What Is the Best Hydration for Tartine Bread?
Tartine bread is often described as a high-hydration bread, and this can make bakers believe that more water automatically means a lighter crumb and larger holes. It is tempting to increase the hydration before learning how the dough should feel.
But water alone does not create a beautiful open crumb. If the flour cannot hold it, or the dough has not developed enough strength, extra water usually produces a sticky loaf that spreads during shaping and rises poorly in the oven.
For most home bakers, the best hydration for Tartine-style bread is approximately 70–75%. This range gives the dough enough moisture for a tender, open crumb while keeping it manageable during folding and shaping.
In my Tartine-style recipe, the actual hydration is approximately 73%. For ordinary home baking, this is a very good starting point: the dough remains soft and extensible but can still build enough strength to hold its shape.
Why Hydration Numbers Can Be Confusing
Hydration is the amount of water in a dough expressed as a percentage of the total flour.
If a dough contains 500 g of flour and 350 g of water, the visible formula appears to have 70% hydration. However, the sourdough starter also contains flour and water, and these amounts should be included when calculating the actual hydration.
My recipe uses:
- 500 g flour in the main dough;
- 350 g water;
- 100 g starter at 100% hydration.
The starter contributes another 50 g of flour and 50 g of water. The true totals are therefore 550 g flour and 400 g water.
Dividing 400 by 550 gives an actual hydration of approximately 73%.
This is why two recipes that both appear to be 70% hydration can feel different. One may include the starter in its calculation, while another may not.
When comparing Tartine recipes, always check whether the flour and water in the starter have been counted.
Is 73% Hydration High?
A hydration of 73% is moderately high, but it should not produce liquid or shapeless dough when strong bread flour is used.
At the beginning of mixing, the dough may feel sticky and slightly loose. After the flour has absorbed the water and the first folds have been completed, it should gradually become smoother and more elastic.
The dough should stretch without immediately tearing and lift from the container as one connected mass. It may relax after each fold, but it should not instantly spread back into a thin layer.
For a baker who already has some experience handling sourdough, 73% offers a good balance. It provides enough moisture for an irregular, tender crumb without making every stage unnecessarily difficult.
Why 80% Is Not Automatically Better
Photographs of bread with enormous holes often encourage bakers to increase hydration to 78%, 80%, or even higher. But very wet dough requires flour that can absorb and hold that amount of water.
If the flour is not strong enough, the gluten network becomes diluted and cannot support the gases created during fermentation. The dough feels slippery, spreads across the container, sticks heavily to the work surface, and loses tension soon after shaping.
Increasing the water can then create the opposite of the desired result. Instead of a tall loaf with an open crumb, you may get a wide, flat loaf with a moist or compressed interior.
Large holes depend on much more than hydration. Starter activity, gluten development, bulk fermentation, shaping, and oven spring all have to work together.
A well-fermented loaf at 72–73% hydration can have a much lighter and more attractive crumb than poorly developed dough at 80%.
Your Flour Decides How Much Water the Dough Can Hold
The best hydration is not determined by the name “Tartine.” It is determined by the flour in your kitchen.
Strong bread flour generally holds more water than ordinary all-purpose flour. However, the protein percentage on the package does not tell the whole story. Wheat variety, milling, flour age, and gluten quality all affect absorption.
Whole-wheat flour absorbs a considerable amount of water, but its bran particles can interfere with the gluten network. This means that the dough may absorb the water without necessarily becoming stronger.
One flour may produce elastic, well-supported dough at 75% hydration, while another becomes loose and sticky at 72%.
This is why copying a hydration number from another baker does not guarantee the same dough.
Begin with Less Water and Add the Rest Gradually
The safest way to control Tartine dough is to hold back part of the water during the initial mixing.
In my recipe, the flour is first mixed with 330 g of water. The remaining 20 g is reserved and added later with the salt.
This small reserve gives you time to see how the flour behaves. After the rest, the dough should feel smoother and should already show some ability to stretch.
Add the reserved water gradually. If the dough absorbs it and regains its structure, continue. If it becomes extremely loose and cannot come back together, you do not have to force in every final gram.
Using only 330 g of the main water would give the dough an actual hydration of about 69%. Adding 10 g raises it to approximately 71%, and adding the entire 20 g brings it to about 73%.
Those few grams can make a surprisingly large difference in how the dough feels.
When You Should Reduce the Hydration
If you are baking Tartine bread for the first time, using unfamiliar flour, or still learning to shape wet dough, begin at approximately 70–72% hydration.
Reducing the water slightly is not a failure. A dough that you can fold, ferment, and shape correctly will usually produce better bread than wetter dough that remains beyond your control.
Consider reducing the hydration if the dough:
- remains almost liquid after several folds;
- tears instead of becoming elastic;
- spreads immediately after every fold;
- sticks so strongly that shaping becomes impossible;
- loses its form as soon as it leaves the proofing basket;
- repeatedly produces a flat loaf with weak oven spring.
Reduce the main water by 10–20 g in the next bake and observe the difference. Once the dough becomes predictable, you can increase the water gradually.
When You Can Increase the Hydration
If the dough feels firm, develops strength easily, and resists stretching even after sufficient rest, your flour may be able to hold more water.
Increase the water carefully rather than making a large jump. An additional 5–10 g is enough for one test bake.
The extra water should make the dough more extensible without destroying its strength. After folding, it should still sit higher in the container and hold together when lifted.
If the dough becomes smoother, lighter, and easier to stretch, the increase may be useful. If it becomes slippery, weak, and difficult to shape, return to the previous amount.
The goal is not to reach the highest hydration possible. The goal is to find the highest hydration at which your dough still remains strong and controllable.
Hydration Changes During Fermentation
Dough can appear manageable at the beginning and become much softer later. This is sometimes blamed entirely on hydration, but fermentation also changes the dough.
As acids and enzymes act on the gluten, the dough becomes more extensible. If bulk fermentation continues too long, even correctly hydrated dough may turn sticky, fragile, and difficult to shape.
If the dough develops good strength during the first folds but becomes weak near the end of bulk fermentation, reducing the water may not be the main solution. The dough may simply need to be shaped earlier.
Warm dough also feels softer than cool dough. On a hot day, the same formula can seem wetter because fermentation moves faster and the dough relaxes more quickly.
Hydration, temperature, and fermentation must therefore be considered together.
The Best Starting Point for Tartine Bread
For my Tartine-style bread, 73% actual hydration is the best starting point. It produces soft dough with enough moisture for an open crumb while remaining suitable for a home kitchen.
If your flour is weaker or the dough feels difficult to control, begin closer to 70–71%. If you use strong bread flour and the dough develops excellent strength, you may gradually move toward 75%.
There is no prize for using the most water. The best hydration is the one that allows the dough to ferment evenly, retain its gases, accept shaping, and rise upward in the oven.
A slightly lower-hydration loaf with good structure will always be better than extremely wet dough that spreads across the table.
Learn how your flour responds, hold back some of the water, and let the dough show you whether it is ready for more. That is how hydration becomes a useful tool rather than simply a number in the recipe.
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29.07.2026
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