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Tried and Tested

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Clive:
That's interesting Gill.  I once forgot to add sugar but the bread still turned out quite well.  But my recipe includes a teaspoon of Marvel so that may have helped the fermentation.   :dunno:

Simon:
Is there more, or less, salt in white bread than in brown or wholemeal?

GillE:
This is from Richard Bertinet's Crust:

there is so much worry these days over eating too much salt that it is easy to forget that we can't survive without it in our diet.  Salt is critical for regulating the hydration of the body.  It controls how much water passes in and out of our bodies' cells, cleansing them and extracting toxins and waste.  Provided we are physically active and eat a balanced diet with plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, salt levels shouldn't be a worry; it is when we take no exercise and eat a diet laden with salt 'hidden' in processed foods that every gram becomes crucial.

Remember, though, that what we are talking about here is unrefined, natural sea or rock salt, which is very different from table salt (sodium chloride).  This is produced by heating the salt, a process which strips the raw product of all but a handful of the 80 or so minerals and other chemicals found in its natural state.   So when you bake, always use natural sea or rock salt...

It is hard to achieve good bread with a depth of flavour and a serious crust without salt.  And remember that although it might seem that you are adding a lot of salt to your mixing bowl, in proportion to the other ingredients it is relatively small.  I had a laboratory analysis done of 100g of my sourdough - that's two substantial slices - which shows that it contains 1.2g of salt.  By comparison 100g of cornflakes can contain 2g of salt.  And I know which I would prefer for breakfast.  Also, you have to look at the whole picture.  A typical processed white loaf can contain around 3.8g of sugar per 100g and 2.5g of fat per 100g, whereas my sourdough clocks up 2g sugar per 100g and 1.1g of fat (which are naturally occurring) and not an additive in sight.

I haven't yet found the article I read which explains how salt promotes yeast growth, but I'll keep looking :) .

Rik:
Useful piece, Gill, thanks. :)

Afaik, salt acts as an inhibitor on the yeast (while the sugar acts to feed it), and this produces a better gluten, making the loaf rise evenly, with small bubbles and no collapse. We've found we can reduce the salt to about 75% before it has a bad effect, but we use malt extract and lemon juice to enhance the flavour. The malt also produces a slower rise - thus taking over from salt. We're looking to add some extra gluten next, which is how we found the flour bin. It seems to be more freely available in America than here.

Simon:
That's very interesting, Gill.  I always use natural sea salt in cooking, and on chips, but I don't usually have it on other food.

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