Dough hydration explained

Dough hydration is the weight of water divided by the weight of flour, shown as a percentage. A dough made with 500 g flour and 325 g water has 65% hydration.

CookBook TeamUpdated Oct 11, 2026

The hydration formula

Hydration is a baker’s percentage: flour is always 100%, and every other ingredient is written as a share of the flour weight. Weigh both flour and water in grams, because the maths only works by weight.

Hydration (%) = water (g) ÷ flour (g) × 100

Turn it around when you know the hydration you want: Water (g) = flour (g) × hydration (%) ÷ 100.

Worked examples in grams

Check a recipe: 500 g flour and 325 g water. 325 ÷ 500 × 100 = 65%.
Hit a target: 1,000 g flour at 70% needs 1,000 × 70 ÷ 100 = 700 g water.
Several flours: add them together first. 400 g bread flour, 100 g wholemeal flour and 380 g water: 380 ÷ 500 × 100 = 76%.
Start from dough weight: four 250 g pizza balls make 1,000 g of dough. At 62% water, 3% salt and 0.2% yeast the percentages add up to 165.2%, so flour = 1,000 × 100 ÷ 165.2 = 605 g. Water is then 605 × 62 ÷ 100 = 375 g, with 18 g salt and 1.2 g yeast. The pizza dough calculator does this for any number of balls.

If a recipe gives flour or milk in cups, convert them to grams with the ingredient weight chart before you work out hydration.

What counts as liquid

Recipes often count milk, juice, tea, coffee, beer and wine as water when they state hydration [1]. Cow’s milk is about 87% water [2], so counting it in full slightly overstates hydration: a dough of 500 g flour and 300 g whole milk reads as 60%, but the milk holds about 262 g water, which is 52%.

Eggs and butter are usually left out of the hydration figure, yet they still bring water to the dough: eggs are roughly 75% water [1] and butter about 16 to 18% [1][3]. This is why an enriched dough such as brioche can have a low stated hydration and still feel soft.

When you publish a recipe, say whether milk, eggs or other liquids are included in the hydration you state. If you swap water for milk or egg, adjust for its water content, not its full weight.

How starter and preferments count

A sourdough starter, levain, poolish or biga is flour and water (with yeast or a wild culture) mixed ahead of time, so part of the recipe’s flour and water is already inside it. Its own hydration tells you how to split it:

Starter flour (g) = starter (g) ÷ (1 + starter hydration ÷ 100)
Starter water (g) = starter (g) − starter flour (g)

Worked example: a 100% hydration starter

A 100% hydration starter holds equal weights of flour and water, so 100 g contains 50 g flour and 50 g water. Take a dough of 450 g flour, 315 g water, 100 g of that starter and 9 g salt:

Final dough only: 315 ÷ 450 × 100 = 70%.
Overall, including the starter: (315 + 50) ÷ (450 + 50) × 100 = 365 ÷ 500 × 100 = 73%.
Prefermented flour: 50 ÷ 500 × 100 = 10% of the total flour.

A stiff starter splits differently: 150 g at 50% hydration is 150 ÷ 1.5 = 100 g flour and 50 g water.

Final dough or overall formula: two ways to count

Final dough: percentages use only the flour added at the final mix, and the starter or preferment appears as one ingredient. Overall formula: the preferment is split into its flour and water, and every percentage uses the total flour. Professional formula layouts use the overall formula and record the share of prefermented flour separately [4].

The gap can be large: in a poolish French bread, water is 48% of the final-dough flour but 65% of the total flour once the poolish is counted [5]. Sourdough hydration is usually quoted on the overall formula, counting the flour and water in the starter or levain [1]. The small amount of ripe starter used to seed a levain is often left out [6][7]. When you publish a recipe, say which way you counted. The baker’s percentage calculator shows both figures, and the guide to poolish, biga and levain explains how each preferment is built.

Recognise firm, supple and slack dough

A firm pale dough ball holding a compact rounded shape — **Firm dough** Holds a mound and resists stretching. Kneading is usually easier than folding a very wet dough.

A softer rounded dough mound spreading slightly — **Supple dough** Relaxes a little while keeping its shape. Give it time to absorb water before deciding it needs more flour.

Glossy wet dough spreading across the worktop — **Slack dough** Spreads and sticks more readily. Use the folds and rests in your recipe to build strength.

These examples compare handling, not measured hydration percentages. Flour, mixing, fermentation and resting all change the appearance; calculate hydration from weighed ingredients.

Typical hydration by bread and pizza style

These are starting points from published formulas, counted on the overall formula. Your flour can move the right number by several points.

Style	Typical hydration	Notes
Bagel	55 to 65%	Stiff dough for a tight crumb and chew [8]
Sandwich (pan) loaf	62 to 65% or more	Soft sandwich breads usually 65% and up [9][8]
Baguette	65 to 67%, up to 77% in artisan versions	Lean dough; artisan versions run wetter for a more open crumb [5][10][1]
Ciabatta	73 to 76%, up to 90%	Needs the water for its thin crust and open, lacy crumb [5][11][12]
Focaccia	80% or more	Open, bubbly crumb; the pan supports the wet dough [13]
Neapolitan pizza (AVPN)	55.6 to 62.5%	1,600 to 1,800 g flour per litre of water; baked for 60 to 90 seconds [14]
New York style pizza	52.5 to 65%	Usually cold-fermented for 12 to 72 hours [15][16]
Pan pizza, including Detroit style	58 to 80%	Detroit style at the wetter end, 70 to 80% [17]; see the pizza dough calculator

If you call a pizza recipe AVPN style, keep it inside the AVPN range. Within it, flour that absorbs more water takes the higher end.

Bread dough beside a cut loaf showing irregular air pockets — An open crumb depends on fermentation, dough strength and handling as well as water. A photograph of the finished bread cannot tell you its hydration.

Flour, absorption and experience

The right hydration depends on how much water your flour can absorb. Absorption is usually measured with a farinograph, and it rises with protein, damaged starch and pentosans (a type of fibre) [18]. Flour for Neapolitan pizza is specified at 55 to 62% absorption, almost the same band as the dough range [14].

Protein: higher-protein bread flours (about 12 to 14%) generally take more water than lower-protein flours. Softer flours common in the UK and Europe may need less water to stay manageable [6].
Wholegrain: wholemeal and other wholegrain flours absorb more water: at the same 75%, a whole wheat dough feels firmer than an all-purpose one [1].
Experience: with all-purpose flour, 55 to 65% is firm and 75 to 85% is slack and sticky [1]. Wetter doughs need folding and gentle shaping rather than kneading, so raise hydration a few points at a time as your handling improves [19].

Quick troubleshooting

Too sticky or soupy: check that you counted every liquid, including the starter. Build strength with folds and give the dough time, because a slack dough often firms up as it rests. Next time, hold back about 10% of the water and add it only if the dough can take it [20]. Add flour only as a last resort, since it changes every percentage in the recipe.
Too stiff or tight: if the dough resists stretching or shows dry flour, add water a splash at a time. Wholegrain and high-protein flours often need more water than the recipe’s flour did.
Spreads flat or bakes gummy: the dough may hold more water than your flour can support. Lower the hydration a few points or use a stronger flour.

Keep your dough recipes in CookBook

CookBook saves bread and pizza recipes from websites, social posts, photos and cookbooks, and keeps them organised in one place. In cooking mode you can change servings and the measurement system: ingredient amounts scale, but times in the method do not, so keep judging fermentation by the dough. See how to add, import and create recipes.

Sources

A little more help

Frequently asked questions

Does salt count towards dough hydration?

No. Hydration compares the water, and any other liquids you choose to count, with the flour. Salt and yeast have their own baker’s percentages but are left out of the hydration figure, so 2% salt does not make a 70% dough a 72% dough.

Can dough hydration be more than 100%?

Yes. Above 100% the dough contains more water than flour by weight. Pan de cristal is about 100%, and wholegrain flours, which absorb more water, can take very wet doughs, such as a 95% whole wheat sourdough. These doughs need strong or wholegrain flour and careful folding.

Is a higher hydration dough always better?

No. Extra water helps open the crumb of breads such as ciabatta and focaccia, but bagels and pretzels rely on a stiff dough for their chew, and medium-hydration loaves stay moist for days. Choose the hydration for the bread you want, then adjust it for your flour.

What hydration should a beginner start with?

A medium hydration is easiest to handle: about 68 to 70% with a good bread flour for a first sourdough. An 80% pain de campagne is a manageable first step into wetter doughs. If shaping is a struggle, drop a few points next time.

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“Dough hydration explained”, CookBook Manager. Updated Oct 11, 2026. https://cookbookmanager.com/guides/dough-hydration

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