Baker percentages, weights, volumes, and such
So a basic bread recipe might look like (off top of head, not sure if these amounts make any sense)
100 Bread Flour
30 Water
1 oil
....
I know the flour is in weight ounces, but often times in side-by-side recipes I see the water converted into fluid ounces (8 ounces of water equaling 1c). I know sometimes it just so happens that they're the same, but with water that is not so. 1 fl oz water ~= 1.05 av oz water. Close, but off by near 1/2 oz by the time you add 8 of them.
So which do bakers use with fluids? Do they use av or fl? Should I expect to be able to weigh my fluids along with everything else or do I need to convert to fl?
Best Answer
If specific units are not given (i.e. you just have a ratio), then you should always go by weight, not volume.
Everything that happens in baking, every chemical reaction, is based on the actual number of molecules of a particular ingredient, which corresponds to its weight. Volume is simply a rough approximation used in many home cooking/baking recipes.
Note that if using metric measurements (g or mL) then the weight vs. volume measurements actually are the same for water. So consider using metric for baking, if you can, because that way the conversions are much easier and you can measure out your liquids in a measuring cup without having to do any conversion math.
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How do you calculate baker percentage?
Ingredient Percentage=Ingredient Weight/Total Flour x 100% For example, if a formula calls for 60 pounds of water and 100 pounds of flour, the baker's percent would be 60% water. If there are two types of flour being used, the combination of the weight of both flours will be 100%.Baker's Percentages Explained
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Answer 2
Baker's ratios are (a) always given by weight (b) relative to the total amount of flour (which is 100). An example is a “standard” 60-2-2 French loaf: 100% flour (implied), 60% water, 2% salt, 2% (fresh) yeast. To make a 1 lb french loaf, you'd use 1lb / 1.64 = 9¾ oz flour, 9¾ oz × 0.6 = 5? oz water, and slightly less than 9¾ oz × 0.02 = ¼ oz each salt and fresh yeast. Doing the math in Metric is obviously much easier (and how I personally do it).
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