Let’s say you have two favorite, trusted bread recipes, one with white bread flour and the other all-whole flour. Each recipe has an “ideal” hydration (the ratio of flour and water in the dough): less water for the one with bread flour and more for the thirstier wholemeal one. Now, let’s say you want to make a new recipe using a combination of the two flours in equal proportions, for a dough that behaves more or less identical to the other two.
A simple, if impractical, way to do this would be to prepare two half batches of single-flour doughs separately, and then knead them together until they become a single, uniform dough. Such a combined “hybrid” dough will do Also it will have the ideal hydration for the new combination of flours and will give excellent bread, just like the two doughs with which it was obtained. Naturally it will be substantially different from the originals because it now contains a mixture of two flours instead of one, but the amount of water it will contain will still be “just right” for that new combination.
Once you have reliable single-flour formulas, you can calculate the ideal hydration of a new formula by combining them on paper instead of in a bowl.
You could also mix them together in different ratios: say 80% bread flour dough and 20% whole wheat flour in one batch, and 20% bread flour and 80% whole wheat in the other . Also in this case the two resulting doughs will be different, but each will be hydrated exactly like the doughs from which we started.
No baker actually does this sort of thing in practice, but as a thought experiment, he illustrates how to accurately (and easily) determine the ideal hydration for a new dough from known ones. This last detail is fundamental: for it to work, you need to know the ideal hydration of each of the individual flours.
Once you have reliable single-flour formulas, you can calculate the ideal hydration of a new formula by combining them on paper instead of in a bowl.
Let’s look at an example; but first of all, what is dough hydration?
What is dough hydration?
Dough hydration is simply the ratio of water to flour in a dough, represented by a percentage. If a formula has a preference, like any sourdough starter, then the amount of flour and water it contains must first be added to the flour and water in the final dough. (If a recipe includes a “total formula” table, the math has already been done for you.) Once you know the total amount of flour and water in a formula, hydration is determined by dividing the total weight of water by the total weight of the flour, then multiplying the result by 100 to obtain a percentage.
What is the ideal hydration for bread dough?
The “ideal” hydration of a bread dough means a flour-to-water ratio known to work for a particular style of dough using that flour. Each flour has an ideal hydration range, i.e. a range within which a workable dough and a good loaf is obtained. Below this range, the dough will be too hard to make bread, and above that, soup.
Maybe you’ll determine these numbers yourself through experimentation, or maybe you’ll start with someone else’s formulas (for example, the ones here at The Perfect Loaf). Exactly where a baker falls within the ideal hydration range for his products dough and bread depend on what they are looking for (greater extensibility, an easier-to-handle dough, a more tender crumb, etc.): a person’s ideal hydration for a particular flour might be different than that of a ‘other.
An example: combining two doughs with known hydrations to obtain a third dough, ideally hydrated
Before venturing into combining the dough, you can do it first on paper with the baker’s percentages. Let’s take a look at two simple bread recipes and then combine them into a new, ideally hydrated recipe.
Keep in mind that in the example below we’re looking at the total formula for each, which includes the sourdough starter, flour, and water in the ingredient weights listed.
Dough Uno (100% high protein white flour)
Ideal hydration: 73.0%
Dough Two (100% wholemeal flour)
Ideal hydration: 90.0%
| Ingredient | Weight |
|---|---|
| wholemeal flour | 500 g |
| Waterfall | 450 g |
Creating a new dough from dough one and dough two
Photo by Andrew Janjigian.
Photo by Andrew Janjigian.
Photo by Andrew Janjigian.
Now, when you combine the components of these two doughs together, you get this:
| Ingredient | Weight |
|---|---|
| Bread flour | 500 g |
| wholemeal flour | 500 g |
| Waterfall | 815g (365g + 450g) |
To calculate the hydration of a new combined hybrid dough, add the weight of the flours together and then divide the weight of the water by that number:
815g water ÷ 1000g flour = 81.5% hydration
In other words, if the ideal hydration of your 100% bread flour dough is 73%, and the ideal hydration of your 100% bread flour dough is 90%, then the ideal hydration of a mix 50-50 of bread and wholemeal flour of the flours will be equal to 81.5%, the average hydration of the two initial doughs.
Getting easier: Finding ideal hydration without formulas
There’s an even simpler way to determine the ideal hydration of a new dough, which doesn’t require any formula: just multiply the percentage of each flour in the new dough by its ideal hydration, then add the percentages:
50% bread flour: 0.5 x 73% = 36.5%
Wholemeal flour 50%: 0.5 x 90% = 45%
36.5% + 45% = 81.5%
You can make this with any flour ratio, not just a 50-50 blend. Let’s say instead that you want to make a dough composed of 80% bread flour and 20% wholemeal flour:
Bread flour 80%: 0.8 x 73% = 58.4%
20% full Wheat flour: 0.2 x 90% = 18%
58.4% + 18% = 76.4%
Or one made of 80% wholemeal flour and 20% bread flour:
80% full Wheat flour: 0.8 x 90% = 72%
20% bread flour: 0.2 x 73% = 14.6%
72% + 14.6% = 86.6%
Does it work with more than two types of flour?
Yes, it also works for doughs containing three (or more) flours. Using the above whole grain breads and flours, we’ll assume you also have a 100% whole grain spelled formula with an ideal hydration of 84%. Next, you want to create a formula that is 70% bread flour, 15% whole wheat flour, and 15% spelled:
Bread flour 70%: 0.7 x 73% = 51.1%
Wholemeal flour 15%: 0.15 x 90% = 13.5%
Spelled flour 15%: 0.15 x 84% = 12.6%
51.1% + 13.5% + 12.6% = 77.2%
I hope this clarifies how useful this concept is for creating formulas. It’s one of the main reasons why I personally put a lot of focus on perfecting single-flour formulas: they might be simple, but they make a reliable starting point for an infinite number of more complex variations. Once you have a proven collection of basic formulas, there is no limit to the number of new formulas you can easily make using this approach.
What’s next?
Now that you know how to calculate the ideal hydration for a new dough based on two already known ones, a good way to try it is with a tried-and-tested sourdough starter recipe with all-purpose flour and an all-whole wheat recipe.
