Sourdough Hydration & Fermentation Calculator
Figure out your true hydration (yes, the water in your starter counts), get the water temp that lands your dough where you want it, and get a bulk window for your kitchen — not someone else's.
True total hydration
Comfortably under your flour's ceiling. The dough should hold together and build strength.
Formula
True hydration counts the 50 g flour and 50 g water inside the starter, not just bowl water over bowl flour.
Flour & ceiling
What to weigh
- FlourBread500g
- Waterbowl346g
- Starter50/50100g
- Salton total flour11.0g
Bulk fermentation
Timing stretches or shrinks with your dough temp, how much starter you used, and whether your starter was young, at peak, or late. Inoculation 20% of flour. Folds every 30 min × 4. Warm proof ~2h 6m, or retard 10–16 h at 4°C.
Build your starter
Build it 1:2:2 (seed : flour : water) to get 100 g at 100% H.
- Ripe seed20.0 g
- Flour40 g
- Water40 g
- Ready~5h at 24°C
Desired dough temp
Your water temp accounts for flour, room, starter, and mixing friction.
Bench timeline
- nowAutolyse318 g water + flour · hold back 28 g
- +30mMixStarter, salt, remaining water · DDT water 29°C
- +1hFold 1Coil or stretch-and-fold · every 30 min
- +1h 30mFold 2Coil or stretch-and-fold · every 30 min
- +2hFold 3Coil or stretch-and-fold · every 30 min
- +2h 30mFold 4Coil or stretch-and-fold · every 30 min
- +5h 30mShapePreshape, rest 20 min, final shape into banneton
- +5h 50mWarm proof~2h 6m at dough temp, or cold retard
- +7h 56mBakeScore and load · 20 min covered, 20–25 min open
Cold retard after shaping: 10–16 hours at 4°C, then bake from cold.