Baker's Percentages Explained

Baker’s percentages sound complicated, but they’re the key to repeatable recipes. The principle is simple: flour is always 100%, everything else is calculated relative to it.

The basics

If a recipe uses 500g flour and 350g water, hydration is 70%. Salt, starter, and other ingredients are also expressed as a percentage of the flour.

Typical hydration ranges

• 65–70% — good for beginners, firmer dough
• 75–80% — open crumb, stickier to handle
• 80%+ — advanced, very wet dough

Starter percentage

A typical starter amount is 15–25% of the flour. More starter = faster rise, less complexity. Less starter = longer ferment, more flavour.

Example

500g flour, 100g starter (20%), 350g water (70%), 10g salt (2%) — that’s our farmhouse bread in baker’s percentages.