Design what you're making
Choose your levelYou can change this at any time
Easy mode chooses the dough method, hydration, yeast and stage timings for you. You only choose what you are making, the flour, when you need it, your room temperature and your oven.
1Size and amount
Length
Weight
Temp
recommended 2
in
recommended g
recommended Pre-filled from the style and size above. Edit it to scale every ingredient up or down for a thicker or thinner crust without changing the dimensions.
2Flour and mixing
%
on the pack's nutrition panelIf your flour bag lists its protein, type it in above. If it doesn't, choose the closest match here and the protein field fills with a typical value for that flour.
Choose the closest flour from the list. Doughborough will set the water level automatically.
A splash of vinegar tightens weak gluten so a fast dough holds together. Use it only for weak flour (under ~12% protein) in a direct dough of 6 hours or less. Don't use it on strong flour, and never in anything fermenting 6 hours or longer — over a long ferment it does nothing useful and can leave a sour note. It's hidden for poolish/biga because a preferment already does this job.
All three yeast types work, but they are not the same dose. The calculator converts active dry and fresh yeast from the instant-dry baseline, then calculates the weight from the selected fermentation plan.
Steered, not wide-open: this calculator gives control over useful dough variables, while avoiding method-mixing that creates confusion without improving the dough.
A stand mixer builds the gluten up front — about 6–8 minutes to a smooth, elastic dough.
3Preferment Recipe Control
4Time and fermentation
Room-temperature timing uses the actual kitchen temperature. Refrigerator timing is a separate staged model with a warm start, cold hold and warm final proof.
°C
reference Use the temperature where the dough will mix, begin fermenting and warm before baking. Above 35°C automatic timing is not treated as reliable.
Fermentation times
hrs
expected window hrs
expected window Every recommendation is a window. Move on when the dough reaches the physical cue in the method, not merely because the clock expired.
5Final Recipe Control
Completing the dough
These set the final dough — the whole thing, preferment included. Hydration here is the finished dough's hydration, not just this stage.
%
recommended Some dough always gets left behind — on the bowl, the bench, your hands. Increasing this value makes a little extra in your recipe, so you still hit your target ball weight after some dough is left behind. Wetter doughs and hand mixing tend to lose more, so the recommendation rises with both. Your real loss is personal, though — the surest way to work this out is to make a batch, weigh what you actually end up with, and use the actual percentage difference figure next time.
%
recommended %
starting point %
recommended %
recommended Use olive oil for pizza and focaccia; use a neutral oil or melted butter for soft white bread. Butter contains some water, so its baker's percentage is approximate. Skip added fat for a true Neapolitan dough.
%
recommended %
recommended Optional for most doughs. In soft white bread it improves tenderness, colour and keeping quality without changing hydration.
Percentages are baker's % (of total flour). Yeast amount is worked out from the fermentation time and type.
6Oven and bake
°C
ideal Enter the temperature you can actually bake at. If your oven can't reach the ideal, enter its max. If it can exceed the ideal, that's fine for thin styles, but not recommended for thicker styles.
Your recipe
Overview
—
total dough
—
fermentation time
—
per ball
Calculated quantities
Recommended starting points
Estimated timings
Ingredients
Method
The idea
Doughborough calculates ingredient weights exactly, but fermentation and baking remain biological and physical processes. The displayed times are planning windows. Follow the method in order, then use the printed readiness cue to decide when the dough moves to the next stage.
Easy mode
Work down the four visible sections: choose the product and amount, choose the closest flour and mixing method, choose where and how long it will ferment, then enter your oven. Doughborough selects the formula, method, yeast and stage plan. The recipe output contains only the weights and actions a first-time baker needs.
Expert mode
Expert mode exposes shape, portion weight, flour protein, yeast type, direct or preferment method, individual stages, baker's percentages and oven setup. A value you type becomes a constraint; recommendations and warnings recalculate around it. Use Expert mode to control a known process, not because every field needs changing.
Size, format and amount
For pizza and pan breads, dimensions determine the recommended dough loading. For ciabatta, baguette, loaves and rolls, the calculator uses portion weight. Soft White Bread includes a loaf/roll selector; the same dough formula is portioned, proofed and baked differently for each format.
Flour, mixing and preferments
In Easy mode, choose the closest flour type and the calculator sets hydration. In Expert mode, protein percentage adjusts the recommendation but remains an approximation because flours with the same printed protein can behave differently. Direct mixes one dough. Poolish is a wet preferment; biga is stiff. Their printed maturity cue takes priority over the timer. Instant yeast can be mixed directly; active dry yeast is separately rehydrated as the method instructs. Vinegar is available only as a short direct-dough adjustment for weak flour.
Time and fermentation location
Room temperature is supported from 10–35°C, with reduced confidence near the edges. Below 10°C, use the Refrigerator plan so cooling lag and the warm final proof are included. A named cold timeframe is your available-duration constraint; the same cold-exposure model then calculates yeast and warnings. Custom cold timing instead solves duration from the style's fermentation target.
How to read the recipe
Brief gives the complete operating method without the explanations. Detailed keeps the same sequence and adds the reason behind important steps. Start preheating when the method says to do so. Pan oil, bench flour, topping oil and finishing butter are handling materials unless they appear in the ingredient list; they are not included in the dough formula.
How warnings work
Most warnings appear beside the field that caused them. They fall into four groups:
- Unsupported temperature — the calculator will not present authoritative timing outside its calibrated range. Change the mode or temperature rather than trusting an extrapolated number.
- Outside the planning window — your chosen time or stage is possible to try, but the result is less predictable. Check yeast, temperature and physical readiness carefully.
- Preferment maturity — the selected poolish or biga is too young or likely past peak for its time, temperature and yeast dose.
- Formula or process warning — examples include excessive yeast, an impossible water-temperature target, too little development time, or a preferment that would contain more water than the finished dough.
Water-temperature warnings
The calculated water temperature is an attempt to hit the target finished-dough temperature. When water alone cannot do that, the app says so rather than hiding the failure behind a clamp. Use the practical water temperature shown, then follow the corrective action: pre-chill or warm the flour and bowl, reduce machine friction, or accept a different finished-dough temperature.
If in doubt
Use Easy mode, choose the flour honestly, measure the actual room or refrigerator temperature, and make the recommended batch once before changing the formula. Record the finished dough temperature, real stage times and result. Use Help / quick fixes to change one meaningful variable on the next batch.
Questions & answers
Short answers to the things people ask most. Tap one to read more.