Prep Station
For chefs
Recipes that cost what you cook Formulas and yields on one card
Baker’s percentages, cross-category conversions, prep and cook yields, and Recipe Player—so the math matches how you actually write recipes.
No credit card · Cost a recipe in minutes · Cancel anytime
Deep dive on plate margin? Recipe costing.
Country loaf dough
Baker’s % · flour marked as base
| Ingredient | Qty | Baker’s % |
|---|---|---|
|
Bread flour Base · 100% |
1000 g | 100% |
|
Water |
650 g | 65% |
|
Salt |
20 g | 2% |
|
Levain |
200 g | 20% |
|
Diastatic malt |
5 g | 0.5% |
Why Prep Station for chefs
01
Baker’s % and standard %
Mark the base, read hydration, or switch to total-batch weight % for R&D and commissary specs.
02
Cross-category conversions
Butter in tablespoons, cost in grams. Density factors bridge weight, volume, and count—including prep recipes.
03
Yield that prices waste
Prep yield, cook loss, and raw-vs-prepared math so trim isn’t invisible food cost.
No credit card for the live demo
Real kitchen units, yields, and formulas
Cancel anytime
Generic software doesn’t know a cup of flour isn’t a cup of water. Or that salt shouldn’t scale 1:1 when you go from 12 covers to 120.
Spreadsheets force every ingredient into one unit. Baker’s % lives in your head. Trim waste never hits the plate cost. That’s not how a serious kitchen writes a recipe.
Chef reality
You need density conversions, baker’s formulas, prep and cook yields, and scaling rules that respect culinary math—not another inventory-first template.
Culinary math, then the pass
Formula → convert → yield → cook. Same recipe card the whole way.
-
Write the formula
Baker’s % or standard %. Mark the base. See hydration without a side spreadsheet.
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Convert units
Cross-category density factors so recipe units cost against vendor units without guesswork.
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Apply yield
Prep yield, cook loss, and waste cost—raw in, plated out, trim priced.
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Cook the card
Scale for covers or target yield, then open Recipe Player with step timers.
Percentage modes
Baker’s % built into the recipe card
Mark flour (or any base) as 100%. Every other ingredient shows as baker’s percent—hydration at a glance, formulas that scale like a bakery. Flip to standard percent of total batch weight when you need R&D comparisons or commissary specs.
- Base-ingredient marking for baker’s %
- Standard % of total recipe weight
- Inline edit quantity from a target percent
Bread flour
Water
Salt
Levain
Ingredient conversions · Unsalted butter
Density bridges weight ↔ volume ↔ count
1 tbsp → 14.2 g
Recipe → purchase
1 cup → 227 g
Volume → weight
1 stick → 113 g
Custom unit → weight
1 lb case → 32 tbsp
Vendor → recipe
Cross-category conversions
Write the recipe in kitchen units. Cost it in vendor units.
Ingredient-specific density factors convert across weight, volume, and count—so a tablespoon of butter still costs correctly against a pound case. Prep recipes get their own conversion factors when you portion cups from a quart yield. Same-category units run through Measured plus your custom unit types (sticks, scoops, hotel pans).
- Weight ↔ volume ↔ count with density
- Prep-recipe conversion factors
- Custom unit types and conversion chains
Prep & cook yield
Cost what you plate, not what you purchased
Preparation yield on every line (trim, peel, dice) with defaults from prep methods—and USDA yield references when you need a starting number. Cooking yield captures moisture loss after the heat. Waste usage shows raw needed, prepared amount, and trim cost. Toggle quantities-as-purchased when you write recipes that way.
- Prep yield and cook-loss percentages
- Waste cost visible in cost analysis
- Recipe yield calculator across all lines
Beef short rib · trimmed
Prep yield 72% · cook yield applied
Recipe asks
48 oz
prepared
Buy
66.7 oz
raw
Waste
18.7 oz
$4.49 trim
Scale · 12 → 120 covers
Linear batch · non-linear seasoning
Short rib
Linear
48 oz → 480 oz
Red wine reduction
Prep roll-up
6 fl oz → 60 fl oz
Kosher salt
Logarithmic
1 tbsp → 4.2 tbsp
Thyme
Square root
2 tsp → 6.3 tsp
Prep recipes & scaling
Prep that rolls up. Salt that doesn’t blow out.
Mark stocks and sauces as prep recipes—they become ingredients in finished dishes with cost, allergens, and nutrition cascading up. Scale by servings or target yield. Set linear, logarithmic, square-root, or custom rules so spices and leaveners don’t scale 1:1. Size ratios on modifiers scale portions for Large vs Regular without rewriting the card.
- Prep recipes with yield unit and shelf life
- Non-linear ingredient scaling rules
- Size-ratio modifiers for portion scaling
Recipe Player
Instruction groups and timers on the pass
Group steps (Prep / Cook / Plate). Each instruction carries a duration. Recipe Player walks the line through checkoff and multi-timers—same yields, same formula you costed.
Recipe Player
Country loaf · Bake group · Step 2 of 4
Instruction groups
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Mix
3 steps · done
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Bulk ferment
2 steps · active
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Bake
4 steps
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Cool
1 step
Current step
Bulk ferment
Fold every 30 minutes
Three folds total. Dough should feel airy and strong before divide.
Build a dough with baker’s % and open Recipe Player in the live demo.
Related kitchen workflows
You are here
Chefs
- Baker’s % and standard %
- Cross-category conversions
- Yield, waste, non-linear scale, Recipe Player
Go deeper on margin
Recipe costing
- Interactive cost cascade
- Modifiers and menu margin chips
- Cost history when invoices land
Questions chefs ask
Does Prep Station support baker’s percentages?
Yes. Mark a base ingredient (usually flour) as 100%. Every other line shows as baker’s percent so hydration and formula ratios stay visible. You can also switch to standard percent of total batch weight for R&D and specs.
Can it convert across weight, volume, and count?
Yes. Ingredient-specific density conversions bridge weight ↔ volume ↔ count (for example tablespoons of butter to grams). Prep recipes get their own conversion factors when yield units differ from how you portion them. Same-category units use Measured plus your custom unit types.
How do trim and cook loss work?
Set preparation yield on each line (trim, peel, dice). Cooking yield captures moisture loss after cooking. Cost analysis shows raw amount needed, prepared amount, and waste cost—and you can search USDA yield references when setting those numbers.
Do spices have to scale 1:1 with batch size?
No. Ingredient scaling rules support linear, logarithmic, square-root, and custom curves so salt, spices, and leaveners don’t blow out when you scale for covers or a target yield.
Can the line cook from the same recipe I costed?
Yes. Recipe Player walks instruction groups step by step with timers and ingredient checkoff on a phone or tablet—the same card with the same yields you used for plate cost.
Do I need a credit card for the live demo?
No. The live demo does not require a credit card. Build a dough formula or cost a plate and cancel anytime.
Prep Station
Write formulas the kitchen can cook
Spin up the demo: baker’s % → conversions → yield → Recipe Player.
No credit card required · Cancel anytime