Salt - Why we Knead it in Bread

Salt – Why we knead it in Bread.

Hey we need it too!

Salt is one of those ingredients we need for seasoning food and enhancing flavours. It is known to reduce bitterness while increasing the flavours of savoury, sweet and sour. This is why salt is added to most dishes. It is interesting to learn the role salt has in bread and I wanted to share the important reasons it is required in bread making.

Put simply, it conditions the gluten in the bread to make it stronger and more elastic which allows the stretch needed for the little or bigger air bubbles to form cells and give a home to the gas released when yeast is munching on the starches and sugars.

Funny how it reminds me that we need salt/sodium for our muscles to work properly. It plays an important role as part of the process that transmits nerve impulses sending messages to our muscles to contract and relax. This includes the muscles we are not always aware of such as heart smooth muscles that contract and relax all our lives without us usually giving it a second thought. There are many roles salt plays in our daily functions, but this was the thought. Perhaps because salt regulates the yeast.

Just as salt helps regulate this body of ours so does it help regulate the yeast in bread. Having just the right amount will allow the dough to rise perfectly. Salt inhibits the growth of yeast which helps control the dough rise. Too much can destroy the yeast while too little will cause the bread to rise too quicky.

A general rule is 2% of flour weight is used in most bread. Peter Reinhart in the Bread Bakers Apprentice on page 39 says, ‘An experienced baker knows that salt is usually 1.5-2.5 % of the total flour weight’. I have an example recipe below.

You can see there are 1200 gms of flour. If you multiply this number by 2% or 0.02 you will get 24 gms of salt. If the recipe call for 600 gms you would get 12 gms of salt. Isn’t it great to know that if the recipe called for 50 gms of salt for 1200 gms of flour you will always know there is something off with the formula?  Cool!

Here is an easy French Bread recipe from the ON Baking Text book Pg 213. It will make 3 loaves 750 gms each. This is 2/3 the amounts in the printed version which would make it easy to do without a stand mixer.

French Bread Recipe

Water                                 780 mls                                                                 65%

Bread Flour                       1200 gms                                                             100%

Active Dry Yeast               19 gms                                                                  1.6%

Salt                                     24 gms                                                                  2%                        

1.       Combine the water and yeast in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the remaining ingredients and mix on low speed until all the four is incorporated.

2.       Increase speed to medium and knead the dough until smooth and elastic. (Hand knead for about 10 mins)

3.       Ferment the dough until doubled in size, approximately 1-3 hours. Punch down, divide and shape as desired.

4.       Proof loaves until doubled in size.

5.       Score (A few slashes on top) the loaves then bake them at 425 F. with steam injected during the first few minutes of baking, until the crust is well developed and golden brown and the bread is baked through.

About 20 minutes.

To inject steam into a regular home oven you can add cold water into a small oven safe container for the first few minutes baking.

Why else is salt important in bread? Taste of course. Who likes to eat cardboard? It doesn’t matter if you are enjoying white, whole wheat, sweet enriched, or an artisan sour dough loaf it will taste better with the right amount of salt.

Getting back to making our own food and not relying on packaged products so much, is the first step to being able to enjoy the taste a little added salt brings. This is why bakers and pastry chefs generally use unsalted butter when they create their gorgeous products. They know the correct amount of salt to make your mouth water.

Consider checking out a local bakery to buy your next loaf of bread. You can be assured only 2% of the whole loaf has salt. It will taste delicious and your body won’t mind at all!

Just like our own bodies bread requires the right amount of salt to work better and just like our bread too much salt can be damaging to our body. Salt acts like a sponge and pulls fluid into our blood vessels causing our blood pressure to rise too high. The Canadian Heart and Stroke Association describe it best.

“About one-third of people are sensitive to the sodium component of salt. This means that eating foods with too much salt can increase the amount of blood in the arteries, raising blood pressure and increasing the risk of heart disease and stroke. About 80% of the salt we consume comes from processed foods.”  https://www.heartandstroke.ca/get-healthy/healthy-eating/reduce-salt.html

Heart and Stroke explains that salt affects your health depending on your genes, age and other medical conditions you may have. I have high blood pressure and have been reading labels on packaged food for over ten years. I also need medication to help stay regulated. We ate a ton of processed food growing up but try to use as little as possible now.

To see daily recommended requirements check out the Health Canada site on salt in Canada. It is very informative and just takes a few minutes to see the different requirements depending on age.  https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-nutrition/healthy-eating/sodium.html

I hope you enjoyed my post and understand more the importance of salt in bread and the health comparison to help you put into context how salt regulates not only yeast but our blood pressure as well. As a nurse we care and teach as a baker we create and share.

Dog Wisdom/Rover Revelation for today from Theo: Signs of sodium chloride toxicity for dogs include seizures, blindness, dehydration, loss of appetite, and death within 24 hours.