This is How Salt Affects Bread Dough | The Effects of Salt Explained

Most bread nowadays is made with salt. I have read that it has only been used in breadmaking for a couple hundred years but seems like someone would have thought of it far sooner because bread has been around for thousands of years. There are places where some bread is still made without salt. Tuscany being one of them.

At only 1.5% - 2.5%, salt makes up a very small part of a recipe. This tiny percentage affects fermentation, flavour, and texture.

Salt acts as a tightening agent on gluten. It strengthens the dough and makes it more cohesive. As the yeast consumes the maltose made by active enzymes contained in the flour, it expels carbon dioxide. It is the carbon dioxide that gets trapped in the gluten network and makes the bread dough puff up. The stronger the gluten the more gas it can hold. This of course is not a rule that must be followed. Sometimes weaker gluten is preferable. Saying that, a dough without salt becomes extremely weak and can’t hold the gas effectively.

Besides improving dough structure, it also greatly enhances the flavour. Bread made without salt tastes bland. It has no character. Salt not only adds a salty taste, but it also accentuates the flavour of the flour and other ingredients contained in the dough.

Salt helps with controlling fermentation. It draws moisture through the cell walls of yeast through a process called osmosis. Yeast needs water to work effectively. The more dehydrated it gets the slower it will ferment. This is by no means a bad thing. A dough made without salt can ferment too rapidly and uncontrollably. This property of salt can be used for slowing down and controlling sourdough derived leavens and yeasted preferments. It is especially useful in hotter climates and hotter kitchens. Just a small percentage significantly slows down a preferment preventing it from over fermenting.

Salt inhibits enzymatic activity. This is one of the reasons why salted foods can be stored for so long. So, adding salt to a soaker can prevent it from going off. Soakers with grains and seeds often are made with hot water. Leaving a warm soaker to stand at room temperature for many hours can cause it to spoil. I will make a dedicated episode about soakers and how to use them soon. The same salt percentages apply for soakers as well as bread dough and preferments.

Salt helps preserve the colour and flavour of four. Unbleached flour has carotenoid pigments which give the crumb a creamy colour and wheaty aroma. Salt helps with preserving these carotenoids as it delays oxidation. Therefore, it is preferable to add salt at the beginning of the mixing process. Saying that, it is most important when using a mixer as the mechanical action can oxidize the flour a lot faster than hand kneading could. The resulting bread can have a white crumb and a lack of good aroma.

While normally all ingredients are calculated as a percentage of the total amount of flour, if a dough is made up of a large proportion of grains and seeds, then the total salt amount should be calculated in relation to the total weight of the grains, seeds, and flour. This is important for a correct balance of flavour. Grains and seeds absorb a lot of water and dilute the saltiness of the final loaf. Adding more salt will correct this.

Generally, 2% of salt is the standard for most recipes. I almost never stray from that number. It keeps the calculations simple, and it adds enough flavour while keeping the fermentation in check.

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[ChainBaker]

📖 Read more in the link below the video ⤴

🌾 If you would like to support my work click here ⤵

🔪 Find all the things I use here ⤵

🍞 Share your bread pictures here ⤵

[chopsddy]

Your providing extremely valuable information. Basic principles get me farther than mere recipes. Knowing how and why something works provides freedom to innovate. Sincere thanks for your efforts here. 🕊👍🕊

[MichiHenning]

I suspect that the 10% dough ended up killing the yeast. It would be interesting to see the comparison with 5% salt.

[Gennaro-Mussel]

Fun fact about bread without salt or too much salt.
In north italy salt less bread is very common since it is always paired with things like salame or prosciutto or some other kind of "dry" meat or cheese that is usually very salty.
In south italy, as opposed to north (Tuscany), bread is usually very salty, with a % that usually go up to 3%. Since the salt is so high is added tipically after the dough started with his fermentation.
I guess in other countries it is the same, following some traditions maybe out there there are a more people than we think that like and still make salt less bread 🤓

[billjoyce]

Pane Toscano, an Italian bread, also called "Tuscan bread", is made with no salt. It is eaten with salty toppings and sauces that pair well with salt-free bread. A friend makes salt-free bread since her husband has kidney issues and needs to keep his sodium and potassium intake low. She finds it easy to overproof the bread.

[aviationchannel]

Nice to see the effects of salt in bread. I thought salt won't make that much of a difference in bread, but I was very surprised at the result of the 10% salt. I usually use 2% salt in my normal bread like sourdough, baguettes, croissants, brioche, ciabatta, sandwich bread, and 3% salt for pizza dough. I've never tried a bread without salt or anything over 3%. the 10% looks like playdough, or some thing you'd find on the side of the road...

[eyewitness]

Still baffles me how clean simple and to the point your videos are, while remaining thoroughly enjoyable. The timelapses of the process, rise, the comparison shots give soo much to the quality. The analytical nature sort of reminds me of Stefan's tests @ CNC kitchen.

[Blackmamba-cenb]

Thanks for doing videos like these. I’ve been getting into bread making recently and it’s helpful to understand what every component is doing individually.

I think a lot of home bakers fall into the trap of following instructions without understanding what they are doing. Glad your channel is so process oriented and scientific

[Pachurry]

Yesterday i was making pizza and by accident i dropped 32 gr of salt (1kg of flour) it wasn't salty but it made the dough very tense and resistant to be stretched had to leave it to rest to fully strech it. Thanks for your content as always!

[ryanendersmith]

I'd love to see you do this one again but comparing amounts of salt that are closer to what we'd really use. Like 1%, 1.5%, 2%, 2.5%, 3%, 3.5%, 4%. I love salt and I'm always curious how much I can get away with adding to my bread but I've never gone over 2.5%. The 10% was super funny for sure, I'm just curious what the boundary is on what we can get away with.

[ProximaCentauri]

Very straight forward and quick presentation for my impatient senses. No cheesy intros as well. Subbed for more!

[halestormtv]

It's interesting that a lot of recipes actually recommend adding salt after mixing your dough. I think more than anything, this has proven that salt actually affects the yeast proofing. I wonder if adding the different amounts of salts later in the process would have a different affect on the yeast and gluten components of the bread.

[JNOObs]

in my opinion the quality of this video is very good this channel seems underrated. I literally thought i was watching a video with at least 200k veiws. nice job btw

[mandiigraham]

Brilliant. That is going to fix my issue with poolish fermenting to quickly. And great tip on the seeds too. So much to learn. Thanks.

[adamchibe]

Omg, this is the type of bread/baking science that I have been looking for on youtube for years. Most of the time, when I look for youtube videos and guides on bread baking, its specific recipes with specific quantities, and the narrator will maybe make an offhanded comment about "this ingredient helps to achieve this in this particular recipe, more will do this, and less will do this", but then they say nothing more and continue the video. Then I wonder why when I try to recreate certain recipes in the conditions of my own home or play around with measurements to try different flavors and end results, things don't always work out consistently. This is the type of knowledge and understanding of baking mechanics that I have been searching for, and you've definitely earned yourself a new subscriber. Now I just need to watch the rest of your past and future content. =D

[philip]

Another helpful video, Charlie. I was glad to hear you mention the unmentionable about nutrients in (pink) Hymilayan salt. The jerky comparison was priceless! 😂
Today was a chocolate cake bake. Made with sour cream and hot, strong coffee. 😋

[roxiviski]

Very useful for me the tips about soaking seeds before kneding. In Tuscany, Italia, people eats PANE TOSCANO with no salt at all.

[DebV.]

I love learning the science behind the bread ingredients. Thank you!

[automaticenforcer]

I’m not sure why YouTube recommended this video but I really enjoyed it. Subscribed.

[oculwarrior]

I've only baked so many loaves in my life (no pun intended), but I've always added salt. I usually measure by touch so I can't comment on the percentage. I also add brown sugar (probably a teaspoon or so), and I'll taste the dough a bit to ensure I have the right type of sugar-salt balance for the occasion. I've made wet-dough high-gluten bread which goes well with sweet toppings. I've made dry-dough bread which has a type of pizza bread texture, and goes well with savoury toppings. I've made ordinary bread. I've made bread with semolina which tastes very rich (maybe too rich for some people). I've mixed flour with toasted oat flour (homemade) which was a little interesting. I'm just an amateur, but I guess my loaves have never failed because I always added a moderate amount of salt.