Baker's percentage and hydration calculator
Baker's percentages measure everything against the flour, which is always 100 %. Enter your recipe in grams and get hydration, salt and starter percentages — counting the flour and water inside your starter, the way bakers actually mean it.
Flour is always 100 %
Baker's percentages measure everything against the flour weight. With 1000 g of flour and 20 g of salt, the salt is 2 %. The percentages therefore do not add up to 100 — each one is a ratio, not a share.
The starter counts
This is where most calculations go wrong. A starter at 100 % hydration is equal parts flour and water, and both belong in the totals. 200 g of starter is 100 g of extra flour and 100 g of extra water.
The difference is typically 2-5 percentage points of hydration — enough that a recipe from elsewhere behaves differently than you expected, and hard to spot unless you know to look for it.
Normal ranges
- Water: 65-80 %
- Salt: 2-2.2 %
- Starter: 15-25 %
- Wholegrain: 10-40 % — add 3-5 % extra water per 10 %
Frequently asked questions
Why is the hydration higher than water divided by flour?
Because the water inside the starter counts too. A 100 % hydration starter is half water, and that water is part of the dough — leave it out and you typically understate hydration by 3-5 percentage points.
What is a normal hydration?
65-72 % is beginner friendly, 72-80 % gives a more open crumb, and above 80 % is specialty territory like ciabatta and focaccia.
How much salt should bread have?
2-2.2 % of flour weight. Below 1.5 % the bread tastes flat; above 2.5 % the salt noticeably slows fermentation.