What does 80% hydration mean in sourdough?

80% hydration means the dough contains 80 grams of water for every 100 grams of flour, by weight. It is a baker's-percentage convention: flour is always 100%, and other ingredients are expressed as a percentage of the total flour weight.

Which sourdough styles use 80% hydration?

Focaccia, Focaccia Genovese, Whole Wheat Loaf. See each style's page for the full recipe formula.

How do I convert 80% hydration into grams of water?

Multiply total flour weight by 0.8. For example, 500g flour × 0.8 = 400g water. Use the calculator below to handle salt, levain, and starter-discount math automatically.

Hydration reference · advanced

Sourdough at80% hydration

Very open irregular crumb with large holes. Very moist, glossy. Focaccia-like texture when pan-baked.

Typical styles: Focaccia · Focaccia Genovese · Whole Wheat Loaf

What does 80% hydration look like?

Very open irregular crumb with large holes. Very moist, glossy. Focaccia-like texture when pan-baked.

Technique for 80% dough

Dough is sticky and slack. Requires 4+ coil folds. Wet hands throughout all handling. Shape only after cold retard. Free-form shaping becomes difficult — consider pan shapes.

Try the calculator at 80% hydration

Adjust the target hydration, salt, and levain below. All outputs update as you type, with starter discount applied.

Total flour(g)

Target hydration(%)

Salt(%)

Levain of flour(%)

Levain hydration(%)

Flour to add: 450 g
Water to add: 350 g
Salt: 10 g
Levain @ 100%: 100 g
Total dough: 910 g
Effective hydration: 80%

How the math works

Total water = flour × hydration %. Your levain contributes 50 g flour + 50 g water — both count toward the totals. You add only the remainder as fresh flour and water.

Salt % is computed on total flour weight, not final-dough flour.

Open 80% hydration guide →

Popular recipes at 80% hydration

How to convert 80% to grams of water

Multiply total flour weight by 0.8. For a 500g flour dough at 80% hydration, that is 400 g of water.

Remember that the levain contributes some of the flour and water. The calculator above subtracts the levain's contribution automatically so the numbers you weigh on the counter are the real ones.