How much dough for my pan or pizza size?
Dough needed = pan area × a loading in grams per square centimetre. The area is simple geometry; the loading is where every published calculator disagrees, so PizzaHQ takes it from the style you are making — its build guide, or its own recorded ball weight and size — and tells you which.
Result
- Each pan
- 963 g
- range 788–1138 g
- Total dough
- 963 g
- range 788–1138 g
- Area each
- 875 cm²
- Loading
- 0.9–1.3 g/cm²
Where the loading comes from: From PizzaHQ's "Detroit-style pizza in a rectangular steel pan" build guide, which uses the thick and airy loading range.
- Area: 25 × 35 = 875 cm²
- Dough per piece: 875 cm² × 0.9–1.3 g/cm² (typical 1.1) = 788–1138 g (typical 963 g)
- Total: 963 g × 1 = 963 g (range 788–1138 g)
Go thinner (towards the low end) for a crisper, lighter result; thicker for a taller, breadier one.
Work out the ingredients in the dough calculator
Build guides using this loading: Detroit-style pizza in a rectangular steel pan, Sicilian-American pizza in a rectangular pan, Sfincione — Palermo's spongy tray pizza with onion-anchovy sauce and breadcrumbs
The loading ranges
| Thickness | g/cm² | Typical styles |
|---|---|---|
| Thin (cracker-leaning) | 0.4–0.6 (typical 0.5) | Thin, cracker-leaning pan styles such as tavern-style or St Louis. |
| Medium | 0.6–0.9 (typical 0.75) | Medium pan styles such as Grandma pizza or a standard sheet pizza. |
| Thick and airy | 0.9–1.3 (typical 1.1) | Thick, airy pan styles such as Detroit-style or Sicilian-American. |
| Deep dish | 1.1–1.7 (typical 1.4) | Very thick, deep-sided styles such as Chicago deep-dish. |
How this works
The pan's area is worked out from its shape: π × radius² for a round pan, side × side for a square, length × width for a rectangle. Inches are converted at 2.54 cm each.
The loading is never a single universal number. For a pan style, it comes from that style's PizzaHQ build guide where there is one; for a pan style without a guide it is inferred from the style's recorded thickness, and labelled as an inference. For a hand-stretched round pizza it comes from the style's own recorded ball weight and finished diameter.
The result is a range, because the styles themselves are ranges — the low end gives a thinner, crisper pizza, the high end a taller, breadier one.
Formulas
- Dough per pan
area (cm²) × loading (g/cm²) × (1 + loss% ÷ 100)- Round area
π × (diameter ÷ 2)²Doubling the diameter quadruples the area — and the dough.
- Style ball loading
recorded ball weight ÷ (π × (recorded diameter ÷ 2)²)For a Neapolitan 250 g ball at 28 cm: 250 ÷ 616 ≈ 0.41 g/cm².
Assumptions
- Loadings are PizzaHQ's editorial guidelines, labelled as such in the catalogue — not an industry standard. Published figures for the same pan genuinely differ.
- Pan sides are not counted. A deep pan whose dough climbs the sides needs more than its base area suggests.
- Round-pizza loadings average the rim and the centre; a style with a big raised rim is thinner in the middle than the average suggests.
Limitations
- Only styles with a build guide, a recorded thickness on a pan style, or a recorded ball weight and diameter can be chosen.
- Flour, hydration and how far the dough is proofed all change how a given weight fills a pan.