Sourdough Hydration Calculator
Include the flour and water inside your starter when calculating the overall hydration of a sourdough mix.
Overall dough hydrationExample68.18%
- Total flour including starter
- 550 g
- Total water including starter
- 375 g
How to calculate sourdough hydration
Starter flour = starter weight ÷ (1 + starter hydration); starter water = starter − starter flour; total hydration = total water ÷ total flour × 100
Treat starter as flour and water only. Milk, eggs, soaked grains and other moisture sources are excluded. Hydration alone does not determine handling or fermentation time.
Worked example
An illustrative scenario. “Reset to example” restores it in the calculator.
- Flour added to final mix
- 500 g
- Water added to final mix
- 325 g
- Starter weight
- 100 g
- Starter hydration
- 100%
Overall dough hydration: 68.18%
Sourdough Hydration FAQ
Does 100 g of starter add 100 g of flour?
No. A starter at 100% hydration contains equal flour and water weights: 100 g contributes 50 g of each.
Guides for this calculation
Build context around the numbers with worked examples from our guides.
How to Scale a Recipe Without Losing Portion Control →