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Baker's Percentage Calculator
Enter your flour weight and dial in hydration, salt, and starter percentages. Get exact weights for a perfectly balanced dough.
1. Flour Weight
2. Baker's Percentages
72%
50%100%
2%
1.5%3%
20%
10%30%
Your Dough Recipe
500g
Flour
360g
Water
10g
Salt
100g
Starter
Total Dough Weight
970g
Baker's Percentage Breakdown
Flour
100%
Water
72%
Salt
2%
Starter
20%
💡 Hydration Insight
Classic sourdough range. Good balance of open crumb and workability.
• Want a more open crumb? Try 78–80% hydration.
• Want a tighter, sandwich-style crumb? Try 65%.
• New to sourdough? Start at 70–72% and work your way up.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is baker's percentage and why does it matter?
Baker's percentage expresses every ingredient as a percentage of the total flour weight. It makes recipes scalable and consistent regardless of batch size, and is the standard in professional baking.
What hydration level should I use for my first sourdough loaf?
Start at 70-72 percent hydration. This gives you a workable dough that is forgiving during shaping while still producing a nice open crumb. Increase hydration gradually as your skills improve.
How much starter should I use in sourdough bread?
Most recipes use 15-20 percent starter relative to flour weight. Less starter means a longer, more flavorful fermentation. More starter speeds things up but can result in a more sour loaf.
Does the water in the starter count toward hydration?
Technically yes. A 100 percent hydration starter is half flour and half water. For precise calculations, you can subtract the starter's flour and water from your totals, but most home bakers skip this step with minimal impact.
How much salt should I add to sourdough bread?
The standard is 2 percent of flour weight, which provides good flavor and controls fermentation. Going below 1.8 percent can make bread taste flat, while above 2.5 percent may slow fermentation noticeably.