Culinary & Baking Math

Kitchen maths: baker's percentages, hydration, recipe scaling, food cost and dough temperature

Culinary & Baking Math covers the practical formulas behind successful recipes, from baker’s percentages and dough hydration to recipe scaling, food cost, and temperature conversions. It’s useful for students, exam prep, and anyone working in kitchens, bakeries, or food service, because these calculations help you control consistency, cost, and quality every time you cook or bake.

Baker's Percentage

\% = \frac{m_{ingredient}}{m_{flour}} \times 100

Every ingredient expressed relative to the flour weight — the backbone of bread recipes.

Dough Hydration

NEWIntermediate

H = \frac{m_{water}}{m_{flour}} \times 100

Water as a percentage of flour — controls how open and airy the crumb is.

Recipe Scaling

m_{new} = m_{old} \times \frac{n_{desired}}{n_{original}}

Scales every ingredient up or down for a different number of servings.

Desired Dough Temperature

T_{water} = 3\,T_{ddt} - (T_{flour} + T_{room} + T_{friction})

Water temperature that lands the mixed dough at its target for good fermentation.

Food Cost Percentage

FC = \frac{C}{P} \times 100

Ingredient cost as a share of menu price — the key restaurant profitability metric.

Portion Cost

C_p = \frac{C_{total}}{n}

Cost of a single serving from a batch.

Yield Percentage

NEWIntermediate

Y = \frac{m_{edible}}{m_{purchased}} \times 100

Usable food remaining after trimming and peeling.

As-Purchased Quantity

NEWIntermediate

AP = \frac{EP}{Y}

How much raw product to buy to end up with the edible amount you need.

Salt Percentage

S = \frac{m_{salt}}{m_{flour}} \times 100

Salt relative to flour — too little makes bland bread, too much slows the yeast.

Sugar Content (°Brix)

NEWIntermediate

Brix = \frac{m_{sugar}}{m_{solution}} \times 100

Grams of sugar per 100 g of solution — measured for jams, wine and syrups.

Fresh to Dry Yeast

m_{dry} = \frac{m_{fresh}}{3}

Converts fresh (cake) yeast to active dry yeast by weight.

Fahrenheit to Celsius (Oven)

C = \frac{5}{9}(F - 32)

Converts an oven temperature from Fahrenheit to Celsius.

Roasting Time

t = m \times r

Total cooking time from the meat's weight and a per-kilogram rate.

Simple Syrup Ratio

R = \frac{m_{sugar}}{m_{water}}

Sugar-to-water ratio defining a syrup's thickness.

Batch Scaling Factor

f = \frac{n_{new}}{n_{old}}

Single multiplier applied across a whole recipe when changing batch size.

Beverage Cost Percentage

BC = \frac{C_{drink}}{P_{drink}} \times 100

Cost of a drink's ingredients relative to its selling price.

Boiling Point vs Altitude

NEWIntermediate

T_b \approx 100 - \frac{h}{285}

Approximate drop in water's boiling point with elevation (h in metres).