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

Name: Dough Hydration Calculator
Availability: InStock
Author: Nham Vu

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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