Pick a hydration and a number of dough balls — get exact flour and water, plus salt and yeast to match.
Updated · How we source our numbers
Pizza hydration = water ÷ flour × 100: 620 g water to 1,000 g flour is 62%. The AVPN Neapolitan rules work out to 55.6–62.5%.
Hydration is water as a percentage of flour weight: 600 g water to 1,000 g flour is 60%. Higher hydration makes a softer, more open crust that’s harder to handle; lower hydration is easier to stretch and bakes crisper.
The only official range is for Neapolitan pizza: AVPN’s 1,600–1,800 g of flour per litre of water works out to 55.6–62.5% hydration. Other styles have no official standard, so start in a range you can handle and adjust.
Working with sourdough or a levain in bread? Use our sourdough hydration calculator, which counts the water in your starter.
No official body publishes a table linking yeast to fermentation time and temperature, so the calculator doesn’t estimate one. Each style loads its source’s own yeast amount:
| Source | Yeast | Fermentation |
|---|---|---|
| AVPN Neapolitan rules | 0.1–3 g fresh yeast per litre of water (about 0.006–0.19% of flour) | 12–24 h in total |
| King Arthur New York-Style Pizza | ¼ tsp instant (about 0.75 g) per 360 g flour, about 0.2% | 1 h, then 8–10 h at room temperature |
| King Arthur Weeknight Detroit Pizza | 3 g instant per 360 g flour, 0.83% | About 2 h, then 45–60 min in the pan |
King Arthur gives the New York yeast only as ¼ tsp. We convert it with the 3 g per teaspoon of instant yeast that King Arthur prints in its Detroit recipe.
The two King Arthur recipes show the pattern: about 0.2% yeast for an 8–10 hour rise, 0.83% for a 2-hour one. For your own timing, set the yeast % yourself and watch the dough, not the clock. Active dry yeast swaps 1:1 with instant; fresh yeast is about three times the weight (King Arthur, Red Star).