The Ultimate Guide to Pizza Dough Ratios: Finding Your Perfect Recipe

Making great pizza at home isn’t about secret ingredients or expensive tools—it’s about understanding pizza dough ratios. Once you master the balance between flour, water, yeast, and salt, you can create a perfect pizza dough recipe tailored to your oven, your climate, and your personal taste.

In this guide, we’ll take a deep dive into baker’s percentages, explain how hydration levels from 60% to 75% affect crust texture, and help you dial in the exact dough formula that works best in a wood-fired oven. We’ll also include a simple dough calculator concept and a troubleshooting guide so you can fix common dough issues with confidence.

Related: Best Pizza Toppings for Every Pizza

Why Pizza Dough Ratios Matter More Than Recipes

Most pizza dough recipes list ingredients in cups and teaspoons. While that works, it’s not precise—and pizza is all about precision.

That’s where pizza dough ratios come in.

Professional bakers rely on baker’s percentages, a standardized method widely used in professional baking that expresses ingredients as a percentage of the flour weight. This approach allows for consistency, easy scaling, and better control over fermentation and texture, and is commonly taught in professional baking education, including guides from King Arthur Baking.

Once you understand ratios, you’re no longer tied to a single recipe—you can create your perfect pizza dough recipe every time.

Understanding Baker’s Percentages (The Foundation of Great Dough)

Here’s a classic starting point using baker’s percentages:

• Flour: 100%
• Water: 60–75%
• Salt: 2–2.5%
• Yeast: 0.1–0.5%
• Olive Oil (optional): 1–3%

This formula works across different flour types, fermentation times, and oven temperatures. Using baker’s percentages allows you to adjust hydration or fermentation without guessing—and without sacrificing consistency.

Hydration Levels Explained: 60%–75% and What They Do

Hydration—the ratio of water to flour—is the single biggest factor affecting dough texture. Water controls gluten development, fermentation speed, and how the dough reacts to high heat. Food science research shows that hydration directly impacts dough elasticity and gas retention.

60–62% Hydration: Structured & Easy to Handle

• Firmer dough
• Easier shaping
• More predictable rise
• Slightly denser crumb

Ideal for beginners, cooler climates, or shorter fermentation times.

63–65% Hydration: Balanced & Versatile

• Soft but manageable dough
• Open crumb structure
• Crisp exterior with tender interior
• Excellent oven spring

This range is ideal for most home pizza makers using wood-fired ovens.

66–70% Hydration: Light & Airy Crust

• Larger air pockets
• Greater oven spring
• Slightly sticky dough
• Requires confident handling

Perfect for Neapolitan-style pizza cooked at very high temperatures.

71–75% Hydration: Advanced Artisan Dough

• Extremely light and airy crumb
• Maximum rise in high heat
• Very delicate dough structure

Best suited for experienced bakers using strong flour and long fermentation.

Flour Choice: Why Ratios Depend on Your Flour

Not all flours absorb water the same way. Protein content, wheat variety, and milling method all influence how much hydration a flour can handle. Understanding flour strength is critical when working with higher hydration doughs, especially in wood-fired ovens.

Educational resources on flour protein and absorption, such as those from Bob’s Red Mill, explain why stronger flours perform better at higher hydration levels.

If you’re cooking in a high-heat environment, pairing stronger flour with moderate-to-high hydration will produce better structure, improved oven spring, and a lighter crust.

Simple Pizza Dough Ratio Calculator (How to Use One)

A pizza dough calculator is simply baker’s percentages in action.

Start by deciding how much flour you want to use, then apply your ratios:

Example using 1,000g flour:

• Water at 65% → 650g
• Salt at 2.5% → 25g
• Yeast at 0.2% → 2g

This method allows you to scale dough accurately and adjust hydration based on your environment and cooking temperature. It’s especially useful when dialing in dough for high wood-fired oven cooking temperatures.

How Dough Ratios Affect Crust Texture in Wood-Fired Ovens

Wood-fired ovens cook using intense radiant heat, which dramatically affects how dough expands and sets during baking.

• Lower hydration creates a firmer, crisper base
• Higher hydration produces a lighter crumb and blistered crust
• Longer fermentation enhances flavor and digestibility

Understanding why high heat matters for pizza dough helps you choose ratios that work with your oven instead of against it.

Troubleshooting Guide: Fix Common Dough Problems

Dough too sticky

• Hydration too high for the flour
• Reduce water by 2–3%

Dough tears when stretching

• Dough under-hydrated or under-rested
• Allow longer rest or slightly increase hydration

Dense or flat crust

• Too much yeast
• Fermentation too short

Pale crust

• Oven temperature too low
• Dough hydration too low

Most dough issues can be solved by adjusting ratios rather than changing your entire recipe.

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