Example of a 5-35-50-50-60-1-500 final dough

Notation

RA1 Desired 5% (Amount of sourdough culture relative to final dough)
RA2 Desired 35% (Amount of starter relative to final dough)
H1 Given 50% (Hydration of the sourdough culture)
H2 Desired 50% (Hydration of the starter)
H3 Desired 60% (Hydration of the final dough)
S Desired 1% (Salinity of final dough)
W Desired 500 gram (Amount of final dough)
All amounts by weight.
Abbreviations: RA = Relative Amount, H = Hydration, S = Salinity, W = Weight

Compute for 100 gram of final dough

#1 = 5.00 RA1
#2 = 30.00 RA2-RA1
#3 = 65.00 100-RA2
#4 = 1.00 S
#5 = 3.33 100 x RA1 / (100 + H1)
#6 = 1.67 RA1 - #5
#7 = 20.00 100 x RA2/ (100 + H2) - #5
#8 = 10.00 #2 - #7
#9 = 38.54 100 x (100 - S) / (100 + H3) - #5 - #7
#10 = 25.46 #3 - #4 - #9

Complete the table for 100 gram of final dough

Flour Water Salt Total
Sourdough Culture 3.33 (#5) 1.67 (#6) 0 5.00 (#1)
Starter 20.00 (#7) 10.00 (#8) 0 30.00 (#2)
Dough 38.54 (#9) 25.46 (#10) 1.00 (#4) 65.00 (#3)
Total 61.88 37.13 1.00 100.00

Complete the table for 500 gram of final dough

Compute the multiplication factor F = 500/100 = 5. Multiply all elements in the table for 100 gram of final dough with the multiplication factor F.

Flour Water Salt Total
Sourdough Culture 17 8 0 25
Starter 100 50 0 150
Dough 193 127 5 325
Total 309 186 5 500
  1. Start with 25 gram (5% of 500 gram of final dough) of sourdough culture. This sourdough culture should consist of 1 part water to 2 parts flour i.e. a hydration of 50%.
  2. Mix with 100 gram flour and 50 gram of water to obtain 175 gram of starter with an hydration of 50%. The 175 gram represents 35% of the final dough of 500 gram.
  3. Mix the starter with 193 gram flour, 127 gram water and 5 gram salt to obtain 500 gram of final dough with a hydration of 60% (186/309) and salinity of 1% (5/500).