It depends on two things: your hydration percentage (how much water you add) and your dough ball size (which depends on your pizza style and oven). But here is the quick answer for the most common scenario:
At 70% hydration with 2.6% salt and a small amount of yeast, 500g of flour produces approximately 865g of total dough. Divide that by your target ball weight, and you have your pizza count.
| Ball Weight | Pizza Diameter | Style / Oven | Pizzas from 500g Flour |
|---|---|---|---|
| 250g | 10-12” | Portable oven (Ooni, Roccbox) | 3 |
| 290g | 12” | Neapolitan (home oven) | 3 |
| 340g | 12” | Forkish standard (home oven) | 2-3 |
| 370g | 12-13” | Gemignani standard (home oven) | 2 |
For most home bakers making 12-inch pizzas in a kitchen oven, 500g of flour makes 2-3 pizzas.
The Math: Baker’s Percentages
Baker’s percentages are the universal language of dough — every ingredient expressed as a percentage of flour weight. For a standard cold-fermented dough with 500g of flour:
| Ingredient | Baker’s % | Amount (for 500g flour) |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 100% | 500g |
| Water | 70% | 350g |
| Salt | 2.6% | 13g |
| Yeast (IDY) | 0.3% | 1.5g |
| Total | ~865g |
If your recipe includes olive oil (1-2%), diastatic malt (2%), or a pre-ferment (starter), the total increases slightly. Gemignani’s Master Dough with Starter adds about 100g of additional ingredients (starter, malt, oil) to 453g of flour, yielding ~820g total — enough for 2 pizzas at 370g each.
How Hydration Changes the Yield
Higher hydration means more water, which means more total dough from the same amount of flour.
| Hydration | Water for 500g Flour | Approximate Total Dough | Pizzas at 290g |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60% | 300g | ~815g | 2-3 |
| 65% | 325g | ~840g | 2-3 |
| 70% | 350g | ~865g | 3 |
| 75% | 375g | ~890g | 3 |
The difference between 60% and 75% hydration is only about 75g of additional dough — not enough to change your pizza count in most cases. The reason to adjust hydration is texture and oven compatibility, not yield.
Dough Ball Size: Why It Matters
Ball weight controls pizza diameter and crust thickness. Using the wrong ball weight for your oven is a common mistake.
Portable ovens (Ooni, Roccbox, 12” opening): Use 250-280g balls. A 350g ball stretches to 14”+ and will not fit in a 12” oven with room to turn. Forkish-sized 340g balls are too large for these ovens.
16” portable ovens (Ooni Koda 16): Use 300-350g balls. Do not make 16” pizzas in a 16” oven — you need clearance to rotate. Target 12-14” diameter.
Home kitchen oven on steel: Use 290-370g balls. This is the broadest range because home ovens allow larger pizzas (your oven is 18-24” wide). Forkish uses 340g. Gemignani uses 370g.
Pan pizza (half sheet): Use the entire batch as one ball. A 500g-flour batch at 75% hydration (Forkish’s Saturday Pan Pizza) makes one large sheet-pan pizza.
What the Recipes Actually Yield
Here is what the major sources produce from roughly 500g of flour:
Forkish (Elements of Pizza): All recipes use 500g flour. His 24-48 Hour Cold Retard: 500g flour + 350g water + 13g salt + 1.5g IDY = ~865g total. Divided into 3 dough balls at ~290g each. These make 10-12” Neapolitan or Roman pizzas in a home oven.
Gemignani (The Pizza Bible): Master Dough with Starter uses 453g flour + 280g water + 90g starter + 10g malt + 10g salt + 5g oil + 2.2g yeast = ~820g total. Divided into 2 dough balls at ~370g each. These make 12-13” pizzas using his two-stone method at 500F.
Iacopelli (YouTube): His Double-Fermented Dough uses 1000g flour for 250g balls. Scaled to 500g flour at 70% hydration: approximately 865g total dough, which yields 3 balls at 250-280g each — suitable for a 12” portable oven or thin home-oven pizzas.
The difference between Forkish’s 3 pizzas and Gemignani’s 2 from similar flour amounts comes down entirely to ball size preference. Forkish makes thinner, lighter pizzas. Gemignani makes slightly thicker ones that can support more toppings.
Quick Reference by Style
The Bottom Line
500g of flour makes 2-3 standard pizzas for a home oven, or 3-4 if you are making thin styles or using a portable oven. The variable is ball weight, not hydration. Pick your ball size based on your oven and style, divide the total dough, and that is your count. If you are feeding more than 2-3 people, scale to 1000g of flour — that gives you 5-6 pizzas. For a full breakdown of how each ingredient affects your dough, see our dough recipe by weight guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How much dough do I need per pizza?
- It depends on your pizza diameter and style. For a 10-12 inch pizza in a portable oven: 250-280g. For a 12-inch pizza in a home oven: 290-370g (Forkish uses ~290g, Gemignani uses 370g). For Neapolitan per AVPN specification: 180-250g per ball (called a panetto). For a full sheet-pan pizza: 865-1000g. Thinner styles (Roman, bar pizza) use less dough per pizza, thicker styles (pan, Sicilian) use more.
- How do I scale a pizza dough recipe up or down?
- Use baker's percentages. Every ingredient is expressed as a percentage of flour weight. If a recipe calls for 500g flour at 70% hydration with 2.6% salt: water = 500 x 0.70 = 350g, salt = 500 x 0.026 = 13g. To make more pizzas, increase the flour amount and recalculate everything proportionally. Forkish's FWSY recipes use 1000g flour (5-6 pizzas). To scale down to 3 pizzas: use 600g flour and multiply all other ingredients by 1.2.
- Does hydration affect how many pizzas I can make?
- Marginally. Going from 60% to 75% hydration on 500g of flour adds only about 75g of total dough -- not enough to add an extra pizza in most cases. At 60% hydration you get about 815g total dough; at 75% you get about 890g. The reason to choose your hydration is texture and oven compatibility (higher hydration for longer home oven bakes, lower for fast portable oven bakes), not to increase pizza count.
- How many pizzas should I plan per person?
- For a pizza dinner, plan on 1.5 to 2 pizzas per adult and 1 pizza per child, assuming 12-inch home oven pizzas. If you are making Neapolitan-style (lighter, thinner, 10-12 inch), plan 2 per adult. For pan or Detroit style (thicker, heavier), 1 pizza feeds 2-3 people. A 500g flour batch makes 2-3 pizzas -- enough for 1-2 adults as a full meal.
- Why does Gemignani get 2 pizzas from 453g flour but Forkish gets 3 from 500g?
- Ball size. Gemignani divides his Master Dough (~820g total) into 2 balls at 370g each, producing 12-13 inch pizzas in a home oven. Forkish divides his cold retard dough (~865g total) into 3 balls at ~290g each, producing thinner 10-12 inch pizzas. Same amount of flour, different number of pizzas, because Gemignani prefers a thicker crust that supports more toppings while Forkish aims for a thinner, more delicate result.
- How much flour do I need for a pizza party?
- For 10 people at 1.5 pizzas each, you need about 15 twelve-inch pizzas. At 290g per ball: 15 x 290g = 4,350g of dough. At 70% hydration: 4,350g of dough requires approximately 2,560g (about 2.5kg) of flour. Round up to 2.5-3kg of flour to have a margin. Forkish's FWSY batch of 1000g flour makes 5-6 pizzas, so you would need about 3 batches.
Sources: Forkish, The Elements of Pizza (2016); Forkish, Flour Water Salt Yeast (2012); Gemignani, The Pizza Bible (2014); Masi et al., The Neapolitan Pizza: A Scientific Guide (2015); Iacopelli, YouTube (2019-2023).