Dough Hydration Calculator
Calculate dough hydration and adjust water to hit a target percentage.
About Dough Hydration Calculator
Hydration is expressed against flour weight rather than total dough, which is why it can exceed 100 per cent in some formulas. Higher hydration produces a more open crumb but becomes progressively harder to shape. Flour varies in absorbency by protein content and milling, so the same hydration behaves differently between flours and the number is a starting point rather than a target.
Formula
Dough Hydration
Hydration = water weight ÷ flour weight × 100
- hydration
- Water as a percentage of flour weight, not of total dough
- open crumb
- The large irregular holes that higher hydration produces
Worked example
With the default values below, Dough Hydration Calculator returns Current Hydration of 70.000%. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.
Inputs used
- Flour weightminimum 1 g
- 500 g
- Water weightminimum 0 g
- 350 g
- Target hydrationaccepts 30–120 %
- 75 %
Results
- Current Hydration
- 70.000%
- Water Adjustment Needed
- 25.00 g
- Water at Target Hydration
- 375.00 g
- Total Dough Weight
- 850.0 g
- Dough Type
- Standard bread dough
Step by step
- 1Values used
- 2Dough Hydration
- 3Current Hydration= 70.000
- 4Water Adjustment Needed= 25.00 g
- 5Water at Target Hydration= 375.00 g
- 6Total Dough Weight= 850.0 g
- 7Dough Type= Standard bread dough
Assumptions and limits
- The result is derived only from the 3 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
- In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
- Figures are rounded for display to 3 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is Dough Hydration calculated?
Hydration = water weight ÷ flour weight × 100 Hydration is expressed against flour weight rather than total dough, which is why it can exceed 100 per cent in some formulas. Higher hydration produces a more open crumb but becomes progressively harder to shape.
Why does Dough Hydration matter?
Flour varies in absorbency by protein content and milling, so the same hydration behaves differently between flours and the number is a starting point rather than a target.
What values do I need to enter?
This calculator takes 3 inputs: Flour weight, Water weight, Target hydration. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.