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Submitted by dolfs on October 29, 2007 - 10:53pm.

Dough Calculator Spreadsheet available


I have completed a first version of my dough calculator spreadsheet that I think is in decent enough shape to share. I have described this spreadsheet (in previous incarnations) and previous posts. This version is quite different in that it is much more automated and supports a "normal" style of using baker's percentages with preferments. I've found it invaluable in reverse engineering formulas (when no percentages are given), scaling, and overall analysis (hydration for example). Please check it out and give me feedback.

Recipe Worksheeet

The above is just a screenshot of a tiny piece. You will find the documentation here: http://www.starreveld.com/Baking. The sidebar on the left contains a link to download the actual spreadsheet. Unfortunately, right now this spreadsheet is only supported on Windows, see the documentation. Macintosh users can use Parallels Desktop of VMWare Fusion, or Apple's Bootcamp (now part of Leopard) to run windows. In fact, the spreadsheet was developed under Windows XP running on Parallels on a 17" MacBook Pro.

Here is a (partial) list of functionality:

  • Compute weights and volumes from formula with percentages and total dough weight
  • Scale formulas to any desired dough size
  • Support unlimited number of preferments in dough
  • Compute slightly larger preferment sizes to compensate for evaporation and container loss
  • Compute final loaf weight based on estimated baking loss (evaporation)
  • Convert volumes of ingredients to weights
  • Reverse engineering. You enter ingredients and weights or volume in practically any units, and it computes the baker's percentages for you
  • Conversion between regular milk and dried milk
  • Conversion between sugar/honey/Splenda
  • General conversion between volume and weight for specific ingredient
  • Conversion between Fresh/Active Dry/Instant Dry yeast
  • Compute hydration contribution of each ingredient in formula
  • Compute adjustments to formulas when substituting different hydration level starters for others, or for yeast
  • Compute necessary water temperature for formula based on desired dough temperature, room temperature, ingredient temperature and mixer friction. Also computes amount of ice needed as substitute for water to reach the right temperature
  • Analysis of formula and overall dough for hydration, and cost

I am sure that there may be rough edges as, so far, I have been the only user. Please report back any problems in comments on this blog.

 

--dolf

See my My Bread Adventures in pictures 


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Submitted by KipperCat on October 30, 2007 - 12:25pm.

Perfect Timing!

Many thanks Dolf.  I haven't looked at your previous spreadsheets, or those that others have posted.  I needed to do the calculations myself for awhile to understand them.  I've built a spreadsheet with just a bit of the functionality of yours, and been using it.  Now I think I'm ready for a more advanced program, and it won't be just a magic black box.  I'll be using yours some over the next couple of weeks.


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Submitted by dolfs on October 30, 2007 - 12:48pm.

Good thing

It is always good to make sure you understand the calculations involved in baker's percentages. Once mastered, however, doing it a lot becomes tedious and error prone. I worked on this spreadsheet over the course of 3-4 months, constantly adding functionality and working out bugs. Especially getting all the hydration calculations right in the face of multiple preferments was not easy.

--dolf

See my My Bread Adventures in pictures


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Submitted by faylen on July 18, 2008 - 3:29pm.

Having some trouble...

I love the idea of the dough calculator spreadsheet, and it is evident that you have put a lot of time and effort into not only the spreadsheet itself but also into an entire website to explain the spreadsheet. I downloaded it and attempted to run it in Microsoft Excel, but was unable to get the spreadsheet to work the way it was supposed to. I wonder if the macros are different between the mac and windows versions of excel. It is a beautiful spreadsheet nonetheless, and an amazing loaf of bread (the multigrain sandwich bread). I will try to duplicate your spreadsheet on my own for my use, and share it should I get it to an acceptable standard. Thank you again.


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Submitted by dolfs on July 18, 2008 - 8:53pm.

Mac only (unfortunately)

As the original entry describes, this only works on the PC version of Excel. It relies on macros to do some of the tasks that simply could not be done in a spreadsheet. I am a Macintosh person myself, but I ran into the problem that the macro support on Office for MacOSx was not sufficiently capable and compatible with the PC. So I finished the task on the PC (thanks to Parallels) because it was more important to me to have the functionality than to have it be available on the Mac. Figured I'd sort this out later.

Next Microsoft dropped macro support altogether from Office 2008 for Mac. Bummer. So, we're stuck with a Windows only version until the next version of Office for Mac (Microsoft announced the return of macro support). Only the gods know when that will be. Microsoft seems to take years in between versions!

I am considering converting the whole deal to a Web application and that may yet occur, but it depends on how busy my consultancy is. Paying customers before free activities and baking! 

--dolf

See my My Bread Adventures in pictures


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