This post and accompanying video explain how to work out your own bread recipes to fit your bread pans perfectly!

It provides a basic overview of baker's math (also known as baker's percentages) and explains how this can be applied to 100% wholegrain sourdough pan bread or sandwich style recipes.

Below is the video with a full tutorial and demonstration, if you haven’t already seen it.

Below this are the basic instructions in writing. I recommend watching the video first, then use the written post as a back up reference if you need it.

While I’m here, this is the first video on the topic of bread pans that inspired this ‘part two’ video.

Here are the tutorial basics in writing:

Step 1: Calculate the total volume of your bread pans

Multiply the length, by the width, by the height/depth of your bread pans, in centimetres.

If your pans are wider at the top than they are at the base (most are), then take the width and length measurements from halfway up the side of the pan or tin.

Eg. for my small bread tin: 7.5cm high x 19cm long x 10cm wide = 1425 cm3 (cubic centimetres)

Remember, 1 cubic centimetre = 1 gram of water (weight) = 1 millilitre of water (volume)

So, my bread pan has a total capacity of 1425cm3 / 1425g / 1425ml / 1.425 litres

This is the beauty of the metric system!

Step 2: Calculate the flour amount for your recipe

Most 100% wholegrain sourdough recipes require a flour amount that is around 40% of the total pan volume.

So, take your total pan volume (in my example 1425g) and multiply that by 0.40 to get 40% of the total

Eg. 1425g x 0.40 = 570g

This 40% amount then becomes the flour amount needed for your recipe.

I generally round the flour amount up or down to the nearest 50g - so in this case I’d use 550g flour for my recipe.

Step 3: Use baker’s math to calculate your bread recipe

To use basic baker’s math, start with your flour amount for the recipe, which is always expressed as 100%, then the other ingredients (in a simple recipe, this would be water and salt) are calculated as percentages of the flour amount.

For my example:

Flour amount - 100% = 550g (rounded down from 570g)

Water amount - 80% (550g x 0.80) = 440g
You may want to use another water amount for your recipes, this is just my example, I often use up to 90 or 100% water!

Salt amount - 1.7% (550g x 0.017) = 9.35g (which I rounded down to 9g)

What about the sourdough starter?

For my basic day-to-day homemade sourdough recipes, using my easy sourdough starter fridge maintenance method, I don’t include the sourdough starter in my recipe calculations.

I mostly keep my sourdough starter at 100% hydration (ie. I feed it equal amounts of flour and water), so I could add that to my totals but given that I only use 50-100g of starter in most of my recipes, I find it easier to just leave that out of the calculation and add my sourdough starter as an additional ingredient.

Some extra points to consider

This basic method works great for standard 100% wholegrain pan loaves, however the following situations might need different formulas:

Tins with lids: If you are baking in a lidded Pullman pan or something else with a flat lid over the top, use less flour to formulate your recipes, around 30% flour of the total pan capacity is about right. The 40% rule works best when you want your dough to spring up higher than the top edge of the pan. If you use the 40% rule with a low-lidded tin, your bread won’t have much room to spring up and the result could be dense.

Preheated clay or cast iron pans: If you are proofing your pan loaf in a basket and then transferring it into a preheated clay or cast iron pan for baking (as I sometimes do with my Emile Henry bread bakers), you should generally expect a better volume and oven spring with this method and therefore you’ll need a smaller recipe to fill the pan. I use about 25 or 30% flour of total pan capacity for these types of bakes.

Using refined flours in your recipes: There’s no doubt about it, using refined, white bread flours in your sourdough recipes will give you (generally speaking) a much greater volume, so you’ll need a smaller amount of dough to fill your pans. I use about 25 or 30% flour of total pan capacity for these types of recipes.

Using yeast or sourdough-yeast hybrid recipes: If you’re adding commercial yeast to your recipes, you can also (generally speaking) expect a much greater, more dramatic rise. I don’t bake with modern, commercial yeast very often, but when I do I use about 25% flour of the total pan capacity.

That’s all for today’s tutorial! I hope you enjoyed that and found it helpful.

If you’d like to provide support for me continuing to produce these resources, you can do that here 🌻

Good luck everyone, and have fun with your bread recipes!

Please leave any comments and questions in the section below and I’ll get back to you asap.

Elly 🌸

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