π Bread Hydration Calculator
Calculate baker's percentages and hydration for any bread recipe.
Dough Hydration
How to Use This Calculator
This calculator computes baker's percentages for any bread recipe. Enter the weight of flour and each other ingredient, and it shows the hydration percentage along with the baker's percentage for every component. You can also work backwards: enter a target hydration and flour weight to get the required water amount.
Enter the flour weight in grams. This is always the reference weight (100%).
Enter the water weight. The hydration percentage calculates automatically.
Add other ingredients (salt, oil, sourdough starter, milk) in additional rows. Each gets its own baker's percentage.
If using a sourdough starter, enter its weight and hydration separately so the calculator can factor it into the total hydration correctly.
How Baker's Percentages Work
Baker's math always uses flour as the base (100%). Every other ingredient is expressed as a percentage of the flour weight. So a recipe with 1000g flour, 700g water, 20g salt, and 10g yeast has a hydration of 70%, salt at 2%, and yeast at 1%. This system means you can scale the recipe to any batch size by just changing the flour weight and recalculating everything from there.
Hydration Guide for Common Breads
Why Hydration Percentage Matters
Hydration directly controls how a dough feels to handle and how the finished bread tastes and looks. Low-hydration doughs (60-65%) are stiff and easy to shape by hand, making them good for beginners. They produce a tight, even crumb. Higher-hydration doughs (75% and above) are sticky and require folding techniques rather than kneading, but they develop a more open, chewy crumb with larger air holes, which is what most artisan bakers aim for.
When you adjust hydration in your own recipes, a change of 5% makes a noticeable difference in dough consistency. Going from 70% to 75% hydration means 50 extra grams of water per kilogram of flour, which can take a dough from easy to handle to quite challenging. Knowing the baker's percentage lets you communicate recipes clearly with other bakers and adjust formulas with precision rather than guessing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is baker's percentage?
In baker's percentage, every ingredient is expressed as a percentage of the total flour weight. Flour is always 100%. If a recipe has 500g flour and 325g water, water = 65% (325Γ·500Γ100).
What is a good hydration for bread?
Sandwich bread: 60β65%. Artisan bread: 68β75%. Ciabatta: 80β85%. Sourdough: 70β78%. Higher hydration = more open crumb, harder to handle.
What is hydration in sourdough?
Sourdough hydration counts both the water and flour in the starter. If your starter is 100% hydration (equal weights), half of it contributes to total flour and half to total water.
Does flour type affect hydration?
Yes β whole wheat and rye absorb more water than white flour. Bread flour (high protein) can handle more hydration than all-purpose flour.
What is an autolyse?
Autolyse is a resting period (20β60 min) after mixing flour and water before adding salt and yeast. It improves gluten development and extensibility.