Baker's Percentage & Hydration Calculator
Scale any dough by baker’s percentages — where the numbers add up to 173% on purpose, and a 70% hydration dough is really 40% water.
This treats the starter as a percentage like any other. If yours is a stiff or liquid levain you may want to count the flour and water inside it towards the totals, which changes the effective hydration — bakers differ on whether to, and both conventions are in print. Nothing is uploaded.
The percentages add up to more than 100, and that is correct
Every ingredient is quoted against the flour, which is fixed at 100% by definition. So a straightforward loaf comes to 173% and nothing is wrong. The convention exists because it makes a recipe scale by inspection and lets two bakers compare doughs of completely different sizes — but it does quietly detach the number from the thing.
| Ingredient | Baker's % | On 1 kg flour | Share of the dough |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flour | 100% | 1000 g | 57.80% |
| Water | 70% | 700 g | 40.46% |
| Salt | 2% | 20 g | 1.16% |
| Yeast | 1% | 10 g | 0.58% |
The right-hand column does sum to 100, because those are shares of the actual dough. Every one of them is smaller than its baker's percentage — even the flour, which is 57.8% of what you are holding rather than 100%.
A 70% hydration dough is 40% water
The 70% was measured against the flour, and the flour is only part of the dough — so the water is 40.46% of what you actually mix. Both numbers are correct and they answer different questions; only one of them is what the loaf is made of. And the gap widens as the dough gets wetter, which is the direction nobody guesses: 20.2 points apart at 55% hydration and 50.7 at 100%.
| Hydration | Percentages total | Water is really | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 55% | 158% | 34.81% | 20.19 |
| 60% | 163% | 36.81% | 23.19 |
| 65% | 168% | 38.69% | 26.31 |
| 70% | 173% | 40.46% | 29.54 |
| 75% | 178% | 42.13% | 32.87 |
| 80% | 183% | 43.72% | 36.28 |
| 100% | 203% | 49.26% | 50.74 |
Even a 100% hydration dough — equal weights of flour and water, which feels like batter — is under half water once you account for the flour that is still in there. The gap never closes, because the flour never goes away. What the convention does buy you is scaling: multiply the flour and everything follows, with every ratio intact.
| Batch | Flour | Water at 70% | Total dough |
|---|---|---|---|
| ×1 | 1000 g | 700 g | 1730 g |
| ×2 | 2000 g | 1400 g | 3460 g |
| ×3 | 3000 g | 2100 g | 5190 g |
| ×6 | 6000 g | 4200 g | 10380 g |
How to use
- Enter your flour weight.
- Enter the hydration, salt and starter as percentages of the flour.
- Read every weight and the total dough.
- Compare what each ingredient is as a share of the dough.
Frequently asked questions
Why do baker’s percentages add up to more than 100?
Because they are all measured against the FLOUR, which is fixed at 100% by definition. A loaf at 100 flour, 70 water, 2 salt and 1 yeast comes to 173%, and nothing is wrong with that.
Is a 70% hydration dough 70% water?
No — it is 40.46% water. The 70 was measured against the flour, and the flour is only part of the dough. Both numbers are correct; they answer different questions, and only one is what the loaf is made of.
Does that gap shrink as dough gets wetter?
The opposite, which is the direction nobody guesses. At 55% hydration the quoted number is 20 points above the true water share; at 100% it is 51 points above. The wetter the dough, the more misleading the figure.
Is a 100% hydration dough half water?
Not quite — 49.26%, because the salt and starter are in there too and the flour has not gone anywhere. Equal weights of flour and water feels like batter and is still under half water by weight.
Why use percentages at all?
Scaling. Multiply the flour and every other weight follows with the ratios intact, so one recipe covers a single loaf or a bakery day. It also lets two bakers compare doughs of completely different sizes at a glance.
How do I hit a specific dough weight?
Divide your target by the percentage total, then multiply by 100 to get the flour. A 900 g loaf at 173% total needs 520 g of flour, and everything else follows from there.
Should I count the flour in my starter?
Bakers differ on whether to, and both conventions are in print. Counting it raises the effective hydration slightly; this tool treats the starter as a percentage like any other, which is the simpler of the two.
Does this send anything anywhere?
No. Every figure is computed in your browser, and nothing is uploaded or stored.
🔒 This tool runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is uploaded, logged, or stored.