What is dough hydration?

Hydration is the ratio of water weight to flour weight, expressed as a percentage. A dough with 500g flour and 350g water has 70% hydration (350 / 500 × 100). Higher hydration produces a more open crumb; lower hydration makes a denser, easier-to-handle dough.

What hydration level should I use?

Sandwich bread and dinner rolls: 60–65%. Rustic artisan loaves and sourdough: 70–80%. Ciabatta and open-crumb breads: 80–90%+. Begin at 65% if you are new to bread baking and work up as your technique improves.

What are typical baker's percentages for salt and yeast?

Salt is typically 1.8–2.2% of flour weight. Commercial instant yeast is 0.5–1%. Active dry yeast is 1–1.5%. Sourdough starter is usually 10–30% depending on desired fermentation speed.

Does starter count as flour or water?

A 100% hydration starter (equal parts flour and water by weight) contributes half its weight as flour and half as water. This calculator treats starter as a separate ingredient; manually split its weight between flour and water fields if you need strict accuracy.

Why does baker's math use flour as the base?

Flour is the structural backbone of bread. Fixing flour at 100% means every other ingredient percentage stays constant regardless of batch size, making formulas portable and easy to scale.

How do I adjust hydration for whole-grain flour?

Whole-wheat and rye flours absorb more water than white flour. When substituting part of the flour with a whole-grain variety, increase water by roughly 5% of the whole-grain flour weight to maintain the same dough consistency.

Dough Hydration Calculator

Enter flour, water, salt, and yeast weights to instantly calculate hydration percentage and baker's percentages.

Ingredient Weights

Flour (always 100%)

Water

Salt (optional)

Yeast / Starter (optional)

Hydration

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Enter flour and water to calculate.

50% 75% 100%

Baker's Percentages

Ingredient

Weight

Baker's %

Total Dough

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Summary

This calculator computes the hydration percentage of bread dough — the ratio of water to flour — along with baker's percentages for salt and yeast. Baker's percentages express every ingredient relative to the total flour weight, making recipes easy to compare, scale, and reproduce regardless of batch size.

How it works

Enter the weight of flour, water, salt, and yeast in grams.
The calculator divides each ingredient weight by total flour weight, then multiplies by 100 to give baker's percentages.
Hydration is computed as (water / flour) × 100, updating in real time as you type.
Or switch to Target mode: enter a target hydration percentage and flour weight to calculate the water needed.

Use cases

Calculate the exact hydration of your sourdough or sandwich bread recipe.
Verify salt and yeast percentages fall within typical baker's ranges.
Determine how much water to add to hit a target hydration percentage.
Compare hydration levels across multiple bread formulas.
Convert a volume-based recipe into a precise weight-based formula.
Scale a proven recipe to a different batch size while preserving ratios.

Frequently Asked Questions

Last updated: 2026-05-29 · Reviewed by Nham Vu

Dough Hydration Calculator

Ingredient Weights

Baker's Percentages

Guideline Check

Set Parameters

Summary

How it works

Use cases

Frequently Asked Questions

Dough Hydration Calculator

Use the Dough Hydration Calculator

Ingredient Weights

Baker's Percentages

Guideline Check

Set Parameters

Summary

How it works

Use cases

Frequently Asked Questions