Sourdough Calculator

Start with the amount of flour in your recipe and adjust the rest. Watch the totals change below.

Baker’s math, also known as Baker’s percentages, is a method used in baking to express the ingredients of a recipe relative to the main ingredient, which is usually flour, by weight. This system is handy because it allows bakers to quickly scale recipes up or down and maintain the exact proportions and balance of ingredients, ensuring consistency in the final product.

In Baker’s percentages, the total amount of flour in a recipe is always considered 100%, and every other ingredient is expressed as a percentage of that flour’s weight.

For example, if a bread recipe calls for 500 grams of flour and 350 grams of water, the flour is 100% by definition, and the water is 70% of the flour’s weight (since 350 is 70% of 500).

This simple sourdough calculator will automatically calculate that for you.

In sourdough bread baking, “hydration” refers to the ratio of water to flour in the dough, expressed as a percentage. It’s a key concept in understanding how dough behaves and affects the bread’s final texture, crust, and crumb.

This ratio is calculated using Baker’s percentages, where the weight of the flour is considered 100%, and the weight of the water is expressed as a percentage of this flour weight.

Here’s a simple breakdown:
If you have 1000 grams of flour and 700 grams of water in your sourdough recipe, the hydration level would be 70% (700 grams of water / 1000 grams of flour × 100).

The hydration level has a significant impact on the dough:

Low Hydration (50%-60%): Doughs with lower hydration are stiffer and easier to shape. They result in bread with a denser crumb and less open texture. These are less common in sourdough breads, which typically favor higher hydration for a more open crumb structure.

Medium Hydration (65%-75%): This is a common hydration range for many sourdough breads. It offers a balance between the manageability of the dough and a nice open crumb structure. The dough is sticky and can be challenging for beginners to handle, but it leads to bread with good volume and air pockets.

High Hydration (over 75%): High-hydration doughs are very wet and sticky, making them difficult to handle and shape. However, they can produce bread with a very open, airy crumb and a crisp crust, characteristics desired in many artisan sourdough loaves. These doughs require more advanced techniques, such as stretch and fold, to develop gluten structure without kneading.

Hydration affects not just the texture but also the fermentation process.

Higher hydration doughs tend to ferment more quickly because the yeast and bacteria in the sourdough starter have more water available, facilitating their movement and activity within the dough.

Understanding hydration is crucial for sourdough bakers as it allows them to control the dough’s consistency, shaping, and final bread characteristics. Adjusting the hydration level can help bakers achieve the exact type of sourdough bread they are aiming for, from dense and hearty to light and airy.

Salt is not just about flavor when it comes to bread baking.

In sourdough bread baking, the amount of salt typically added ranges from 1.8% to 2.2% of the flour’s weight, following the Baker’s percentages method. This means that for every 1000 grams of flour, you would add between 18 to 22 grams of salt.

The precise amount can vary depending on personal taste preferences, dietary needs, and specific recipe requirements.

Salt not only enhances the flavor of the bread but also strengthens the gluten network in the dough, improving the texture of the bread. Salt is crucial in regulating yeast activity, ensuring a slow and steady fermentation process characteristic of sourdough bread. This controlled fermentation is essential for developing the bread’s flavor and structure.

Baking is a science that requires precision.

The ratio of flour, water, salt, and starter impacts everything from the dough’s texture and rise to the final bread’s flavor and crumb structure. A scale ensures that these ratios are consistent every time, which is especially important for sourdough bread due to its sensitivity to variations in hydration and fermentation.

Measuring ingredients by cups and volume can lead to inconsistencies because of the way flour settles or compacts in a measuring cup, whereas weighing them provides accuracy and repeatability. This precision helps achieve the desired outcome, whether adjusting the hydration for a specific texture or ensuring the right balance of ingredients for flavor development.

A scale is a tool that lets you experiment with sourdough and better understand what happens when something goes wrong.

A scale is also indispensable when you want to venture past hard white what and start utilizing whole grains, freshly milled flour, and ancient and heritage grain varieties.

It is also EASIER and far less messy to dump all of your ingredients into a bowl and watch the scale instead of measuring with various cups and spoons.

I have used this sturdy, dependable, affordable, and accurate OXO Scale for years without complaint.

And by the way, your ancestors had access to weights and scales. I have old pioneer domestic guides and cookbooks that call for weights in bread baking. But even if Grandma never measured and “went by feel,” Grandma likely had one type of white or whole wheat flour to work with and made the exact recipes repeatedly.