This sourdough calculator takes the figures you already have and applies the relationship behind sourdough calculations for you, giving total weight of dough, starter flour and starter water from flour, percentage starter, starter hydration, total hydration and water.
What Is the Sourdough Calculator?
The sourdough calculator sorts out the arithmetic of flour, percentage starter, starter hydration, total hydration and water so that you can concentrate on the cooking rather than the maths.
It gives you total weight of dough, starter flour and starter water, which is usually the number you actually need to measure out before you start.
How to Use the Sourdough
Fill in what you have and read off total weight of dough, starter flour and starter water. If you are scaling a recipe up or down, work out the multiplier first and then multiply every quantity by it, including the ones that are not in this calculator.
Weigh rather than scoop wherever the recipe allows it. Volume measurements drift with how tightly an ingredient is packed, and that is where most recipe inconsistencies start.
Getting Consistent Results
Kitchen temperature, ingredient temperature and how long you mix all change the outcome. The calculator handles the quantities; the technique is still down to you.
If a result looks unfamiliar, check your units before you change the quantities. A factor of a hundred or a thousand is the usual culprit.
A Worked Example
Working through an example, with flour set to 10, percentage starter set to 5, starter hydration set to 2, the calculator returns starter of 0.5, and salt of 0.05, and starter flour of 0.49. Substitute your own figures and the same steps produce the same kind of answer.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do I need to work out total weight of dough?
Enter flour, percentage starter, starter hydration, total hydration and water. The calculator then works through the relationship and reports total weight of dough, starter flour and starter water.
What does the sourdough actually calculate?
It takes flour, percentage starter, starter hydration, total hydration and water and converts them into total weight of dough, starter flour and starter water using the standard relationship for this problem. Each step is applied in turn, so every output is traceable back to the numbers you typed in.
How should I enter flour?
Use the value you actually have, in the unit shown next to the field. Enter every value in the same unit system. The calculator assumes the figures you supply are consistent, so it cannot correct a mistake that happens before the calculation starts.
Do I have to fill in every field?
Only the fields a particular result depends on. If you leave one blank, the results that need it simply show a note instead of a number, and everything else still works.
Does anything you type get stored?
No. The whole calculation runs inside your browser, and nothing you enter is uploaded, logged or sent anywhere.