🥖 Sourdough Hydration Calculator
Calculate perfect baker's percentages for your sourdough bread. Adjust hydration levels, scale recipes, and get precise measurements for consistent results every time.
Recipe Ingredients
📊 Sourdough Hydration Guide
50-60% - Bagels & Stiff Dough
Feel: Very firm, barely sticky
Crumb: Dense, chewy
Best for: Bagels, pretzels, breadsticks
65-70% - Classic Sourdough
Feel: Soft, tacky, easy to handle
Crumb: Moderate openness, great structure
Best for: Boules, batards, sandwich loaves
75-80% - Artisan Loaves
Feel: Wet, sticky, needs technique
Crumb: Open, irregular holes
Best for: Rustic country bread, pain de campagne
80-90%+ - Ciabatta & Focaccia
Feel: Batter-like, flows easily
Crumb: Very open, lacy
Best for: Ciabatta, focaccia, pizza
💡 Expert Tips from a Sourdough Baker
Master one hydration level before jumping around. I see beginners switching from 65% to 80% to 70% across three consecutive bakes, never developing a feel for any hydration. Pick 70% and bake it five times in a row. Learn how it should look at each stage—after mixing, after bulk, after shaping. Once you can judge gluten development by feel rather than relying on the clock, then experiment. Consistency breeds skill; randomness breeds frustration.
Your flour's protein content massively affects water absorption. All-purpose flour (10-11% protein) acts radically different from bread flour (12-14% protein) at the same hydration. I use King Arthur Bread Flour at 12.7% protein and can comfortably handle 78% hydration. When I use local all-purpose at 10.5%, I drop to 68% for similar handling. Higher protein = more gluten = more water absorption. If your dough feels soupy at a "standard" recipe's hydration, check your flour's protein percentage before blaming yourself.
Environmental humidity changes everything. My go-to 75% hydration recipe works perfectly in winter (30% humidity) but turns into sticky chaos in summer (70% humidity). Flour absorbs moisture from the air, effectively raising your dough's hydration by 2-3%. I now adjust recipes seasonally—75% in winter becomes 72-73% in humid summer months. If your dough suddenly feels different despite using the exact same recipe, check the weather.
Whole grain flours are thirsty—add 5-10% more water. Whole wheat and rye absorb significantly more water than white flour because the bran acts like a sponge. If you substitute 20% whole wheat (100g in a 500g recipe), add an extra 10-15g water minimum. I learned this the hard way when my first whole wheat loaf came out dry and crumbly despite using my trusty 72% hydration. Now I treat whole grain additions as needing 10% higher hydration than their white flour equivalent.
High hydration doesn't automatically mean better bread. Instagram has convinced people that giant holes = superior loaf, so everyone chases 85%+ hydration for that ultra-open crumb. But 80%+ dough requires serious technique—strong folds, careful shaping, perfect fermentation timing. I've tasted plenty of overhydrated loaves that look amazing in photos but are gummy inside because the baker couldn't build enough gluten structure. A well-made 70% loaf beats a poorly executed 85% loaf every single time. Focus on technique before chasing extreme hydration.
⚠️ Common Sourdough Hydration Mistakes
❌ Forgetting to count the flour and water in your starter
The Problem: Treating starter as a separate ingredient instead of part of the total flour and water.
Real Example: A beginner aimed for 75% hydration with 500g flour and 375g water, then added 100g of 100% hydration starter (50g flour + 50g water). Their actual formula: 550g total flour, 425g total water = 77.3% hydration, not 75%. The dough was stickier than expected and they struggled with shaping. They kept "failing" at 75% because they were actually working with 77%.
The Fix: Always calculate: Total Flour = Flour Added + (Starter Weight ÷ (1 + Hydration%)). For 100% hydration starter: flour in starter = starter weight ÷ 2. Count that flour and water in your baker's percentages.
❌ Measuring flour by volume instead of weight
The Problem: Using cups instead of grams makes hitting target hydration impossible.
Real Example: A recipe called for "4 cups bread flour" at 75% hydration. One baker scooped and got 560g (packed). Another spooned and leveled, getting 480g. Same "4 cups," but 80g difference in flour means 60g difference in water for the same hydration. The first baker's dough was dry and tight; the second's was perfect. They blamed their skill when it was actually their measuring method causing inconsistency.
The Fix: Buy a kitchen scale (£10/$12) and measure everything in grams. It's not about precision for precision's sake—it's about reproducibility. You can't improve if each batch uses different amounts of ingredients.
❌ Adding flour to fix sticky dough instead of embracing it
The Problem: Panic-adding flour when dough feels too wet, which ruins your carefully calculated hydration.
Real Example: A baker mixed 75% hydration dough, found it sticky after 30 minutes, and added "a handful" of flour (roughly 40g). This dropped hydration from 75% to 68%. Their final loaf was dense with a tight crumb—exactly what they were trying to avoid by using high hydration in the first place. They spent two weeks troubleshooting their "bad starter" when the real issue was adding flour out of fear.
The Fix: High hydration dough SHOULD feel wet initially. Trust the process. Use wet hands, a bench scraper, and proper folding technique instead of adding flour. The dough will tighten up during bulk fermentation as gluten develops. If you truly overshot hydration, add flour next time—don't try to "fix" the current batch.
❌ Jumping straight to 80%+ hydration as a beginner
The Problem: Attempting high-hydration dough without developing fundamental bread skills first.
Real Example: A complete beginner's first sourdough attempt was an 85% ciabatta recipe from YouTube. The dough stuck to everything, spread flat during shaping, and turned into a puddle in the oven. They gave up, convinced sourdough was "too hard." Three months later, they tried again with 68% hydration, succeeded immediately, and built confidence. They eventually worked up to 82% after mastering technique at lower hydrations.
The Fix: Start at 65-70% hydration even if it's "boring." Build muscle memory for shaping, learn to read fermentation, develop the patience for long bulk ferments. Once you can consistently produce good bread at 70%, increase by 5% per attempt. High hydration is a skill, not a badge of honor.
❌ Ignoring autolyse when using high hydration
The Problem: Skipping the autolyse step (flour + water rest before adding starter/salt) on high-hydration doughs.
Real Example: A baker mixed 80% hydration dough all at once—flour, water, starter, and salt simultaneously. The dough was shaggy and unmanageable for the first hour, requiring aggressive kneading that overheated the dough and damaged gluten. Their bulk fermentation was uneven and the final bread was dense. When they started doing a 30-minute autolyse (just flour + water), the same 80% dough came together smoothly with minimal work.
The Fix: For 75%+ hydration, autolyse is non-negotiable. Mix flour and water, let it rest 30-60 minutes, then add starter and salt. The flour fully hydrates, gluten begins forming on its own, and your dough is exponentially easier to work with. This single step transformed my high-hydration baking from a wrestling match into an enjoyable process.
📖 How to Use This Calculator
- Enter total flour weight: Include all flour types (bread, whole wheat, rye, etc.)
- Enter total water weight: All liquids in your recipe
- Add starter details: Amount and hydration level (usually 100% = equal flour/water)
- Add salt: Typically 2% of flour weight (10g salt per 500g flour)
- Optional - Set target hydration: Leave blank to calculate current hydration, or enter a percentage to auto-adjust water
- Click calculate: Get baker's percentages, actual hydration, and recipe breakdown
The calculator accounts for flour and water in your starter, giving you accurate baker's percentages.
"Hydration is the single most important variable in bread baking that beginners underestimate. I've taught hundreds of students, and the ones who succeed are those who understand baker's percentages and how to adjust for their flour, climate, and skill level. This calculator takes the guesswork out of recipe scaling and helps you maintain consistency—which is everything when you're learning sourdough."