Dough Math

Desired dough temperature calculator

Enter the dough temperature you want and the temperatures of your flour, room and mixer. You get the water temperature that brings the dough there, in degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit.

Your numbers

Water temperature for a new batch, or your mixer's friction factor from a dough you already mixed.

Straight dough is mixed in one go. Choose preferment if you add a levain, poolish, biga or sponge.

The temperature the dough should have right after mixing. Your recipe usually states it.

Measure the flour with a probe thermometer. Flour stored in the room is usually at room temperature.

The temperature where you mix.

The heat your mixer adds, as a temperature difference. Work it out from one trial mix with the other mode of this calculator.

Examples
Advanced options

Optional. If the water you need is colder than this, you will be told to chill it or use ice.

Result

Water temperature

58 °F

Friction factor

24 °F

Formula with your numbers
Multiplier3 pcs
Dough temperature76 °F
Flour temperature72 °F
Room temperature74 °F
Friction factor24 °F
Water temperature58 °F

How it works

Bakers multiply the desired dough temperature by the number of temperatures that affect the dough, then subtract the ones they cannot change. What is left is the water temperature. The friction factor is the heat added by mixing, found once from a trial dough.

Formula

Straight dough: water = 3 × DDT − flour − room − friction. With a preferment: water = 4 × DDT − flour − room − preferment − friction. Friction factor = 3 (or 4) × measured dough temperature − flour − room − water − [preferment]. In °C, a friction factor given in °F is divided by 1.8.

Worked example

The calculator opens with this example; the result above is computed from it.

InputValue
What to work outWater temperature
Dough typeStraight dough
Desired dough temperature76 °F
Flour temperature72 °F
Room temperature74 °F
Friction factor24 °F
Water temperature58 °F
Friction factor24 °F

For a dough at 76 °F with flour at 72 °F, room at 74 °F and a friction factor of 24 °F, use water at 58 °F.

Assumptions and limits

  • The multiplier counts the temperatures in the formula: three for a straight dough, four with a preferment. Every ingredient is treated as having the same weight effect, as in the bakers' rule.
  • The friction factor depends on your mixer, speed, mixing time and batch size. Work it out again when any of these change.
  • A friction factor is a temperature difference, so converting it between °F and °C uses the factor only, without the offset.
  • The calculator says when ice is needed but does not compute the amount of ice.
  • Measure with a probe thermometer; guesses for the flour or room temperature change the result one for one.

The result is an estimate for planning, not professional advice.

Sources

Last updated:

Method in depth: Desired dough temperature: the water temperature formula

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