Bakers' Percentages: Understanding Dough Hydration
Working by weight is the baseline for consistent baking. When you understand how water relates to the flour base, you stop guessing at the texture and start controlling it.
Own a scale or don't bake by percentage.
Volume measurements like cups are too inaccurate for calculating hydration; always use a digital scale set to grams.
- digital kitchen scale
- calculator
- notebook
The Weight Ratio
Divide the water weight by the flour weight, then multiply by 100. If you have 500g of flour and 350g of water, 350/500 = 0.7, meaning you have a 70% hydration dough.
The method.
Weigh your flour
Place your mixing bowl on the scale, tare it to zero, and pour in your flour. Note this weight as your 'base'.
Calculate your target water
If you want 75% hydration, multiply your flour weight by 0.75. That result is the exact amount of water you need to add to the bowl.
Adjust for wet ingredients
If your recipe includes eggs or milk, treat them as water. An egg is roughly 75% water, while milk is about 87%. Add these weights to your total water weight before calculating.
When it doesn't go to plan.
A 60-65% hydration dough is firm and easy to handle for beginners.
Anything above 80% is considered 'wet' dough, which requires high-protein flour and different shaping techniques like coil folds instead of traditional kneading.
Keep a log of your hydrations; you will quickly learn which percentages produce the crust and crumb structure you prefer.
The ones that keep coming up.
Does flour type change the hydration?
Yes. Whole wheat and rye flours absorb significantly more water than white bread flour. You may need to increase hydration by 5-10% to achieve the same feel.
Why not use volume?
Flour settles and packs differently depending on the humidity and how it was scooped; weight is the only way to ensure the ratio remains constant every time.