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Sourdough.mu

Bench math

Baker's Percentage + Recipe Scaler

Type your recipe in grams and see it the way bakers read it: flour as 100 percent, everything else relative, with the starter's own flour and water counted honestly. Then scale the whole formula to any dough weight in one click.

Ripe starter going into the dough.

Starter hydration

Your formula, baker's style

73%

true hydration

starter water included

1.8%

salt

18%

inoculation

starter as % of flour

  • Flour 500g = 100% (plus 50g inside the starter)
  • Water 350g (plus 50g inside the starter)
  • Total dough 960g

A wet dough: stickier handling, more open crumb. Wet hands and confident folds help.

Right in the classic 1.8 to 2.2% zone.

Scale the formula

Want the same bread as a bigger batard, two loaves, or a small test loaf? Pick the total dough weight and the whole formula scales.

Sources

  1. Baker's percentage explained King Arthur Baking CompanyThe flour-equals-100% convention used by this tool.
  2. Sourdough hydration explained The Perfect LoafHydration ranges and handling notes.

Last reviewed: 2026-07-16

Now time it right

The formula is half the loaf; the other half is timing. Estimate your bulk with the Bulk Fermentation Timer and feed the jar with the Starter Calculator.

The one convention every baker shares

Baker's percentage is the common language of bread: flour is always 100 percent, and every other ingredient is written relative to it. A 72 percent hydration, 2 percent salt loaf means the same thing in any kitchen on earth, at any batch size, which is exactly why professional formulas are written this way and home recipes should be too.

The detail this tool refuses to fudge is the starter. A hundred grams of 100 percent hydration starter is fifty grams of flour and fifty of water already fermenting, and leaving it out of the math is the most common reason a "75 percent hydration" recipe behaves like something much wetter. Here, true hydration always includes it.