I have used this to make mousse in a pinch. For instance, a general guideline for mousse/Bavarian cream is 100% whipped cream, 50% purée, 25% sugar and 2% gelatin.
Understanding these percentages allows pastry chefs to easily adjust existing formulas or create a new formula altogether. While this may not be important for small conversions, rounding often proves to be more significant for larger batches. Furthermore, the calculations reached using the baker’s percentage is much more accurate because any rounding that may take place is done at the final calculation instead of in the middle. Establishing and knowing the percentages of all the ingredients simplifies these calculations in comparison to the old-school conversion factor. It would be so much simpler to say, “I use 2.50% gelatin in my Bavarian cream” instead of saying “I use a quarter ounce of gelatin in my Bavarian cream.” (When you opt for the ladder, the next logical question is going to be “for how much” which then leads to a conversion nightmare where the chef or cook must convert from ounces to grams, pounds to kilograms or any combination of these standards of measurement depending on how much yeild he or she is looking for.Ĭonverting formulas using baker’s percentage streamlines the steps needed to convert based on a given quantity of an ingredient.
Standardizing this could create a universal way of comparing formulas and recipes. And, in my opinion, is probably the most underutilized technique for expressing a formula. Ultimately, baker’s percentage is simply a method of thinking. For instance, cream and milk would be the principal ingredients in crѐme Anglaise, chocolate would be the pivotal ingredient in ganache, and egg whites would be the central ingredient in meringue. But the theory can easily be converted and used for other formulas and recipes, too. When baker’s percentage is used in bread baking, flour is the central ingredient. The concept of baker’s percentage is used to represent each ingredient as a ratio to the central ingredient, and, in a plethora of cases, the largest or most functional ingredient. Although these calculations were repetitive and somewhat cumbersome, expanding and building upon this methodology is an objective I strive to teach and share with others. A basic bread recipe might be represented as followed: 100% bread flour, 65% water, 2% salt, and 2% yeast. Forsyth CC’s Pastry Chef, Cody Middleton, believes more chefs should use baker’s percentage to simplify the way they approach recipes and formulas.Īny chef who has studied baking and pastry probably has had a nightmare or two about “baker’s math” or “baker’s percentage.” (It’s a way to express the ratio of ingredients to one another by weight.) Having to perform calculations on the same formula forward and backward, manipulating them each time, is enough to drive anyone crazy.
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