Pizza dough for any number of pizzas
Good pizza dough is a few ratios, a weight per ball and the right amount of yeast for the time you have. This pizza dough calculator starts from what you want to make: a number of pizzas of a given diameter, or a number of dough balls of a given weight. It returns flour, water, salt, yeast, and oil and sugar if the style uses them, all in grams, with the baker’s percentage for each.
The yeast is not a fixed number. It depends on how long and how warm the dough ferments, so you enter the hours at room temperature and in the fridge, and the amount falls as the time grows. Add a poolish or biga for flavour and the recipe splits into a preferment and a final dough. It all runs in your browser.
How to use the Pizza Dough Calculator (Dough Balls, Cold Ferment, Poolish)
- Pick a style; it fills in hydration, salt, oil and the thickness factor, and you can change any of them.
- Choose to size by pizza diameter or by dough ball weight, and enter how many.
- Enter your ferment times and temperatures: time left on the counter, and time in the fridge for a cold ferment.
- Optionally add a poolish or biga, and choose the type of yeast you have.
- Weigh the ingredients from the table, mix, ferment as planned, ball up, rest and stretch.
Pizza Dough Calculator (Dough Balls, Cold Ferment, Poolish) features
Dough ball by size
Ball weight from the pizza area and a thickness factor, with a table from 8 to 18 inches.
Yeast from time and temperature
Instant, active dry or fresh yeast scaled to the hours at room temperature and in the fridge.
Four styles
Neapolitan, New York, thin and crispy, and pan, each a starting point you can edit.
Poolish and biga
Splits the flour and water into a preferment and a final dough, with the yeast for each.
How the dough ball is sized
The ball weight is the pizza’s area multiplied by a thickness factor, the ounces of dough per square inch of pizza. A 12-inch pizza has 113 square inches, and at a Neapolitan factor of 0.075 oz per square inch that is 8.5 oz, or about 240 g. A New York pizza is thicker, at about 0.105, so the same 12 inches takes about 337 g. These factors are typical starting points used by pizza-dough calculators; adjust yours after the first bake.
The recipe is then built from baker’s percentages, every ingredient as a share of the flour weight. Total dough equals flour × (100 % + water % + salt % + oil % + sugar % + yeast %) ÷ 100, so the flour is the total divided by that sum. An extra few per cent for waste covers the dough left on the bowl and the bench.
Yeast, time and temperature
Yeast activity roughly doubles for every 10 °C of warmth. The calculator counts each hour in the fridge as a fraction of an hour at room temperature and sets the instant yeast to about 1.6 per cent divided by that total. That gives roughly 0.8 per cent for 2 hours, 0.4 per cent for 4 hours, 0.2 per cent for 8 hours and about 0.25 per cent for a day in the fridge. Active dry yeast is 1.25 times the instant amount, and fresh yeast is 3 times; the yeast conversion calculator covers other conversions.
It is an estimate, because flour, salt level, hydration and a draughty kitchen all matter. If the dough over-proofs, use less yeast or cut the time; if it is slow, give it longer, not more yeast. For water temperature, see the dough temperature calculator.
Poolish, biga and other tools
A poolish is equal weights of flour and water with a pinch of yeast, left 12 to 16 hours; a biga is a stiffer, drier mix at about 50 per cent water. Either one adds flavour and can cut the final yeast. Here the preferment holds your chosen share of the flour, and the rest goes into the final dough. For other breads, use the baker’s percentage calculator, and for a sourdough starter see the starter feeding calculator. Planning how many pizzas to make? Try the pizza party calculator.
Pizza Dough Calculator (Dough Balls, Cold Ferment, Poolish) FAQ
How much dough do I need for a 12-inch pizza?
About 240 g for a thin Neapolitan-style pizza and about 340 g for a thicker New York style. The calculator works it out from the area and your thickness factor.
How much yeast for a 24-hour cold ferment?
Around 0.2 to 0.3 per cent of the flour weight in instant yeast, which is about 1.4 g for a 600 g flour batch. The calculator sets it from your times and temperatures.
What hydration is best for pizza dough?
About 60 to 65 per cent for a home oven. Neapolitan is around 62 per cent, and higher hydration gives an airier crumb but is harder to handle.
Poolish or biga for pizza?
A poolish is wet and gives an open, airy crust; a biga is stiff and gives a chewier one. Both work, and the calculator supports either.
Can I use active dry or fresh yeast?
Yes. Choose the type and the amounts convert: active dry is 1.25 times the instant yeast and fresh yeast is 3 times.
Why does the answer change when I change the fridge time?
The longer the dough ferments, the less yeast it needs. Doubling the cold time roughly halves the yeast so the dough is ready at about the same point.