All About Sourdough Hydration: A Beginner's Guide

Hydration in sourdough is more than just a number—it’s the key to your dough’s character and it directly affects your bread’s texture, flavor, and structure.

Understanding hydration helps you control how water interacts with flour, influences gluten development, and affects fermentation. This guide will give you the knowledge to make better bread.

Whisk sourdough starter and water till milky. — Fig And Brie Sourdough

What Is Sourdough Hydration?

Hydration in sourdough baking refers the ratio of water in your recipe relative to flour and is expressed as a percentage.

It’s a critical concept because it determines the consistency and texture of your dough, and directly impacts how the dough behaves during mixing, fermentation, and baking.

Why Is Hydration Important?

Impact on Dough Consistency: The hydration level determines how sticky, loose, or firm your dough is. Higher hydration typically results in a stickier dough, while lower hydration creates a firmer, drier dough. This affects how the dough feels and behaves for you, the baker.
Effect on Mixing, Development, and Shaping: Dough with higher hydration tends to be more extensible (stretchable), which can be beneficial for certain types of bread like Pain de Cristal (100% hydration), while doughs with lower hydration can be easier to work with like my small loaf sourdough (66%).
Baking Results: Hydration (along with fermentation and shaping) impacts the final bread’s crumb structure and overall texture. Higher hydration levels can lead to a more open, airy crumb with larger holes, while lower hydration doughs might yield a denser, more compact texture.
Fermentation: The amount of water in the dough affects the fermentation timeline, with higher hydration doughs fermenting more quickly.

Adding espresso to the water mixture. — Adding espresso to Chocolate Vanilla Swirl Sourdough

Baker’s Percentages

Bakers often use a system known as baker’s percentages to standardize and communicate recipes. Baker’s math aims to simplify recipes into formulas that express all ingredients in relation to the amount of flour used in the recipe. All other ingredients, like water, salt, and starter, are expressed as percentages of the total flour weight.

We keep it simple around here and account for the starter as one single line item. When expressed as a percentage, the effects of water and flour in your starter will be consistent across any scale.

Sourdough Starter Hydration

Your sourdough starter’s hydration does play a role in this process and should not be overlooked.

A 100% hydration starter is the most common version of a starter in baker’s kitchens because it’s so easy to maintain. 100% hydration means that at each sourdough feeding you feed it the same weight of water as weight of flour. Keeping a consistent hydration in your starter maintains consistency across bakes.

I do not use the hydration of the sourdough starter in my bread hydration calculations, for a couple of reasons:

Streamline the process: By always using a 100% hydration starter, I can confidently omit it from the baker’s math because I know how the starter is going to impact the dough, based on starter quantity and dough hydration.
Focus on formulas: Learning how the dough acts at different hydration levels has improved my understanding both of water and flour ratios as well as the impact of starter percentages in each recipe.

BUT I do keep in mind the quantity of starter and consider how it will affect my dough.

Slice apple cider sourdough bread. — Apple Cider Sourdough

Calculating Hydration Percentages

Here’s a step-by-step to determining the percentages based on my same day sourdough recipe that calls for 500 grams of flour, 330 grams of water, 150 grams of sourdough starter, and 10 grams of salt.

Identify the Total Flour Weight
- Total flour weight = 500g
Calculate the Percentage
Divide the weight of each ingredient by the total flour weight, then multiply by 100:
- Water: 330g ÷ 500g × 100 = 66%
- Starter: 150g ÷ 500g × 100 = 30%
- Salt: 10g ÷ 500g × 100 = 2%
Apply This to Any Recipe
Regardless of the batch size or flour blend, baker’s percentages keep everything proportional and predictable.

Simply Put: This recipe is 66% hydration, which means for every 100g of flour, we’re using 66g of water

66% hydration sounds low, but we know that we have to consider the starter’s influence on the formula when evaluating this recipe. I find it’s easiest to express the baker’s percentages in a table, as below to evaluate all aspects of the recipe at a glance.

Ingredient	Percentage
Flour	100%
Water	66%
Starter	30%
Salt	2%

Baker’s Percentage Calculator

Flour Weight (g):

Ingredient:

High Hydration Dough

High hydration doughs are the key to achieving the Instagram-worthy loaves with wild crumb and open holes that bakers strive for. These airy pockets are not just visually stunning—we think they’re perfect for trapping butter, jam, or any of your favorite spreads.

But high hydration doughs also come with their own unique set of qualities and challenges that require a bit of finesse to master.

Qualities Of High Hydration Doughs

Thinner, Crispier Crust: High hydration doughs retain more moisture during baking, resulting in a thin, crispy crust that shatters beautifully when sliced.
Faster Fermentation: Because water promotes enzyme activity and yeast performance, high hydration doughs ferment more quickly. This can be a time-saver if you’re on a tight baking schedule.
More Open Crumb Structure: The hallmark of high hydration bread is its light, airy crumb with large, irregular holes. This structure is a result of the dough’s extensibility and ability to expand during baking.
Elastic and Extensible Dough: High hydration doughs are stretchier and more pliable, making them ideal for techniques like laminating inclusions (e.g., herbs, cheese, or fruits) into the dough.
Challenging for Beginners: These doughs can be sticky and difficult to handle at first, but with practice, you’ll develop the skills and confidence needed to work with them effectively.

Open baked sourdough loaf cut in half showing crumb structure.

Tips For Working With High Hydration Sourdough

Monitor Fermentation Closely: High hydration doughs ferment faster, so keeping an eye during the bulk fermentation and final proofing stages is critical to avoid over-proofing. Paying attention to the dough’s rise and using the poke test can help you gauge readiness.
Handle Gently: The delicate gluten structure in high hydration doughs is prone to tearing. Be gentle during shaping and handling to preserve the structure and achieve the best crumb.
Use High Protein Flour: High-protein bread flour can absorb more water, making them better suited for high hydration recipes. A proportion of whole wheat flour can help too. These flours also provide the strength needed to support the dough.
Try Coil Folding: Instead of traditional stretch-and-fold techniques, coil folding can be a gentler and more effective method for strengthening high hydration dough. This technique also minimizes sticking and tearing.
Use Wet Hands or Tools: To prevent sticking, dampen your hands when handling the dough. Similarly, spritzing your surface with water and a wet bench scraper can make shaping and transferring the dough easier.
Practice Patience: Working with high hydration doughs takes practice! Start with recipes at the lower end of high hydration (around 70-75%) before moving to higher hydration doughs (80%+). As you gain experience, you’ll learn how to read and work with the dough.

Sliced chai flavored sourdough. — Chai Latte Sourdough

Low Hydration Doughs

If you’re new to sourdough baking, working with a lower hydration dough (around 60-65%) is an excellent way to build confidence and skills. These doughs are more manageable, less sticky, and behave similarly to traditional yeasted doughs, making them ideal for beginners.

Once you’ve mastered the basics, you can gradually experiment with higher hydration levels to achieve different textures and crumb structures.

Qualities Of Low Hydration Doughs

Beginner-Friendly: Low hydration doughs are easier to handle and shape, making them ideal for new bakers. They’re less sticky, which reduces frustration and helps build confidence in basic techniques like kneading and shaping.
Tighter, Denser Crumb: The lower water content results in a tighter, more uniform crumb structure. While you won’t get the large, open holes of high hydration breads, the denser crumb makes these loaves perfect for practical uses like sandwiches and toast.
More Structured Dough: Low hydration doughs hold their shape well, making them a great choice for free-form loaves like batards or boules without the need for special equipment like bannetons or proofing baskets.
Easier Shaping and Scoring: The firmer dough is simpler to shape and holds its structure better during proofing and scoring, resulting in a more predictable bake.

Tips For Working With Low Hydration Dough

Allow for a Longer Bulk Ferment: Low hydration doughs ferment more slowly than high hydration doughs, as the reduced water content slows down enzyme and yeast activity. Plan for a longer bulk fermentation and proofing period to ensure full flavor development.
Focus on Shaping Techniques: Since these doughs are less sticky and easier to manage, they’re a great opportunity to practice shaping skills like creating a taut surface for proper oven spring.
Adjust for Flour Type: Different flours absorb water differently. For instance, whole wheat flours may make the dough slightly stiffer, so if you’re working with all-purpose flour, expect a slightly softer dough.
Resting: Allowing the dough to rest periodically can help it relax, making it easier to shape.

Adding wet ingredients to dry. — Sourdough Pizza Dough

What Makes Up The Hydration?

Does the hydration in your recipe always need to come from water? Not at all!

While most sourdough recipes call for water as the primary hydration ingredient, creative bakers can explore a wide range of liquid options to enhance flavor and character in their bread.

Some of my favorite sourdough variations use alternative liquids:

Dill Pickle Sourdough: This recipe swaps a portion of water for tangy pickle juice, infusing the bread with a subtle briny flavor.
Chai Latte Sourdough: Instead of water, I use a chai latte, which adds a warm, spiced profile to the dough.
Apple Cider Sourdough: Fresh-pressed apple cider takes the place of water, lending a sweet, fruity note that pairs beautifully with the sourdough tang.
Pumpkin Swirl Sourdough: This recipe uses both pumpkin puree and water to make a delightfully orange, pumpkin flavored loaf.

Creative substitutions can come from any liquid that complements the flavors you’re aiming to achieve. Milk, beer, tea, juice, and even vegetable purees can be used in place of or alongside water.

When experimenting, keep in mind that different liquids may slightly alter the dough’s fermentation time, consistency, and crumb texture, so always be aware that you may need to adjust hydration levels or proofing times to suit your recipe.

Experimentation Is Key!

Understanding how hydration levels can alter your dough to meet your personal preferences is a valuable skill, and the best way to get a solid understanding of hydration and it’s effect on your dough is to experiment.

Choose a familiar recipe or formula and increase the water percentage if the dough is low hydration or decrease the water percentage if the dough is high hydration. You’ll see the results right away!

You might be surprised at your preferences; I have noticed that my preferred hydration level has crept up over the last 5 years of baking sourdough!

Thoughts From The Crave Kitchen

The beauty of sourdough baking lies in its flexibility—there’s no one-size-fits-all approach, and your preferences will evolve with practice. Start where you’re comfortable, experiment boldly, crave wildly, and, most importantly, enjoy the process.

If you have any tips, questions, or stories from your own hydration experiments, I’d love to hear them—drop a comment below!