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Don't Forget The Salt!
So what is the big deal with salt in bread making? Surprisingly, salt provides several important purposes in producing a fine quality loaf of good bread.
The most obvious, of course, is taste. Without the addition of salt, the taste of bread would be flat, insipid, and very bland. In addition to taste, non yeast breads generally use salt along with baking powder and or baking soda to form a chemical reaction that will leaven or "raise" dough.
Next, salt contributes to the chemical bonds in the gluten structure of yeast bread by leaving it slightly more relaxed. With the gluten structure relaxed, the texture and overall "feel" of the dough is altered. It absorbs just enough moisture in the dough to keep it more along the way of being elastic instead of sticky as the gluten properly develops during kneading or mixing. Most yeast bread recipes typically use a ratio of approximately 2% salt to the total weight of the dough.
Lastly, salt slightly inhibits the rapid production action of the yeast if given in the proper amounts and in the proper stages. This process is known as "retarding" and literally slows down the rate of speed at which the yeast cells reproduce. This is very crucial when it comes to "slow rise" techniques for dough development. The longer the dough is allowed to rise, the more complex the flavors are that can be extracted from the flours. Care must be taken with mixing yeast dough so that the yeast is not "shocked" when salt is added to the dough. Typically, it is a good idea to at least have the salt buffered with a portion of the flour your recipe calls for, rather than adding it full strength to the dough. Types Of SaltSea Salt
Natural sea salt is by far my preferred salt of choice for bread making. It is considered an unrefined salt and is obtained by the evaporation of water from the brine of the sea. Mainly, I prefer it because it does not contain iodide which can excessively inhibit yeast production. Secondly, It's mineral composition provides a cleaner less chemical taste than table salt, thereby holding a preferred status in the arena of gourmet cooking. Some advocates for sea salt claim that unrefined salts are also healthier for you than refined salts. However, avoid completely raw sea salt because it's magnesium and calcium compounds make it too bitter for consumption. Experiment at your local grocery, health food store, or online for hundreds of exotic flavors to choose from.
Refined Salt
It is the most widely used and the majority of this type of salt is primarily sold for industrial use, with a much smaller remnant used for food grade applications. After this salt is harvested, chemicals are added for purification. Traces of sodium ferrocyanide as well as other chemicals and additives are introduced to this type of salt as an anti caking agent to reduce the formation of irregular crystals. Some advocates for the refined salt industry claim that unrefined salts do not contain enough iodine to prevent iodine deficiency diseases. ( I won't get in the middle of that fight! ) As a rule, the only time I absolutely refuse to use refined salts are for yeast bread production.
Table Salt
It is considered a refined salt and is composed of 97% - 99% sodium chloride. As such, it normally will contain chemicals and other anti-caking additives to keep it free flowing by preventing it from absorbing moisture from the air. It will typically contain potassium iodide used as a nutrient to aid in prevention of diseases associated with iodine deficiency.
*** as a general rule, I add salt to yeast dough during the latter stages of mixing after at least half the flour has been added ***
*** non yeast doughs and batters simply need the salt blended with total of dry ingredients before combined with wet ingredients ***
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