The Pizza Dough Calculator
that speaks baker's percentages — for authentic Neapolitan, New York & Detroit pan crust

Baker's percentage expresses every ingredient as a percentage of the flour weight, which is always 100%. A dough with 62% hydration contains 62g of water per 100g of flour. This system lets you scale any recipe up or down precisely and is how professional pizzaioli and bakers write formulas for Neapolitan, New York style and Detroit pan pizza.

For Neapolitan pizza baked above 450°C (850°F), use 58–62% hydration. For New York style or home ovens, 62–65% works well. Pan pizzas like Detroit or Sicilian benefit from 68–75%. Roman al taglio uses 75–85%. Higher hydration gives a more open, airy crumb but is stickier to handle — beginners should start at 60–62%. Thin crispy crust works best at 55–60% hydration.

It depends on fermentation time and temperature. For a quick 2-hour room-temperature ferment, use about 0.5–0.6% instant dry yeast. For an 8-hour same-day ferment, about 0.25%. For a 24-hour cold ferment in the fridge, around 0.08%, and for 48–72 hours cold ferment (retarding), as little as 0.04%. Longer, colder fermentation needs less yeast and develops significantly more flavor and a lighter cornicione (crust edge).

Multiply instant dry yeast by 1.25 to get active dry yeast, and by 3 to get fresh (compressed cake) yeast. So 1g of instant dry equals 1.25g active dry or 3g fresh yeast. DoughLab does this conversion automatically when you switch yeast type in the calculator. Active dry yeast generally benefits from proofing in warm water first, while instant dry can be mixed directly into flour.

For a 12-inch (30cm) Neapolitan pizza, use a 250–280g dough ball. New York style 14-inch pizzas need 350–450g. A 10-inch Detroit pan pizza uses roughly 300–350g because the crust is thicker. Personal thin-crust pizzas work well at 180–220g. A 12-inch Chicago deep dish requires 500–650g of dough due to the tall, buttery crust.

Between 2% and 3% of the flour weight. Most pizzaioli use 2.5–2.8% fine sea salt for Neapolitan, 2–2.5% for New York style, and 2.2–2.5% for pan pizza. Salt controls fermentation speed, strengthens gluten development and is essential for flavor balance — never skip it. Use fine salt and dissolve it in the water or add it after the flour is hydrated to avoid slowing yeast activity.

For Neapolitan pizza in a very hot oven (450°C+), use finely milled Italian 00 flour with 11–12.5% protein like Caputo Cuoco or Caputo Pizzeria. For home ovens below 300°C (570°F), bread flour with 12–14% protein usually gives better browning and structure, since home ovens bake longer at lower temperatures and high-protein bread flour can handle that without burning. All-purpose flour at 10–12% protein works in a pinch but drop hydration by 2%.

Yes — cold fermentation (retarding) is the single easiest way to improve pizza dough flavor and crust airiness. After mixing and a 30–60 minute short bulk rest at room temperature, ball the dough tightly, lightly coat with olive oil, and refrigerate it for 24 to 72 hours. Use much less yeast (0.04–0.1% instant dry). Remove the dough balls from the fridge 2–3 hours before baking so they return to room temperature and finish proofing before stretching.

Yes. Ball the dough after the initial bulk rise, lightly oil each ball, wrap tightly in plastic wrap then place in a freezer bag, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge (still wrapped), then unwrap and let it sit at room temperature for 2–3 hours before stretching. Slightly increase yeast (about 20%) if you plan to freeze the dough, since freezing kills a small portion of the yeast cells.

Stickiness usually means hydration is too high for your flour or handling skill — drop hydration by 2–3%, use a stronger higher-protein flour, or use much more bench flour during shaping. Dry, tearing dough means hydration is too low or the flour is very high in protein (like Manitoba 14%+) — add water 1% at a time during mixing. Flour brands absorb water differently, so treat any calculator result as a precise starting point, then adjust by feel during autolyse and kneading.

First, make sure your dough balls have rested at room temperature for at least 2 hours so the gluten is relaxed — cold dough tears easily. Press the ball flat from the center outward with your fingertips, leaving a 1cm thicker rim for the cornicione. Pick it up and drape it over your two fists, then gently rotate and stretch by pulling your fists apart in small increments. Never use a rolling pin for Neapolitan or New York style — it destroys the air pockets you built during fermentation. Keep your hands and work surface lightly dusted with semolina flour or 00 flour.

The most common causes of under-proofed or dead dough are: yeast that's past its expiry date or killed by hot water above 46°C (115°F); water that's too cold (below 18°C slows yeast dramatically); dough placed in a drafty or too-cold area; or not enough yeast for your fermentation schedule. Also check that you didn't add undissolved salt directly to the yeast at the start of mixing — salt inhibits yeast on contact. To rescue a slow rise, move the dough to a 24–27°C (75–80°F) location like inside your turned-off oven with the light on.

Sticking is the #1 home pizza disaster. Use a generous bed of medium-coarse semolina flour or cornmeal on the peel — not fine 00 flour, which burns quickly and acts like glue. Build your topping quickly (under 30 seconds total) and don't overload with sauce or wet toppings like fresh pineapple or canned mushrooms. Give the peel a quick forward shake before launching to make sure the pizza slides freely. A wooden peel releases better than metal for launching; a metal peel is better for retrieving and turning in a hot oven.

A pizza steel (1/4″ thick mild steel or 3/8″ cordierite steel composite) is significantly better than a pizza stone for home ovens below 300°C. Steel stores roughly twice the thermal energy per volume, transfers heat 15–20x faster by conduction, and won't crack from thermal shock. This means you get much faster bottom browning, better oven spring, and a 60–90 second bake time that's closer to pizzeria quality. Preheat either one for a full 60 minutes at your oven's maximum temperature. Budget option: a thick unglazed quarry tile from a hardware store works nearly as well as a stone.

Always preheat your oven to the maximum temperature it can reach — typically 250–290°C (480–550°F) for a conventional home oven — with your stone or steel inside for 60 full minutes. On a properly preheated steel at 280°C+, Neapolitan and New York style pizzas bake in 6–10 minutes total. Turn 180° once halfway through for even browning. Detroit pan pizza goes in cold pan into a 260°C oven for 12–16 minutes. The best internal doneness cue: the bottom crust should sound hollow when tapped, and cheese is deeply browned in spots.

Soggy bottoms are almost always caused by one or more of: the stone/steel not being preheated long enough (needs 60 minutes minimum); too much tomato sauce or wet toppings draining into the crust; a wooden cutting board serving the pizza (sweats moisture); or dough hydration too high for your oven temperature. Fixes: preheat longer, cook sauce down to thicken it, blot wet veggies on paper towels, serve on a perforated pizza pan or cooling rack, and drop dough hydration 2–3%.

Absolutely, but adjust accordingly. Standard all-purpose flour is 10–12% protein, which sits between 00 flour (11–12.5%) and bread flour (12–14%). Reduce hydration by roughly 2% compared to a bread flour recipe, because all-purpose absorbs less water. The resulting crust will be a bit less chewy and brown slightly faster — great for thin-crust and cracker-style pies. For Neapolitan you'll still get a good result at 60% hydration; for New York style use the same percentage but expect a more tender crust.

The window pane test tells you if your dough is properly kneaded and has developed enough gluten structure. Pinch off a small 20g piece of dough, flatten it, and very gently stretch it in all directions between your thumbs and index fingers. If you can stretch it thin enough that light passes through (like a stained-glass window) without it tearing, gluten development is complete and you can stop kneading. If it tears quickly with jagged edges, knead another 2–3 minutes and test again. Over-kneading is hard to do by hand but easy in a stand mixer — so test early.

All three boost flavor, shelf life, oven spring and crust color, but differ in hydration and acidity. Poolish is 100% hydration (equal flour and water) with 0.1% yeast, fermented 12–16 hours — fastest and easiest for beginners, adds mild nutty notes. Biga is stiff at 50–60% hydration with tiny yeast, fermented 18–24 hours — produces a chewier, more structured crumb prized in Roman and Neapolitan pizzerias. Sourdough starter (lievito madre or natural yeast) adds the most complex, tangy flavor and the longest shelf life, but requires a maintained starter and longer fermentation times. Replace roughly 30–50% of the total flour in the final dough with your pre-ferment of choice.

The microwave turns crusts to rubber — avoid it. The best methods: (1) Cold skillet method: place slices in a dry non-stick pan on medium-low, cover with a lid for 2 minutes to melt cheese, then uncover and turn heat to medium-high for 30 seconds to crisp the bottom. (2) Oven/toaster oven: 200°C (400°F) directly on the rack or a preheated baking sheet for 5–7 minutes. (3) For gas stoves: place slice directly on the burner grate over medium flame, flip with tongs after 1 minute — quickest and crispiest, but watch carefully for burning. Always reheat uncovered so moisture escapes.