Baker percentage

Baker's percentage is a notation method indicating the proportion of an ingredient relative to the flour used in a recipe when making breads, cakes, muffins, and other baked goods.[1][2][3][4] It is also referred to as baker's math,[5][6] and may be indicated by a phrase such as based on flour weight.[1][7] It is sometimes called formula percentage,[1] a phrase that refers to the sum of a set of baker's percentages.[note 1] Baker's percentage expresses a ratio in percentages of each ingredient's weight to the total flour weight:[10][12][13]

For example, in a recipe that calls for 10 pounds of flour and 5 pounds of water, the corresponding baker's percentages are 100% for the flour and 50% for the water. Because these percentages are stated with respect to the weight of flour rather than with respect to the weight of all ingredients, the sum of these percentages always exceeds 100%.

Flour-based recipes are more precisely conceived as baker's percentages, and more accurately measured using weight instead of volume. The uncertainty in using volume measurements follows from the fact that flour settles in storage and therefore does not have a constant density.[14][15]

  1. ^ a b c d Paula I. Figoni (2010). How Baking Works: Exploring the Fundamentals of Baking Science. New York: Wiley. pp. 9–11. ISBN 978-0-470-39267-6. Retrieved 2010-12-06. Baker's percentage—sometimes called formula percentage or indicated as "on flour weight basis"—is different from the percentages commonly taught in math classes.
  2. ^ Griffin, Mary Annarose; Gisslen, Wayne (2005). Professional baking (4th ed.). New York: John Wiley. p. 10. ISBN 0-471-46427-9. Retrieved 2011-01-01.
  3. ^ Corriher, Shirley (2008). BakeWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking with Over 200 Magnificent Recipes. New York: Scribner. p. 32. ISBN 978-1-4165-6078-4. Retrieved 2010-12-09.
  4. ^ Hui, Yiu H. (2006). Handbook of food science, technology, and engineering. Washington, DC: Taylor & Francis. p. 16-6. ISBN 0-8493-9849-5. Retrieved 2010-12-09.
  5. ^ Laura Halpin Rinsky; Glenn Rinsky (2009). The pastry chef's companion: a comprehensive resource guide for the baking and pastry professional. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-470-00955-0. Retrieved 2010-12-09.
  6. ^ Daniel T. DiMuzio (2009). Bread Baking: An Artisan's Perspective. New York: Wiley. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-470-13882-3. Retrieved 2010-12-11.
  7. ^ Cauvain, Stanley P. (2003). Bread making: improving quality. Boca Raton: CRC Press. p. 475. ISBN 1-85573-553-9. Retrieved 2010-12-08. Generally the taste of yeast itself is not detectable in bread unless the amount of yeast used is greater than 2.5% based on the weight of flour.
  8. ^ J. Scott Smith; Yiu H. Hui, eds. (2004). Food processing: principles and applications. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Pub. p. 178. ISBN 0-8138-1942-3. Retrieved 2010-12-29. Formula—term used instead of "recipe," by the baking industry; the weight of each ingredient is determined based on the weight of flour at 100%.
    Formula percent—term used by the baking industry to describe the amount of each ingredient by weight for a "recipe" or formula compared to the weight of all ingredients.
  9. ^ Yiu H. Hui, ed. (2007). Handbook of food products manufacturing. New York: Wiley. p. 302. ISBN 978-0-470-12524-3. Retrieved 2010-12-29. True formula percent (true percent): Term used by the baking industry to describe the amount of each ingredient by weight for a "recipe" or formula compared with the total weight of all ingredients.
  10. ^ a b Michele Marcotte; Hosahalli Ramaswamy (2005). Food Processing: Principles and Applications. Boca Raton: CRC. pp. 14–15. ISBN 1-58716-008-0. Retrieved 2010-12-25.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference army.baker.1939 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Gisslen, Wayne (2007). Professional cooking (Sixth ed.). New York: John Wiley. p. 893. ISBN 978-0-471-66376-8. Retrieved 2010-12-25.
  13. ^ Gisslen, Wayne (2009). Professional baking. New York: John Wiley. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-471-78349-7.
  14. ^ Stanley P. Cauvain (2009). Stanley P. Cauvain; Linda S. Young (eds.). The ICC Handbook of Cereals, Flour, Dough & Product Testing: Methods and Applications. BakeTran, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, UK. Lancaster, Pennsylvania: DEStech Publications, Inc. p. 69. ISBN 978-1-932078-99-2. Retrieved 2010-12-26. Using Cereal Testing at Mill Intake" > "The Bulk Density of Grain (Hectolitre Mass, Bushel Mass, Test Weight, Specific Weight)
  15. ^ Wihlfahrt, Julius Emil (1913) [1905]. A treatise on flour, yeast, fermentation and baking, together with recipes for bread and cakes. THE FLEISCHMANN CO. p. 25. Retrieved 2010-01-22.


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