Pizza Dough Hydration Chart: Compare Water Ratios
Hydration is water weight divided by total flour weight, multiplied by 100. A 65% dough uses 650 g water for every 1,000 g flour. It does not mean 65% of the mixed dough is water, and it does not measure how moist the baked pizza will be.
The hydration calculator starts from flour weight so the water change is easy to see. The chart below compares trial formulations; these are not mandatory style ranges.
| Trial hydration | Water for 500 g flour | What to compare in your bake |
|---|---|---|
| 55% | 275 g | Firmness and ability to stretch without tearing |
| 60% | 300 g | Handling and center thickness |
| 65% | 325 g | Ease of shaping and release from the bench |
| 70% | 350 g | Support needed during shaping and pan handling |
| 75% | 375 g | Whether your flour and workflow can retain shape |
| 80% | 400 g | Suitability for a supported pan process |
A ratio cannot describe a whole dough
Flour absorbs water differently, and fermentation and mixing change how a dough behaves. A higher water ratio can feel harder to handle with one flour than with another. Salt, oil and other additions also affect the result without being counted as water in this calculator’s basic hydration ratio.
AVPN’s 2024 ingredient doses specify 1,000 ml water with 1,600–1,800 g flour. Treating the water as approximately 1,000 g gives a derived range around 55.6–62.5%. That is a source-specific formulation context, not proof that every pizza must use that range. Our editable 62% preset is one planning example.
Count flour and water already in the starter
If your recipe totals 500 g flour and 325 g water and uses 100 g starter at 100% hydration, that starter contains 50 g flour and 50 g water. Add 450 g fresh flour and 275 g fresh water. Adding the full original amounts as well as starter changes the final hydration and batch weight.
The same accounting applies to Poolish and Biga. Prefermented flour is part of the 100% flour baseline. See starter percentage for a different starter hydration example.
Choose a trial you can evaluate
Start with a recipe you can shape reliably. Keep flour, portion weight, fermentation and bake conditions fixed while changing hydration. Record whether the center baked through, whether the underside browned and whether the dough released cleanly. More water is not automatically a better crust.
For a controlled comparison, use 60% versus 65% versus 70%. If the main limitation is oven heat, read the home-oven guide before changing the ratio.
Sources and scope
- King Arthur Baking: Baker’s PercentageFlour-based ingredient percentages.
- King Arthur Baking: WaterWater’s role in dough formation.
- AVPN International Regulations (2024), §§2.1–2.3Direct dough, ingredient doses, fermentation and separate cooking floor/dome measurements.
Worked calculations and planning examples are this site’s illustrations. A source’s product or recipe guidance is not a universal pizza standard.