Bread Hydration Calculator

Calculate water, starter, and salt amounts from baker's percentages for any bread recipe.

Results

Visualization

How It Works

Baker's percentages express every ingredient as a percentage of the total flour weight. This system makes it easy to scale any bread recipe up or down. Hydration is the most important number -- it determines how wet and open the crumb will be.

The Formula

Ingredient Weight = Flour Weight x (Percentage / 100). Starter is typically 100% hydration, so half its weight is flour and half is water.

Variables

Flour = base weight (always 100%), Hydration = water %, Starter = levain %, Salt = typically 1.8-2.2%.

Example

500g flour at 70% hydration, 20% starter, 2% salt: water = 350g, starter = 100g, salt = 10g. Adjusted flour = 450g, adjusted water = 300g.

Tips

  • Start with 70% hydration if you are new to bread baking -- it is forgiving and produces great results.
  • Higher hydration (75-85%) creates larger holes and a more open crumb but is harder to handle.
  • Always weigh ingredients in grams -- volume measurements are too imprecise for bread.
  • Salt should be 1.8-2.2% of flour. Below 1.5% tastes bland; above 2.5% can inhibit yeast.
  • If using commercial yeast instead of starter, use 1% instant yeast or 1.5% active dry.