Bread Dough Hydration Calculator
Calculate baker's percentage hydration for any bread recipe.
Understand what makes dough wet or stiff, and scale recipes to any batch size.
What is bread hydration?
Bread hydration is the ratio of water to flour, expressed as a percentage of the flour weight. It is the single most important variable in bread texture — more water means a more open, chewy crumb with larger holes; less water means a tighter, denser, easier-to-handle dough.
Baker’s Percentage formula:
Hydration % = (Water weight ÷ Flour weight) × 100
Note: In baker’s math, flour is always 100% and everything else is a percentage of the flour weight. This makes it easy to scale recipes up or down.
Hydration levels and their characteristics:
| Hydration | Consistency | Typical Breads |
|---|---|---|
| 55–65% | Stiff | Bagels, pretzels, pasta |
| 65–70% | Firm | Sandwich bread, dinner rolls |
| 70–75% | Standard | Sourdough, French baguette |
| 75–80% | Wet, sticky | Ciabatta, rustic boules |
| 80–90% | Very wet | High-hydration sourdough, focaccia |
| 90–100%+ | Extremely slack | Expert-level open crumb, requires practice |
Scaling by batch size:
Flour for batch = Target dough weight × (100 ÷ (100 + Hydration + Salt% + Other%))
For a simpler approach — just keep ratios fixed and multiply everything by the same factor.
Worked example: scaling a 70% hydration loaf:
Base recipe (1 loaf):
- Flour: 500g (100%)
- Water: 350g (70%)
- Salt: 10g (2%)
- Total: 860g raw dough → yields ~730g baked loaf
To make 3 loaves: multiply everything by 3:
- Flour: 1,500g
- Water: 1,050g
- Salt: 30g
Adjusting for whole wheat or rye:
Whole wheat and rye absorb more water than white flour due to their bran content. When substituting:
- 10% whole wheat → add 5g extra water per 100g whole wheat
- 10% rye → add 8–10g extra water per 100g rye
- 50% whole wheat → increase overall hydration by 3–5%
Sourdough starter hydration:
If you use starter, account for its flour and water contribution:
- A 100% hydration starter contains equal parts flour and water
- 200g of 100% starter contributes 100g flour + 100g water to your recipe
- Subtract these from your target totals before mixing