noticed you're recipe doesn't have sugar. While that is fine as the yeast can get it from the flour when it breaks it down - it just takes a longer time to rise, so keep that in mind. If it ends up not rising / taking too long, you can add equal amounts (slightly more) of white sugar or honey compared to salt. Perhaps run a smaller test batch, and make sure your yeast is fresh.

  8. #8

    id imagine that the longer rise time is actually important for pizza, for flavor - different sugars and % of sugars being broken down from pure flour instead of flour and sugar.

    that said ive not made homemade pizza before so what do i know?


    ...i really should try doing that sometime.

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    Yes, typically slower rise will get a better / more authentic flavor. Sometimes it freaks people out though.

  10. #10
    You wouldn't know that though because you've demonstrably never picked up a book nor educated yourself on the matter. Let me guess, overweight housewife?
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    I’ve already used the dough before and yes it rises overnight. One thing about CT pizza is the crust is crispy, so what they do is let it rise overnight in the pizza pans that are coated in Crisco. Instead I let it rise in a bowl coated in Crisco since I’m not making huge batches like they would.

  11. #11
    You wouldn't know that though because you've demonstrably never picked up a book nor educated yourself on the matter. Let me guess, overweight housewife?
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    Quote Originally Posted by Psion View Post
    id imagine that the longer rise time is actually important for pizza, for flavor - different sugars and % of sugars being broken down from pure flour instead of flour and sugar.

    that said ive not made homemade pizza before so what do i know?


    ...i really should try doing that sometime.
    Pizza has gotten so expensive, and with a pizza stone there’s really no reason not to. Here toppings are $2 each, so I feel foolish getting anything more than a pepperoni. I hope to get this right, so I can freeze a bunch of prepped toppings for whenever I want a decent pizza. I recommend this forum as it has all kinds of pizza types:

    https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php

    The only downside to the site is they seem hyper-focused on the dough and cheese, and you have to sift through it to try and get a good sauce. That’s really the only part I need to work on. They have a thread on Papa Gino’s pizza, and I’ve always liked the sauce from that, so I’m going to try the amount in that thread.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ksandra View Post
    Pizza has gotten so expensive, and with a pizza stone there’s really no reason not to. Here toppings are $2 each, so I feel foolish getting anything more than a pepperoni. I hope to get this right, so I can freeze a bunch of prepped toppings for whenever I want a decent pizza. I recommend this forum as it has all kinds of pizza types:

    https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php

    The only downside to the site is they seem hyper-focused on the dough and cheese, and you have to sift through it to try and get a good sauce. That’s really the only part I need to work on. They have a thread on Papa Gino’s pizza, and I’ve always liked the sauce from that, so I’m going to try the amount in that thread.
    My wife makes a nice pizza sauce. I'll have to see if I can get her recipe. Bread is something we are still learning to make, especially since she tries to go with non-wheat flours for a lower glycemic index rating, as suggested by her nutritionist.

  13. #13
    You wouldn't know that though because you've demonstrably never picked up a book nor educated yourself on the matter. Let me guess, overweight housewife?
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    Sounds good!