Learn how hydration affects your sourdough — from mixing to baking.
🥖 What Is Sourdough Hydration?
When bakers talk about hydration, they’re simply talking about the ratio of water to flour in a dough. It’s written as a percentage, and it tells you how wet or dry the dough will be.
Hydration = (Water ÷ Flour) × 100
Example: 1000 g flour + 700 g water = 70% hydration.
🍞 Why Hydration Matters
Hydration changes the entire personality of your bread — how it feels to mix, how it ferments, and what the final loaf looks and tastes like.
🍞 Lower Hydration (60–68%)
- Dough feels firmer and easier to handle
- Loaves hold their shape well
- Tighter, more sandwich‑like crumb
🥖 Medium Hydration (70–75%)
- The “sweet spot” for many sourdough bakers
- Dough is soft, stretchy, and easy to work with
- Produces a balanced crumb with some openness
🌾 High Hydration (78%+)
- Dough is very wet and sticky
- Can produce big, irregular holes
- Requires more technique and gentle handling
🧪 Hydration and Levain
If you’re using a levain, remember it contains both flour and water. That water counts toward your total hydration.
📏 Why Bakers Use Percentages
Using percentages makes recipes easy to scale. Whether you’re making one loaf or twenty, the ratios stay the same — just change the flour amount and the hydration percentage tells you exactly how much water to use.
💡 A Simple Way to Think About It
Hydration is basically how thirsty your dough is.
- More water → open crumb, glossy interior, more fermentation activity
- Less water → tighter crumb, easier shaping, more structure