Baker's % for Seed/Starter?
I'm wondering why most recipes ignore what's in the seed/starter. They just use a baker's % for the starter to put in the pre-ferment. I can see why in a lot of recipes the flour and water in the seed is negligible but for some I've run across, it can be significant. For instance, a recipe I like a lot came from the Breadtopia site called "Traditional Whole Grain Sourdough [1]" raised the question. In that recipe, the BP% in the pre-ferment for the starter is around 50% and the pre-ferment % of total flour is 32%. In that combination, it turns out that the seed/starter has a significant amount of flour and water that will affect the flour ratios and final hydration. The reason I noticed this issue is that when you run the hydration without the seed/starter it came out about 64%. So I tried a variation with that hydration and it came out way too dry. But, when I included the water in the starter (assuming 100% hydration) it came out 67%. Also when I calculated the % ratios of flour including the starter, there was a significant change because the starter added significant flour to the final dough. Now I see some recipes where the starter is a major factor in the dough. So, I'm wondering if others have found this a problem and perhaps recipes should take into account what's in the starter.