Sourdough hydration: a practical guide
Hydration is the ratio of water to flour in your dough, expressed as a percentage. 72% hydration means 72g of water per 100g of flour. That's the single most important number for understanding how a sourdough will behave.
Choosing your hydration
- 65–70% (low): easy to handle, tight even crumb. Great starting point.
- 71–77% (medium): the sweet spot - open crumb, manageable dough. Most home bakers live here.
- 78–85% (high): slack, sticky, dramatic crumb. Confident hands only, ideally with strong flour.
Why flour type changes the answer
Wholemeal flour absorbs more water than white. If you set the same hydration percentage with wholemeal flour, the dough will feel drier and tighter than the white-flour equivalent. As a rule of thumb, add 3% to your hydration when working with 100% wholemeal, or 1.5% for a 50/50 blend. Our calculator does this for you automatically - pick your flour type and it adjusts internally while showing you the hydration you chose.
A starting point for beginners
72% hydration with white flour, 20% starter, 2% salt. That's the recipe most home bakers learn first, and it's a great baseline. Once you can reliably produce a good loaf at this hydration, push up to 75% and then 78% to chase a more open crumb.