Levain Hydration Explained: Managing Your Pre-Ferment

What is Levain Hydration?

A levain is a pre-ferment you build from your starter specifically for one bake. It can have a different hydration than your mother starter, and that difference gives you surprising control over flavor and fermentation speed.

Common Levain Hydrations

50%: Stiff levain, slower fermentation, more sour notes.
75%: Moderate, standard approach.
100%: 1:1 water to flour, fast fermentation, milder flavor.

How It Affects Your Dough

A 100%-hydration levain adds roughly equal amounts of water and flour to your final dough. Our calculator accounts for this automatically so your final hydration percentage is accurate.

Building a Levain

Feed 4–8 hours before mixing, using the hydration that matches your goal. When the levain has doubled and is actively bubbling, it’s ready to use.