Dough Temperature
Free Dough Temperature calculator with clear step-by-step results.
About Dough Temperature
Desired dough temperature is controlled through the one ingredient you can change freely: the water. With a preferment there are four contributing temperatures, so the target is multiplied by four and the known contributions - flour, room, preferment and mixer friction - are subtracted to give the water temperature.
Formulas
Water temperature
Water = 4 x desired dough temp - (flour + room + preferment + friction factor)
Ice substitution
Ice grams = water x (4 - required temp) / 80 when the required temperature is below 4 C
Worked example
With the default values below, Dough Temperature returns Water temperature to use of 25.0. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.
Inputs used
- Desired dough temperatureaccepts 15–35 C
- 25 C
- Flour temperatureaccepts 0–45 C
- 21 C
- Room temperatureaccepts 0–45 C
- 22 C
- Preferment temperatureaccepts 0–45 C
- 24 C
- Mixer friction factoraccepts 0–30 C
- 8 C
- Water in the formulaminimum 1 g
- 700 g
Results
- Water temperature to use
- 25.0 C
- Ice needed if water must go below 4 C
- 0 g
- Liquid water to weigh out
- 700 g
- Sum of the known temperatures
- 75.0 C
Step by step
- 1Values used
- 2Water temperature
- 3Ice substitution
- 4Water temperature to use= 25.0 C
- 5Ice needed if water must go below 4 C= 0 g
- 6Liquid water to weigh out= 700 g
- 7Sum of the known temperatures= 75.0 C
Assumptions and limits
- The result is derived only from the 6 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
- In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
- Figures are rounded for display to 1 decimal place, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find my friction factor?
Mix a batch, measure the final dough temperature, and rearrange the formula: friction = 4 x actual dough temp - (flour + room + preferment + water). A spiral mixer typically lands between 6 and 12 C.
Why does dough temperature matter?
Fermentation rate roughly doubles for every 8-10 C. A dough finishing at 27 C instead of 24 will be ready far sooner and can over-proof before you get to it.