Let's Talk About Sourdough (In a Simple Way)

Welcome to the wonderful world of sourdough! If you're just starting, you might hear a lot of confusing terms, but let's focus on the most important one: **hydration**. Don't let the science-y name scare you. It's just a simple way to talk about how much water is in your dough compared to the flour. Why does it matter? Because it's the master control for your bread's texture! A dough with less water (lower hydration) is firm, smooth, and very easy for beginners to handle. It makes a lovely loaf with a tighter, sandwich-style crumb. A dough with more water (higher hydration) is going to be sticky, wet, and a bit of a challenge to work with. But that wet dough is the secret to getting a beautiful, rustic loaf with a glossy, open crumb full of amazing holes. It's the style that makes people say, "Wow, you made that?!"

This calculator was built to be your friendly guide and recipe partner. It's designed to be much more helpful than a simple calculator because it lets you **build a recipe from scratch using baker's percentages**, which is how all professional bakers create their formulas. You get to be the boss! You decide how much flour you want to use and what you want your final dough to feel like (by choosing a target hydration). The calculator then does all the math for you, giving you the exact gram measurements for your water, salt, and levain (your active starter). It takes away all the guesswork and empowers you to move beyond just following other people's recipes. You can start creating your *own* signature loaf, perfectly tailored to your taste and the flours you love to use. It's all about giving you the confidence to experiment and truly understand the craft of sourdough baking.

How to Create Your Perfect Loaf

This tool makes building a recipe from scratch incredibly easy. Just think about the kind of bread you want to make and fill in the blanks from top to bottom:

1. Total Flour: Decide how much flour you want to use in total. 500 grams is a great amount for a standard loaf.
2. Target Hydration: This is the fun part! Choose how wet you want your dough to be. 70-75% is a perfect starting point for a manageable dough with a nice, open crumb.
3. Levain Percentage: This controls how much of your active starter you use. 20% is a very standard amount that gives a great rise and flavor.
4. Salt Percentage: Salt is crucial for flavor and strength. Almost all sourdough recipes use 2% salt.

As you type, your complete recipe—with the exact weights in grams for everything—will instantly appear in the results section below. It's that simple!

Tips for Amazing Sourdough

• Your Scale is Your Best Friend: The single most important tool for a baker is a digital kitchen scale. Measuring in grams is the only way to get the consistent results you're looking for.
• Flour is Unique: Remember that different flours absorb water differently. Whole wheat and rye are much thirstier than white bread flour. If you use a lot of whole grains, your dough might feel stiffer at the same hydration level.
• Learn by Touch: This calculator gives you the perfect formula, but the real magic happens when you get your hands in the dough. Pay attention to how it feels. Is it strong? Is it slack? Learning to "read" your dough is the final, most rewarding step in your sourdough journey.