Idratazione / Hydration % (Pizza)

Idratazione (Italian: 'hydration') is the bakers' percentage expressing how much water is present in a pizza dough relative to its flour. It is calculated as (water weight ÷ flour weight) × 100. A dough made from 1,000 g of flour and 620 g of water is 62 % hydrated. Because all other ingredients — salt, yeast or starter, oil — are also expressed as a percentage of flour weight, the baker can scale any recipe up or down while maintaining exact proportions. This system, called baker's percentages or the baker's math, is the lingua franca of professional baking. For Neapolitan pizza, the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN) discipline specifies an idratazione of 55.5–62 %, reflecting the behavior of finely milled Farina 00 — which absorbs water more slowly than coarser flour — and the demands of the 60–90 second bake in a wood-fired oven at 430–480 °C (800–900 °F). At this hydration range the dough is extensible enough to hand-stretch without tearing yet stiff enough to hold its shape on a wooden peel. The high oven temperature rapidly converts the internal moisture to steam, creating the characteristic irregular, leopard-spotted cornicione (rim) — puffy, charred in spots, with an airy, slightly chewy interior. Contemporary artisan pizza styles (Roman in teglia, high-hydration round Neapolitan variations, pan pizza) often push hydration to 70–80 % or beyond. Higher hydration produces a more open crumb, increased extensibility (making it harder to work without technique), and a crispier exterior in a lower-temperature oven because the extra steam sets a thinner, more lacework-like gluten structure. The tradeoff is that high-hydration doughs require longer cold fermentation (24–72 hours) to develop sufficient strength and flavor, and they benefit from the structural reinforcement of stretch-and-fold techniques during bulk fermentation rather than aggressive early kneading. Very high hydration (80 %+) demands a high-protein flour or a blend incorporating stronger Manitoba-style flour to provide the gluten network needed to trap gas bubbles without collapsing.

“At 63 % idratazione, the dough stretched effortlessly in his hands, draping across his knuckles into a thin, translucent disk without a single tear — just enough water to open the crumb without making the ball too slack to handle.”

• techniquesFarina 00
• techniquesCornicione
• CuisineNeapolitan Pizza

1. 1.AVPN Disciplinare Internazionale — Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (2008, updated)
2. 2.The Elements of Pizza — Ken Forkish (Ten Speed Press, 2016)
3. 3.Modernist Pizza — Myhrvold & Migoya (The Cooking Lab, 2021)
4. 4.Pizza: A Global History — Carol Helstosky (Reaktion Books, 2008)

Confidence: high