Hydration Calculator

Calculate dough hydration percentage from flour and water weights.

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What This Calculator Does

Calculate dough hydration percentage from flour and water weights.

It combines Flour Weight, Water Weight, Starter Weight, Starter Hydration to estimate Hydration, Total Flour, Total Water.

Formula & Method

Starter split is

Starter_{flour}=\frac{Starter}{1+h}

and

Starter_{water}=Starter-Starter_{flour}

where

h

is starter hydration as decimal. Total hydration is

Hydration\%=\frac{Water_{total}}{Flour_{total}}\times100

Notation used in the formulas: $R$ = Hydration; $x_{1}$ = Flour Weight; $x_{2}$ = Water Weight; $x_{3}$ = Starter Weight; $x_{4}$ = Starter Hydration.

Method summary: inputs are normalized to consistent units, core equations are evaluated, then secondary values are derived and rounded for display.

Use this calculator for quick scenario analysis. Start with baseline values, change one driver at a time, and compare how sensitive the results are to each input shown above.

Reference Book

BakeWise

The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking

Shirley O. Corriher · Simon & Schuster

A canonical baking-science reference for baker's percentages, hydration, yeast behavior, flour, and dough structure.

View Book

Inputs Used

Flour Weight: Total flour weight including all types
Water Weight: Total water weight including liquid ingredients
Starter Weight: Sourdough starter weight (assumed 100% hydration)
Starter Hydration: Starter hydration percentage

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