Bakers Percentage %

Once you learn this, you can bake bread according to your preference and taste. You'll have the freedom of not needing to stick to a recipe.. even creating your own recipe!
It sounds complicated, but it's not.
This is how it works:
Everything is calculated by weight in grams (this is why a scale is necessary).
The flour total always equals 100%, so let's say you have 500g of flour (any type of flour) and you want a 70% hydration dough (hydration just means the liquid part, usually water). Get out your calculator and put in 500x70% = 350.
So to 500g of flour you will need 350g of water. You need to do this with the starter and salt also.
This is my usual calculation for a basic loaf=
500g total flour:
500x70% = 350g water
500x20% = 100g starter
500x2% = 10g salt

By doing it this way you can make a smaller or a larger loaf, for example:
300g total flour:
300x70%= 210g water
300x20%= 60g starter
300x2%= 6g salt

Or

800g total flour:
800x70%= 560g water
800x20%= 160g starter
800x2%= 16g salt

It's that easy!

You don't even have to stick to the same percentages either. You could play with the level of hydration and the amount of starter (more starter = less fermention time, less starter = more fermentation time) or you could put more or less salt depending on taste. The possibilities are endless really!