Hydration

Clicky for Sourdom's

by TeckPoh · More by this author { 2006 July 24 }

Clicky for Sourdom's explanation  Wink

Login or register to post comments

by gt · More by this author { 2006 July 25 }

Sourdom,

Excellent explanation. I'm wondering if you could you give an example of how you determine the grams of flour and water in a starter that is not 100%? For example a 55% starter or a 166% starter. I think many folks have trouble with this.

Thanks Gary

Login or register to post comments

by Bill44 · More by this author { 2006 July 25 }

Gary, I have designed a starter calculator that I will ask Maedi to put in the calculator section.
It is a calculator for a two stage starter that will let you make any amount, any hydration, and with any combination of flours in it.
Give me a day to pretty it up and write the instructions and I will submit it to Maedi.

Login or register to post comments

by gt · More by this author { 2006 July 25 }

OK Bill thanks, I'll watch for it.

I just wondered in general how you folks determine the flour and water in non 100% starters. I probably should have started a new thread asking the question.

Thanks Gary

Login or register to post comments

by Bill44 · More by this author { 2006 July 25 }

Hydration 101.  Smile 
In a recipe or a starter the flour is considered to be a figure of 100%. Now if you have a starter as in this case at 80% hydration then the figures are flour 100% water 80%. So adding the two together you get a figure of 180.
You have a starter weight of 1000g so divide 1000 by 180 = 5.555555. So multiply 5.555555 x 100(flour) = 555.55g flour, multiply 5.555555 x 80(water) = 444.44. So add the two together as a double check 555.55 + 444.44 = 999.99. Check again if you want (444.44/555.55) x 100 = 80% TA DA!

This is just an example

Login or register to post comments

by gt · More by this author { 2006 July 25 }

OK Bill, thanks again. I understand it and it makes sense to me.

Anyone else do it a different way?

Thanks Gary

Login or register to post comments

by SourDom · More by this author { 2006 July 25 }

thanks Bill for your starter calculator, and for helping with the above.

one of the advantages of 100% hydration starters is that it makes calculations a lot easier!

For a given starter, the "true proportion" of water is going to equal
(Percent hydration)/(percent hydration+100)
(Because the flour is always 100 percent)

therefore a 55% starter will contain 55/155 water

multiply this by the amount of starter that you have

thus for 200g starter
'55% hydration starter' - the weight of water = (55/155)*200 = 71g
'166% hydration starter' - the weight of water = (166/266)*200 = 125g

(subtract the water from the total amount of starter to give you the weight of flour)

cheers
Dom

Login or register to post comments

by gt · More by this author { 2006 July 26 }

Thanks Dom, just wanted to make sure I was getting the right answer. I
find the flour weight first by dividing the starter weight by 1 plus the
hydration percent (in decimal form). Then subtract the flour weight from
the total for the water weight.

Thus for 200g of starter
For 55% starter: Flour = 200/1.55 = 129g, Water = 200 - 129 = 71g
For 166% starter: Flour = 200/2.66 = 75g, Water = 200 - 75 = 125g

This gives the same result as you and Bill get but in a little differnt form.

Thanks Gary

Login or register to post comments

by Croc · More by this author { 2006 July 26 }

"gt" wrote:

Thanks Dom, just wanted to make sure I was getting the right answer. I
find the flour weight first by dividing the starter weight by 1 plus the
hydration percent (in decimal form). Then subtract the flour weight from
the total for the water weight.

Thus for 200g of starter
For 55% starter: Flour = 200/1.55 = 129g, Water = 200 - 129 = 71g
For 166% starter: Flour = 200/2.66 = 75g, Water = 200 - 75 = 125g

This gives the same result as you and Bill get but in a little differnt form.

Thanks Gary

oh that is very nice and clear

Bake Me !