Bread Hydration Calculator
Enter flour weights and water to instantly compute hydration percentage and full baker's percentages. Scale to any batch size.
Bread Hydration Calculator
Free tools for calculating dough hydration, baker's percentages, sourdough ratios, and more. No signup. No ads. Works entirely in your browser.
Hydration is always calculated as water Γ· flour Γ 100 β only flour counts as the base.
The Hydration Spectrum
Every bread sits somewhere on this scale. Where does yours fall?
What is hydration?
Water Γ· flour Γ 100. A dough with 350 g water and 500 g flour is 70% hydration. This single number controls crumb structure, crust texture, and shelf life.
Try the calculator βBaker's percentage
Flour is always 100%. Every other ingredient is expressed relative to it. This makes recipes infinitely scalable and instantly comparable β professional bakers live by it.
Baker's % calculator βSourdough is different
Your starter adds flour AND water to the dough. A 200 g starter at 100% hydration contributes 100 g of each. Ignoring this means your hydration is off by 5β8 points.
Sourdough calculator βFlour type matters
Bread flour absorbs more water than all-purpose. Whole wheat and rye absorb even more. When you swap flours, the hydration number needs to follow β our tools handle this automatically.
Multi-flour calculator βAll Baking Tools
Ten free calculators covering every stage of bread and pastry baking. All tools run in your browser β nothing is sent to a server.
Sourdough Hydration Calculator
Account for starter flour and water to get true dough hydration. Supports any starter hydration percentage.
Pizza Dough Calculator
Dial in Neapolitan, New York, or pan-style pizza hydration. Outputs per-ball weights and total batch amounts.
Baker's Percentage Calculator
Convert any recipe to baker's percentages β or build a recipe from percentages up. Works with blended flours and preferments.
Sourdough Starter Calculator
Calculate exact flour and water amounts for any feeding ratio or target hydration. Tracks recent feedings locally.
Baguette Calculator
Scale traditional French baguette recipes by piece count. Includes poolish pre-ferment option and salt capped at 1.8%.
Bagel Calculator
Low-hydration bagel recipes at 55β60%. Set piece count and weight; handles barley malt syrup as a separate ingredient.
Croissant Calculator
Calculate detrempe and beurrage quantities for laminated dough. Shows layer count for any folding sequence.
Hydration Chart
Visual reference showing hydration ranges for 15+ bread types β from bagels to ciabatta β with crumb and handling notes.
Cookie & Cake Moisture Guide
Understand how butter, eggs, sugar type, and liquid affect texture in cookies and cakes. Covers spread, crumb, and shelf life.
Why BreadHydration.com?
Instant results
Every calculation updates as you type. No forms to submit, no page reloads, no waiting. The answer is always one keystroke away.
Completely private
All tools run in your browser. Your recipes, ratios, and feeding histories are stored only in your local storage β never on a server.
Available in 6 languages
BreadHydration.com is fully translated into English, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Japanese so every baker can use the tools in their own language.
Free, forever
No subscription, no freemium limits, no account required. All ten tools are completely free with no feature gates.
From the Blog
Deep dives into hydration, fermentation, flour science, and technique.
Baker's Percentage: The Complete Reference for Home Bakers
A full guide to baker's percentage β what it is, how to scale recipes, adjust hydration, substitute flours, and build your own formulas from scratch.
Read article →Sourdough Hydration: From Beginner to Advanced Baker
Complete breakdown of sourdough hydration β how to calculate it including your starter, what percentage to start with, and how to push higher.
Read article →Pizza Dough Hydration: The Complete Chart and Guide
Practical guide to pizza dough hydration β Neapolitan, New York, Detroit, and focaccia styles with percentage ranges, handling tips, and a chart.
Read article →Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about bread hydration, baker's percentages, and dough handling.
- Dough hydration is the ratio of water to flour in a recipe, expressed as a percentage. If a recipe uses 500g of flour and 375g of water, the hydration is 75%. In baker's math, flour is always 100% and every other ingredient is expressed relative to it.
- Divide the total water weight by the total flour weight, then multiply by 100. For example: 350g water Γ· 500g flour Γ 100 = 70% hydration. When multiple flours are blended, add all flour weights together before dividing.
- Baker's percentage (also called baker's math) expresses every ingredient as a percentage of the total flour weight. Flour is always 100%. So 10g of salt in a 500g flour recipe is 2% salt. This makes it easy to scale recipes up or down without recalculating ratios.
- A hydration of 65β70% is the sweet spot for beginners. The dough is workable without being sticky, holds its shape well, and gives a decent open crumb. Once you are comfortable with gluten development and shaping, you can push toward 75β80%.
- Low hydration doughs (55β65%) are stiff, easy to knead by hand, and produce dense, chewy breads like bagels and pretzels. High hydration doughs (75β90%+) are slack and sticky, require stretch-and-fold techniques, and produce an open, airy crumb with a thin, crispy crust.
- Yes, significantly. Whole wheat and rye flours absorb more water than white flour because their bran particles soak up liquid. A recipe calling for 70% hydration with white flour may need 75β80% when switching to whole wheat to achieve the same dough feel. Start lower and add water gradually.
- Whole wheat flour typically absorbs 5β10% more water than white bread flour due to the bran content. If you are substituting whole wheat for part of the white flour, increase total water proportionally β roughly 1g of extra water per 10g of whole wheat added.
- Rye absorbs significantly more water than white flour and contains pentosans that create a very sticky, almost paste-like dough at high percentages. Rye doughs typically run 75β100% hydration. Do not expect rye-heavy doughs to feel or behave like wheat doughs.