Roti Dough Calculator for Flour and Water
This roti dough calculator works out the flour, water, salt and ghee for a batch of rotis or chapatis, or tells you how many rotis the flour you have will make.
Calculate your roti dough
Example values are shown. The 60% water is only an example, not a recommendation, because different atta absorb different amounts of water. Replace them with your own.
How does the roti dough calculator work?
The roti dough calculator turns a count of rotis and the weight of one dough ball into grams of flour, water, salt and oil or ghee. Water and salt are written as a percentage of the flour weight, the way bakers write them. The formula is:
flour = (total dough − total fat) ÷ (1 + water% + salt%)
water = flour × water%, salt = flour × salt%, total dough = rotis × dough ball weight
Fat is entered in grams per roti and counted as part of the dough ball, so it is taken off the total first and the remaining dough is shared between flour, water and salt. Leave salt and fat blank and they count as zero. Water has no default, because it is the one number that changes with your atta.
Worked example: 12 rotis
Take 12 rotis of 50 g each, with 60% water, 1% salt and 2 g of ghee per roti. The total dough is 12 × 50 = 600 g and the ghee is 12 × 2 = 24 g. That leaves 576 g to split, so the flour is 576 ÷ 1.61 = 357.8 g.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Total dough | 600 g |
| Flour | 357.8 g |
| Water (60% of the flour) | 214.7 g |
| Salt (1% of the flour) | 3.58 g |
| Ghee or oil | 24 g |
Because the answers are rounded for display, the parts can differ from 600 g by a fraction of a gram.
How many rotis will my flour make?
Choose “What I have”, enter the flour you have and the same settings, and the tool divides your flour by the flour one roti needs. The count is rounded down to a whole roti, and the plain dough left over is shown. With 500 g of flour, 50 g balls, 60% water, 1% salt and 2 g of ghee, each roti needs 48 ÷ 1.61 = 29.8 g of flour, so you get 16 rotis. They use 477 g of flour, and 23 g of flour is left, which is 37 g of plain dough before any ghee.
Why does water vary between atta?
Different brands and grinds of atta absorb different amounts of water, and so does the same atta in dry and humid weather. That is why this roti dough calculator will not fill in a water percentage for you. A softer dough has a higher percentage and a firmer dough a lower one. Note the percentage that gave you the dough you like, and enter it each time. For ingredient costs of a batch, the recipe cost calculator can price the atta, ghee and salt you use.
Is 1 g water equal to 1 mL?
For plain water, 1 g is about 1 mL, so the roti dough calculator shows the same figure in millilitres. This holds only for plain water. Milk, yogurt and other liquids are not the same, so weigh them rather than reading the grams as millilitres. To switch between kitchen units, use the kitchen unit converter.
Tips for consistent rotis
- Weigh one ball. Divide the dough into equal pieces on a scale, so every roti matches the size you entered.
- Remember the weights are raw. Rotis lose water on the tawa, so cooked rotis weigh less than the dough balls.
- Keep a little flour spare. Dusting and rolling use some flour that is not in the dough.
- Add water slowly. When trying a new atta, hold back a little and add it as the dough comes together.
To resize a full recipe, use the recipe scaler. To check what a roti contains once it is made, read our guide to one roti’s calories and nutrition. For a quick batch of dough, the roti dough calculator gives you the flour and water to weigh out.
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on the dough ball weight and the water you add. For 12 rotis of 50 g dough each, with 60% water, 1% salt and 2 g of ghee per roti, the tool gives 357.8 g of flour, 214.7 g of water and 3.58 g of salt. A heavier ball or a drier dough changes these numbers.
There is no single right amount, because different atta absorb different amounts of water. Water is set as a percentage of the flour weight: at 60%, 500 g of atta takes 300 g of water, and at 55% it takes 275 g. Start with a figure you have used before and adjust by feel.
With 50 g dough balls, 60% water, 1% salt and 2 g of ghee per roti, 500 g of flour makes 16 rotis, with 37 g of plain dough left over. The count is always rounded down, so a part-roti is never promised. Change the ball weight or water to see how the answer moves.
Only for plain water, where 1 g is about 1 mL. The tool shows water in grams and gives the same figure in millilitres for plain water. If you use milk, yogurt or another liquid, do not read the grams as millilitres, because those liquids have different densities.
No. All weights here are raw dough weights, measured before cooking. Rotis lose water on the tawa, so a cooked roti weighs less than its dough ball. If you want to know the cooked weight, cook one, weigh it and compare it with the raw ball.