Production
White Bread Formula in Baker's Percent: A Plain Yeast Loaf at 165 Dough Yield
A plain white bread is wheat flour, water, yeast and salt. This page gives the formula in baker's percent and the working values of a bakery: dough temperature, mixing, direct or cooled proof, baking and the faults to watch.
The formula
| Ingredient | Baker's % | Per 500 g flour |
|---|---|---|
| Wheat flour | 100 % | 500 g |
| Water | 65 % | 325 g |
| Fresh yeast | 6 % | 30 g |
| Salt | 2.5 % | 12.5 g |
| Total | 173.5 % | 867.5 g |
The dough yield (TA) is the weight of the dough in relation to the flour, written as 100 plus the water. Here it is 165, so 100 g of flour take 65 g of water. The dough alone adds up to 173.5 %, which is flour 100 + water 65 + yeast 6 + salt 2.5.
Scaled to bakery batches
| Ingredient | 1 kg flour | 10 kg flour | 25 kg flour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wheat flour | 1,000 g | 10,000 g | 25,000 g |
| Water | 650 g | 6,500 g | 16,250 g |
| Fresh yeast | 60 g | 600 g | 1,500 g |
| Salt | 25 g | 250 g | 625 g |
| Dough | 1,735 g | 17,350 g | 43,375 g |
How the numbers are calculated
- Add the percentages. 100 + 65 + 6 + 2.5 = 173.5 %. Total dough weight is always flour weight × 1.735.
- From the dough you want to the flour you need. Flour = dough weight ÷ 1.735. For 20 loaves of 904 g you need 18,080 g of dough, so 18,080 ÷ 1.735 = 10,421 g of flour.
- From the flour to each ingredient. Ingredient = flour × percent ÷ 100. With 10,421 g of flour: water 6,774 g, fresh yeast 625 g, salt 261 g.
- Pieces from a batch. 10 kg of flour makes 17,350 g of dough. At 904 g per piece that is 19 pieces.
You can do the same with the baker's percentage calculator: enter the percentages above and tick flour and liquid.
Make-up and decoration
Make-up and finish are part of the formula, and they depend on the customer. The same dough can be slashed or left uncut, turned over, made up round or long, and set with the seam up or down. Flour for the proofing baskets and for dusting belongs in the costing too.
- Seam up in the basket gives the intended break on top. A loaf with the seam down that still bursts open was pushed into the oven under-proofed.
- Dusting flour is the reason for the extra points in the baking loss below. For a smooth, glossy crust use less flour and brush or spray the loaf with water.
- Cuts are usually two for a loaf. Cut deep enough, because a shallow cut gives no clean break on top.
In the bakery
- Weights. A plain white bread is normally 750 g baked. The baking loss is 15 %, and about 2 points more are added for the dusting flour in the proofing basket, so the calculation uses 17 %. The dough piece has to weigh 750 ÷ 0.83 = 904 g.
- Dough yield. The dough yield (TA) is 165: 65 parts of water to 100 parts of flour.
- Dough temperature. 25 °C. Plain white bread is kept a little colder than rye and dark breads, which are mixed at about 29 °C. Control the temperature with the water, and with flaked ice if needed. The ice must be crumbly, never hard.
- Mixing. On a Diosna spiral mixer: 2 minutes on the slow speed and 7 minutes on the fast speed. The times depend on the machine and the flour, so do not under-mix or over-mix.
- Dough rest. This depends on the baker. With relatively little yeast the dough can rest up to 2 hours in the bowl, with a stretch and fold in the tub. With 6 % yeast, as in the table, the rest is much shorter.
- Proof, direct. 45 minutes in the proofer at 38 to 39 °C and about 85 % humidity.
- Proof, cooled. The pieces can stand in the cooler at 6 °C for up to 18 hours. Control the time with the yeast: less yeast gives a 12-hour or an 18-hour proof. The right amount depends on your flour and your cooler, so find it by trial. Bread is never frozen.
- Baking. Start at 270 to 280 °C and fall to 250 °C. Bake at most 35 to 40 minutes. Give pre-steam before loading and then strong steam. As with all bread, the draft is pulled after about one minute and the end of the bake runs without steam.
- Cooling. Let the loaves cool before you slice or pack them, because the starch network is not stable while the bread is hot.
Things to watch
- Proof too long: the loaf is over-proofed and collapses, or it bursts open in the oven. Proof too short: it is dense and has a tight crumb. Keep to the proof time and test it before loading.
- Wrong formula: too much water gives a slack dough that spreads, too little gives a tight, dry crumb. Weigh water and flour exactly, and check the dough yield.
- Uneven make-up: loaves that are not made up evenly look different after baking. Weigh the pieces and make them up in the same way.
- Cuts too shallow: there is no proper break on top. Cut deep enough and at a steady angle.
- Wrong baking programme: wrong temperature, wrong programme or forgotten steam gives a pale, dull, thick crust. Check the programme before each batch.
- Dusting flour: too much flour on the basket gives a dull surface and tears in the crust. Brush off excess flour.
- Baking loss: weigh the dough pieces heavier than the loaf you want to sell, and count the dusting flour in the calculation.