Perfect Pizza Calculator
Enter the number of pizzas you want to make, pick a style, and adjust hydration, dough weight, or toppings. The calculator scales every ingredient using baker's percentages, so the recipe stays accurate whether you are making one pizza or twenty. Switch between metric and imperial at any time. The results include a full dough breakdown, topping quantities, total weight, and serving counts.
What is baker's percentage and why does it matter for pizza?
Baker's percentage expresses every ingredient as a fraction of the total flour weight, not the total dough weight. Flour is always 100%, and water, salt, oil, and yeast are each a percentage of that flour. A recipe with 1000 g of flour and 650 g of water has 65% hydration. This system makes scaling trivial: if you want twice as many pizzas, simply double the gram figures. It also makes it easy to compare recipes across styles. A 60% hydration Neapolitan dough and a 75% hydration Roman dough behave very differently in the bowl, on the bench, and in the oven, and baker's percentage is the quickest way to see exactly why.
How to use this calculator
Pick a style to load realistic presets, then adjust the number of pizzas. The dough ball weight, hydration, salt, oil, and yeast fields update automatically with the preset values but you can override any of them for a custom recipe. Toppings inputs (sauce, cheese, other) let you scale those quantities the same way as the dough. Switch between metric and imperial at any time; all outputs recalculate instantly. The "Show your work" panel walks through the exact arithmetic so you can check every step. The servings estimate divides the total slice count by the slices-per-person figure, which you can adjust for appetites or occasion.
Hydration and texture: choosing the right percentage
Lower hydration (55-63%) gives stiffer dough that is easy to handle and shape by hand, rolls smoothly, and bakes to a tighter, slightly chewier crumb. This is the home-baker range for Neapolitan and hand-tossed styles. Medium hydration (63-70%) is the sweet spot for New York and Sicilian: supple, extensible, and open enough for good oven spring. High hydration (70-80%) is the territory of Roman pizza, ciabatta-dough pizza al taglio, and focaccia-style bakes. The dough is sticky and slack, needs stretch-and-fold technique rather than kneading, and rewards a long cold ferment. It produces a very open, airy crumb with a crackly crust.
Yeast, fermentation, and flavor
Instant dry yeast, active dry yeast, and fresh (cake) yeast all leavened dough differently. Instant dry yeast can be mixed directly into dry ingredients. Active dry yeast should be dissolved in warm water first. Fresh yeast is the most perishable but some bakers consider it the finest for flavor. To convert between them: 1 part instant = 1.25 parts active dry = 3 parts fresh. The yeast percentage in a dough recipe is tiny (0.1-0.5% is typical for overnight or cold ferments) because the slow rise at low temperature develops the flavor compounds responsible for a complex, slightly tangy crust. Short, warm ferments need more yeast but produce a blander result.
Pizza style comparison
| Style | Hydration | Ball weight | Texture / notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neapolitan | 58-62% | 260-280 g | Soft, charred, leopard-spotted crust; baked at 430-500 C |
| New York | 63-67% | 290-330 g | Sturdy, foldable slices; baked on a stone at ~260 C |
| Sicilian | 68-72% | 400-500 g | Thick, focaccia-like; oiled pan, baked at 230-250 C |
| Detroit | 66-70% | 450-550 g | Rectangular, crispy edges; baked in a blue-steel pan |
| Roman | 73-78% | 200-240 g | Ultra-thin, crispy, light; very wet dough, stretched paper thin |
| Custom | User-set | User-set | Mix and match any parameters above |
Typical hydration, dough weight, and texture for common pizza styles.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best hydration for pizza dough?
It depends on the style you are making and how confident you are handling wet dough. Neapolitan pizza uses 58-62% hydration, which is firm enough to hand-stretch easily. New York-style runs 63-67%. Sicilian and Detroit pan pizzas are typically 67-72%, while Roman-style thin pizza can reach 75-80%. If you are new to pizza dough, start at 60-65% and increase as your technique improves.
How much dough do I need per pizza?
The standard range is 200-300 g for a 10-12 inch thin or medium crust, 300-350 g for a thick New York or hand-tossed 12-inch, and 400-550 g for a 9x13 inch Sicilian or Detroit pan. This calculator preloads the typical value for each style, but you can change it to match your own pan or preferred thickness.
How many slices does one pizza serve?
A standard 12-inch pizza is usually cut into 8 slices. As a main course, adults typically eat 2-3 slices. A 12-inch pizza therefore serves 2-4 people depending on appetite and whether you are offering sides. For a party where pizza is one of several dishes, plan on 2 slices per person.
Why does the calculator use grams instead of cups?
Volume measures for flour are notoriously unreliable: a cup of flour can weigh anywhere from 120 g to 160 g depending on how it was scooped and whether it settled. Grams (or ounces) are always exact. A kitchen scale is the single most useful tool for consistent pizza dough.
Can I use this calculator for sourdough pizza?
You can calculate the flour and water, and then replace the commercial yeast with your sourdough starter. A common starting point is 20% sourdough starter (by flour weight) at 100% hydration. Reduce the water in the recipe by the water already in the starter. The fermentation time will be much longer: typically 6-12 hours at room temperature or 24-72 hours in the fridge.
How do I scale the recipe for a large batch?
Just increase the "number of pizzas" input. The calculator multiplies all ingredient weights proportionally. Baker's percentage means the ratios stay exactly the same no matter how large the batch is, so the recipe works identically for 2 pizzas or 20.