Sourdough Hydration & Baker's Percentage Calculator
Enter how much dough you want and your percentages – get exact flour, water, salt and starter weights. Also shows the true hydration once the flour and water inside your starter are counted.
| Ingredient | Per loaf | Total |
|---|
True (overall) hydration: –
Reverse: what's the hydration of my dough?
Hydration ignoring starter: – · True hydration: –
How baker's percentages work
In baker's percentages every ingredient is expressed relative to the total flour, which is always 100%. A dough with 1000 g flour and 700 g water is 70% hydration; 20 g salt is 2%. This makes recipes easy to scale: change the total dough weight and every ingredient moves in proportion.
Why "true hydration" matters
Sourdough starter is itself flour and water. A 100% hydration starter is half flour, half water. If a recipe uses 200 g of starter, that adds 100 g flour and 100 g water, so the dough is wetter (or drier) than the headline water percentage suggests. This calculator treats your starter percentage as a share of the added flour, the convention most home recipes use, and then reports the overall hydration with the starter included.
Typical ranges
- Sandwich / tin loaf: 60–68% hydration
- Everyday sourdough boule: 68–75%
- Open-crumb / ciabatta style: 75–85%
- Whole wheat / wholemeal: often 5–10 points higher, as bran absorbs more water
- Salt: 1.8–2.2% is standard
FAQ
Does it work for yeasted bread?
Yes – set starter to 0% and add your yeast separately (about 1–2% fresh or 0.5–1% instant).
Can I use cups?
Volume measures vary too much for reliable hydration; a cheap kitchen scale gives far better results. Ounces are supported, and there is a grams to ounces baking chart if you need to convert a recipe.
Printable Sourdough Baker's Cheat Sheets – $1
A 7-page printable PDF to keep in the kitchen, so you don't need a screen with floury hands. You get it in both A4 and US Letter sizes.
- Baker's percentage formulas, a water-weight table (60–85% hydration for 250–1000 g flour) and a classic starting formula
- Hydration ranges by bread style, plus adjustments for bread, all-purpose, whole wheat, rye and spelt flour
- Starter feeding schedule: approximate time to peak for 1:1:1 to 1:10:10 feeds at about 20, 24 and 27 °C, plus fridge maintenance tips
- Bulk fermentation times by dough temperature (18–28 °C), final proof guide and a water-temperature formula
- Gram/ounce and °C/°F charts, plus common cup and teaspoon approximations
- Troubleshooting table: 11 common problems, their likely causes and what to try
Everything in the pack is general reference material. Fermentation times are approximate starting points, because starters, flours and kitchens vary. It's a digital download, so nothing is shipped. The calculator on this page stays free whether or not you buy.
Buy for $1 on PayhipSold on Payhip as "Sourdough Baker's Cheat Sheets (Printable)" for $1.00 USD. Payhip handles payment and delivers the files (one .zip with the A4 and US Letter PDFs) straight after purchase.
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