Bread Dough Calculator
Choose your tin and the kind of loaf for a full recipe in grams.
Answer
523g flour
Your recipe
Weigh the water as well as the flour. It is the same number in grams as in millilitres and far more accurate than a jug.
Next step
Worth knowing
- Strong white bread flour gives the structure a tin loaf needs.
- The standard UK sandwich loaf.
- Dough weight, not flour weight, is what has to match the tin. Too much and it spills over the sides as it bakes.
- A 2lb tin loaf is baked when it sounds hollow underneath, usually 30 to 35 minutes at 220°C conventional (200°C fan).
Source: Baker's percentage method, standard UK bread and pizza formulations · Reviewed 2026-09-10 · Guidance version 1.0.0
Reference and detail
Match the dough to the tin
Too little dough gives a squat loaf; too much and it mushrooms over the sides and tears. A 2lb tin wants roughly 900g of finished dough.
Wholemeal needs more water
Bran absorbs a lot of liquid, so a wholemeal dough at the same hydration as a white one feels much stiffer. The recipe here already allows for it.
Salt is not optional
Around 2% of the flour weight controls the yeast, strengthens the gluten and gives the bread flavour. Bread made without it tastes of almost nothing.
Questions and answers
Questions about bread dough quantities
How much dough does my loaf tin need?
Choose your tin above and the calculator gives you the dough weight that fits it, along with the full recipe scaled from that. It's the dough weight that has to match the tin, not the flour weight, too much dough spills over the sides as it proves and bakes.
How do I know when a loaf is fully baked?
A tin loaf is generally done when it sounds hollow when tapped underneath. Times and temperatures vary by style, so check the notes on the calculator above for the loaf you're making.
Why does wholemeal bread use a different recipe from white?
Wholemeal flour absorbs more water than white bread flour, so a wholemeal loaf at the same hydration percentage feels drier. Choose the wholemeal style above rather than adapting a white-flour recipe by eye.
Can I use a custom dough weight instead of a standard tin?
Yes. Enter a total dough weight instead of choosing a tin from the list, and the calculator will scale the same recipe to that amount.