Is it more proper when mentioning ratios to use water:flour or flour:water. I seem to remember the former, but see a lot of people use the latter when discussing starters. Specifically I see people discussing starter ratios as 1:3:4 or something of that sort and say it is 133% hydration. Then I will read another post where 1:3:4 will be 75% hydration. Given that we discuss hydration (and other ingredients) as a percentage of flour, shouldn't water come before flour? It is fine when discussing 100% hydration or if the % is given, but if not then what is proper from a bread baking standard?
Category:
Replies
I doubt there is any formalisation of a right or wrong way to do this. I think a good rule if you are using any kind of symbolic notation is to always explain you symbols rather than assume.
Personally though, I would tend to put the flour weight first, or not at all and express everything else as percentages (eg, 60/2/2 for french bread with fresh yeast and salt).