Getting Started With KitchenRatio

KitchenRatio helps you build, scale, and plan dough formulas without losing the thread between style, size, and process. It started as a practical way to reverse-engineer dough recipes and keep the ratios repeatable enough to be useful beyond one bake. If you want the shortest path: choose what you want to make, pick a preset, set your yield target, and go straight to the recipe.

Best ForLearning the fastest end-to-end KitchenRatio workflow without reading every guide first.

FocusPresets, yield planning, formula tuning, timing, and the shortest route to a usable batch.

Read This NextMove into hydration, yield planning, and the calculator guide once the core flow feels familiar.

1. Start With What You Want To Make

The preset flow now starts by category:

• Pizza
• Bread
• Flatbread

From there, choose a featured preset card with a short description and use Instructions if you want a matching recipe guide before you tweak anything.

Presets are meant to be fast starting points, not locked templates. If you change the formula or process, the preset switches to Customized and you can use Revert to preset to get back to the original baseline. They are also my reverse-engineered dough projects in various stages of completion, so treat them as working formulas rather than finished doctrine.

2. Set Your Yield First

The Yield Planner is now a primary part of the workflow. Pick the planning mode that matches how you think:

• Portions when you want a target number of dough balls, rolls, or tortillas
• Total dough when you want a specific finished dough weight
• Flour when you already know your flour amount

Planner state persists on refresh, so you can leave and come back without rebuilding your batch.

When you switch presets, KitchenRatio keeps your active planner target instead of forcing you to start over. That means your portions or total-dough target stays intact while you compare styles.

3. Use Chips And Controls To Dial In Size Fast

Use the custom + and - controls or type directly into planner inputs. Inputs no longer clamp aggressively while you are typing, which makes it much easier to enter exact targets.

Quick chips help you land on common batch sizes faster:

• grams-per-portion chips that change by category
• pizza style chips that pin relevant dough weights first
• loaf chips including 1.5 lb and 2 lb
• tortillas adjusted to 45g

This makes the planner useful for both rough sizing and repeatable production.

4. Tune The Formula

Once yield is set, adjust the formula in Formula:

• Hydration
• Salt
• Yeast
• Water temperature
• Ingredient additions and flour blends

Preset values give you a strong baseline, but you can still move the dough where you want it. Recent preset updates include:

• New York style pizza at 64% hydration
• Margot's Midwest Thin at 48% hydration

If you change a preset and want to compare against the original again, use Revert to preset.

5. Plan Fermentation Around Your Schedule

KitchenRatio now handles fermentation planning with more preset awareness and better long-fridge behavior.

You can:

• use preset-aware schedule profiles
• lock Bulk and Proofing back to the preset schedule
• set custom min/max fermentation windows
• save those custom windows with the recipe

This is especially useful when a dough style has a distinct process. For example, Margot's Midwest Thin now reflects:

• 24h bulk
• 48-72h proof

The cold-ferment estimator is more reliable for longer refrigerator timelines, so the planning output is closer to how these doughs are actually used.

6. Read The Stats Without The Clutter

The stats area is simpler and easier to scan. Use it to understand both the formula and the expected dough behavior.

You will now see clearer hydration grouping:

• Base
• Effective
• Adjusted

You also get a texture forecast summary to help you read the formula in practical terms:

• dough feel
• crumb
• crust

Proofing controls were moved into Formula, where they are easier to adjust while building the dough.

7. Review Recipe And Timing

The Recipe view reflects your current formula, yield target, and saved planning choices. Use it to confirm ingredient weights, process timing, and fermentation windows before baking.

The Time to Bake Planner now opens and closes like the other cards, so it behaves more consistently while you move through the workflow.

Use Share Recipe to copy a URL with your current settings if you want to save or send the formula.

8. Mobile Workflow Is Faster

On mobile, KitchenRatio now keeps the active plan easier to reach with a sticky Current plan bar. It shows:

• current style and size summary
• a Customized badge when you changed the preset
• quick actions for Size and Recipe

Sticky actions now scroll with an offset so top content is not hidden, and tapping the style name jumps you back to presets.

9. Move Between Tabs More Smoothly

The Formula, Recipe, and Stats views have improved mobile and desktop tab behavior. The redundant recipe preview card is gone, and layout behavior around the tablet breakpoint has been cleaned up so you do not end up with awkward empty space.

10. If You Want The Quick Version

Here is the repeatable workflow:

1. Choose a category and preset.
2. Set yield with Portions, Total dough, or Flour.
3. Use chips or controls to hit the batch size you want.
4. Adjust the formula and fermentation plan.
5. Check stats for hydration and texture forecast.
6. Review Recipe and Time to Bake Planner.
7. Share or bake.

Related Guides

• KitchenRatio Calculator
• Yield Planner
• Hydration

Get the Gear

• Baking Gear & Ingredients