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Levain calculator
Tell it how much levain your recipe needs and how you like to build it, and get the starter, flour and water to mix.
How it works
For a ratio, the levain you need (plus the extra) is split by the parts. 210 g at 1:5:5 is 11 parts, so 19.1 g starter, 95.5 g flour and 95.5 g water. The levain's hydration counts the water and flour already in your starter.
For a target hydration, the calculator finds the flour so that the seed starter is the percentage you chose of it, and adds water until the whole levain reaches that hydration.
Questions people ask
What does 1:5:5 mean?
It is the ratio of seed starter to fresh flour to water, by weight. 1:5:5 with 20 g of starter means 20 g of starter, 100 g of flour and 100 g of water, which makes 220 g of levain.
What hydration is my levain?
Add the water in the seed starter to the water you add, and divide by the flour in the seed plus the flour you add. With 20 g of a 100% starter, a 1:5:5 build is 100% hydration and a 1:5:3 build is (10 + 60) ÷ (10 + 100) = 63.6%.
Why add a little extra?
Some levain sticks to the jar and the spoon. The extra field adds a few grams on top of what the recipe needs, split in the same ratio.