Pizza dough ball weight chart
How heavy should each dough ball be? It depends on the pizza's diameter and how thick you like it. The chart below works it out, and the batch pages turn it into a shopping list of flour, water, salt and yeast.
Batches by number of pizzas
- Pizza dough for 2 pizzasExact pizza dough for 2 pizzas: flour, water, salt and yeast in grams for 230–280 g Neapolitan balls or 280–450 g New York balls, plus a bake schedule.
- Pizza dough for 3 pizzasPizza dough for 3 pizzas in grams: Neapolitan 230–280 g and New York 280–450 g balls, the formula in baker's percentages and a three-pie bake timeline.
- Pizza dough for 4 pizzasHow much pizza dough for 4 pizzas: grams of flour, water, salt and yeast for Neapolitan and NY-style balls, plus total dough and flour for the batch.
- Pizza dough for 6 pizzasPizza dough for 6 pizzas: a party-size batch in grams for Neapolitan and New York style, with flour totals, yeast for same-day or cold ferment and a bake plan.
Ball weight by diameter
Formula: ball weight = π × (diameter ÷ 2)² × thickness factor, with the thickness factor in ounces of dough per square inch (a pizzeria convention popularized by Tom Lehmann). New York pies are often made around 0.08; Neapolitan balls, stretched by hand with a big rim, follow their own rule of thumb of 230–280 g for 10–13 inches.
| Pizza | Area | Thin (0.07) | Standard (0.08) | Thick (0.10) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 in (20 cm) | 50 in² | 100 g | 114 g | 143 g |
| 10 in (25 cm) | 79 in² | 156 g | 178 g | 223 g |
| 12 in (30 cm) | 113 in² | 224 g | 257 g | 321 g |
| 14 in (36 cm) | 154 in² | 305 g | 349 g | 436 g |
| 16 in (41 cm) | 201 in² | 399 g | 456 g | 570 g |
| 18 in (46 cm) | 254 in² | 505 g | 577 g | 721 g |
Add 1–2% for dough left in the bowl. Doubling the diameter quadruples the dough: an 18 inch pie needs over five times the dough of an 8 inch one.
Common ball weights by style
| Style | Ball | Pizza |
|---|---|---|
| Neapolitan | 230 g | 10 in (25 cm) |
| Neapolitan | 250 g | 11–12 in (28–30 cm) |
| Neapolitan | 280 g | 12–13 in (30–33 cm) |
| New York style | 280 g | 12 in (30 cm) |
| New York style | 340 g | 14 in (36 cm) |
| New York style | 450 g | 16 in (40 cm) |
FAQ
How much dough for a 12 inch pizza?
About 220–260 g for a thin to standard crust; Neapolitan pizzaioli typically use 250–270 g for 11–12 inches.
What is a dough thickness factor?
The ounces of dough per square inch of pizza. Multiply the pizza's area (π × radius²) by the factor: a 14 inch pie at 0.08 is 153.9 in² × 0.08 = 12.3 oz, or about 349 g.
How many dough balls does 1 kg of flour make?
At Neapolitan proportions (165% total) 1 kg of flour makes about 1,650 g of dough: six 270 g balls or six or seven 250 g balls.