Baker percentage
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Baker percentage, sometimes called formula percentage[1], is a way of indicating the proportion of ingredients when making bread. The "percentage" is in fact a ratio where the mass of the ingredients are expressed in terms of the mass of the flour used (that is, the unit mass). For example, if a recipe calls for 10 pounds of flour and 5 pounds of water, the corresponding percentages will be 100% and 50%.
Common formulations for bread include 100% flour, 60% water/liquid, 1% yeast, 2% salt and 1% oil, lard or butter.
In addition, the baker percentage enables the user to more accurately compare recipes (i.e. which is drier, saltier, sweeter, etc.).
Bread recipes are more conveniently expressed in this manner, using mass instead of volume measurements. The uncertainty in using volume measurements follows from the various ways flour is ground, how it occupies the measuring cup etc.
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[edit] Example
A recipe could call for the following ingredients:
- 100% flour
- 35% water
- 35% milk
- 4% fresh yeast
- 1.8% salt
If the baker chooses to use 2 lb of flour, the recipe would call for
- 2.0 lb flour
- 0.7 lb water (or 11.2 oz)
- 0.7 lb milk (or 11.2 oz)
- 0.08 lb fresh yeast (or 1.28 oz)
- 0.036 lb salt (or 0.577 oz)
If the baker chooses to use 1 kg of flour, the recipe would call for
- 1.0 kg flour
- 0.35 kg water (or 350 mL)
- 0.35 kg milk (or 350 mL)
- 0.04 kg fresh yeast (or 40 g)
- 0.018 kg salt (or 18 g)
[edit] Conversions
The use of customary U.S. units can sometimes be awkward and the metric system makes these conversions simpler. However, adaptation of the recipes can be done with the following densities approximations. Returning to volume units makes the measurements less precise.
- 1 lb of flour is approximately 3 3/4 cups
- 1 cup of water weighs approximately 1/2 pound (a U.S. gallon is 8.34 lb, a litre is 1.00 kg)
- 1 lb of flour is typical for a normal household yeast bread recipe
- 60% amount of water for 1 lb of flour is just under 10 ounces, or 1 cup plus 2 ounces.
[edit] References
- ^ How Baking Works, Paula Figoni, 2004. p9.
