How to Calculate the Correct Amount of Dough for Your Pan (2024)

FAQs

How to Calculate the Correct Amount of Dough for Your Pan? ›

I calculate the volume of the pan and divide the weight of the ball of dough by the number of cubic inches yielding grams per cubic inch. This will give you a constant ratio that you can use for any pan so the dough will fill out the pan properly.

I calculate the volume of the pan and divide the weight of the ball of dough by the number of cubic inches yielding grams per cubic inch. This will give you a constant ratio that you can use for any pan so the dough will fill out the pan properly.

The Ratio: 5:3, Flour to Water

The ratio for bread is 5:3, flour to water, plus yeast plus salt and sometimes plus sugar. The ratio made my head spin for a while because I'm not math inclined, but, when working with the 1 teaspoon of yeast per pound, or 16 ounces, of flour, it was a lot easier.

A single-loaf recipe using at least 3 3/4 cups flour — white, whole-grain, or a combination — should be baked in the larger 9" x 5" bread pan.

Calculating volume of Square & Rectangle Pans –

The usual height of these pans is 2″. For example, the volume of an 8″ square pan would be 8 x 8 x 2 = 128 cubic inches. The volume of a 13″x9″ pan would be 13 x 9 x 2 = 234 cubic inches.

If you're moving the recipe to a larger pan, increase the oven temperature by 25 F degrees and decrease the baking time (you'll still end up with a thinner cake, but the taste and texture should be fine).

The goal is to bring the components down to the smallest whole numbers they can be: If I tell you a shortbread recipe is 115 grams of sugar, 230 grams of butter, and 345 grams of flour: divide all the quantities by 115 grams, which leaves you with 1 of sugar, 2 of butter, and 3 of flour. The ratio is 1:2:3, by weight.

Expected Yield

This is the total size of your dough batch and is calculated by adding up the individual ingredient weights. For instance, in the example above, the expected yield of a 1 kg flour weight dough batch is 1.685 kg dough, the expected yield from a 3 kg flour weight dough is 5.055 kg.

We now have used the formula to create a basic bread recipe for a kilo of white flour. In the same way, if you wanted to use 500 grams of flour, you'd just use 350 grams of water (500 * 0.7), 10 grams of salt (500 * 0.02) and 5 grams yeast (500 * 0.01).

As a rule of thumb, if the batter fills the pan 2/3 full, the loaf pan is at its limit. If you still have extra batter, don't over-fill the pan. Instead, bake the excess batter in a muffin pan, filling the empty tins with a few tablespoons of water to keep the pan from warping. Disaster averted!

How many cups of batter in 9 inch pan? ›

A 9-inch round cake pan is 63.5 square inches/holds 8 cups of batter. A 10-inch round cake pan is 78.5 square inches/holds 10-11 cups of batter. Without any adaptions, your 10-inch cake layers will be very thin. You'll need to increase the batter by 25%.

Pour 1 to 2 tablespoons oil in the bottom of two 10-inch cast iron skillets or round cake pans (see note). Place 1 ball of dough in each pan and turn to coat evenly with oil. Using a flat palm, press dough around the pan, flattening it slightly and spreading oil around the entire bottom and edges of the pan.

They've tried methods like rolling the dough around a rolling pin and unfurling it over the pan (it never ends up centered) or using a giant spatula to slide the dough into the pan (helpful, but only when you have the tool on hand). Folding the dough into quarters makes it less likely to tear when moving it to the pan.

Measuring Baking Pan and Baking Dish Sizes

When measuring the dimensions of baking pans and baking dishes, measure the distance across the top from the inside rim on one side to the inside rim on the opposite side. Depth should be determined by standing a ruler in the pan or dish and measuring the distance to the rim.