Baker’s Hydration

Include preferment flour and water in total dough hydration.

Your numbers

Total hydration

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Preferment is treated as flour and water only. Water from eggs, milk and other ingredients is not included. Hydration compares total water mass with total flour mass.

Formula

Use Fₚ = S/(1+h), Wₚ = S−Fₚ and H = (W+Wₚ)/(F+Fₚ). S is preferment mass, h is its hydration fraction, and F and W are main-dough flour and water, all masses in g. Total hydration H is displayed as a percentage.

Include preferment flour and water in total dough hydration.

Worked example

Main dough flour (g): 450
Main dough water (g): 300
Preferment total mass (g): 100
Preferment hydration (%): 100

Total hydration: 70 %
Total flour: 500 g
Total water: 350 g

Scope and limitations

Preferment is treated as flour and water only. Water from eggs, milk and other ingredients is not included. Hydration compares total water mass with total flour mass.

Inputs are checked for missing values and allowed ranges. A result outside the finite numeric range is not displayed. Rounding affects display, while the calculation uses the model’s numeric precision.

Check your units and assumptions before relying on a result. Changing a label does not convert a currency or physical unit.

Formula version: e967804faee4 · Example checked: 2026-10-30

Methodology