What is a 100% Hydration Starter? What does it mean for flavor and fermentation?

This is an ultimate guide to what an 100% hydration sourdough starter is, its impact on flavor, fermentation, and activity. Get all the tips for making your bread more sour or less sour as well as information on different types of sourdough starters.
0:53 What a 100% Hydration Sourdough Starter is
2:19 100% Hydration Sourdough Starter impact on fermentation and flavor
3:46 Adjustments for making "sweeter" (or mild) sourdough
4:13 Adjustments for making sourdough more sour
5:27 100% Hydration Sourdough Starter Maintenance & Care
5:43 Using different flours in starter
7:14 Stiff Sourdough Starter
See the side by side test experiment: • Stiff Sourdough Starte...
Here's a video on bulk fermentation for you to better recognize the signs that dough is ready to shape: • When is sourdough bulk...
Sourdough Time Planning Workbook & Baker's Journal here: livingbreadbak...
See the full post with more details here:
livingbreadbak...
100% HYDRATION STARTER RECIPES:
Sweet Master Sourdough recipe • Easy Sourdough Enriche...
Chai Spice Star Bread • How to make Sourdough ...
Sourdough Boule • How to Shape a Sourdou...
Sourdough Sandwich Bread • How to Shape a Sourdou...
STIFF STARTER RECIPES:
Whole wheat challah • Sourdough Whole Wheat ...
Sourdough Pan Dulce Conchas • Sourdough Pan Dulce Co...
Fluffy Challah • Fluffiest SOURDOUGH ch...
MORE SOURDOUGH VIDEOS:
Getting Started with Sourdough playlist: • Getting started with S...
Sourdough Recipes playlist: • Sourdough Recipes
Sourdough Special Occasion and Holiday Recipes: • Sourdough Special Occa...
NEW TO SOURDOUGH?
You can get my FREE Quick Start Sourdough Guide to begin learning some of the key terms and concepts in sourdough: www.startingso...
LEARN TO BAKE SOURDOUGH:
You can take my foundational online Intro. to Sourdough course (includes my student favorite one-page sourdough bread visual guide) for $27 here: intro.starting...
This post contains some affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
ITEMS I GET ASKED ABOUT IN MY VIDEOS:
Food scale amzn.to/3ROTVrt
Reusable plastic mason jar lids amzn.to/3Ssl5Du
4-qt. Cambro container for single batches of dough amzn.to/3v6jyek
6-qt. Cambro container for double or triple batches of dough amzn.to/3v6jtHy

[@ShelbyChandra]

I love this! I kept seeing all this talk about hydration and this explains it so well! And wow, I've never done my starter that thick but now I want to.

[@livingbreadbaker]

Hey!!! 👋🏻 I’m so glad it was helpful! Yes, I love taking a tablespoon of my regular starter and putting it in a new container to make a stiff starter. My new video coming out tomorrow uses a stiff starter 🤗

[@silvermoon3486]

Thanks for the tutorial 😊❤👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[@livingbreadbaker]

You’re welcome 😊

[@catwarrior17]

Only a few seconds in and I'm subscribing!

[@livingbreadbaker]

Thank you for watching! I’m glad you enjoyed it!!

[@ArtbySusanKing]

Hi, I'm new to sourdough, is your starter of 100% hydration 1:1:1 ? I'm having a hard time understanding. You said 1 tbsp of starter and 60% Flour & 60% Water. Does 1 tbsp of starter weigh 60g ? Thanks for the video, sorry but I'm trying hard to understand what 100% hydration is. I usually feed my 25g of starter with 50g of flour & 50g of water, is this 100% hydration or is 25% Starter 25% water 25% flour 100% hydration?

[@livingbreadbaker]

@@ArtbySusanKing hi Susan, if you’re a beginner, this video might be something to revisit later. It’s made for intermediate and up. To answer your questions, the 100% refers to the ratio of water weight to flour weight, not the starter. Your starter is 100% hydration 😊. You may be thinking of feeding ratios which are different than the hydration percentages. I have videos for beginners on my channel that might be more helpful!

[@silvermoon3486]

I want to know how many grams is a tablespoon of starter for ur 100 percent hydration? I mean a big tablespoon could weigh about anything in grams. So are you saying that the starter is the same in grams as the flour & water 💦???! Many thanks 😊❤

[@livingbreadbaker]

A tablespoon of starter is 15-20 grams.

[@silvermoon3486]

Why is my starter thick & not milkshake consistency. I use white high protein bread flour & my starter was from Ben Starr’s recipe for 100 percent hydration starter????? Should I add more water 💦 to my starter & start over 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️❤️??? Just want my bread fluffy & not dense & wet. I’m just confused because one ☝️ turned out great & same recipe not as much 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️❤️☝️

[@livingbreadbaker]

Starters can behave differently depending on their microorganisms and activity. The flour type can alter them too. I’m glad you found the stiff starter video to help get that fluffy texture!

[@countrygalinthecity]

I listened for 3 minutes and totally confused now

[@livingbreadbaker]

Hi there, Which part is confusing? Did you get a chance to see the full post?

[@4leafclover243]

To be fair this video is probably not for beginners who bake sourdough. If you don’t understand concept of baker’s percentage at the beginning then you’ll get lost after.