April 17, 2010 - 12:01pm
Salt % reduction - pros? cons?
I just realized the other day that a recipe I was fine-tuning to my liking was actually too salty for my taste (the sourness had masked this quite a bit). I reduced it from 2% TFW to 1.65% and felt the taste was better - I could go lower as we don't use much salt and I find I can taste it much more than other folk. The thing is, and I've done this twice now just to make sure, the dough was so much easier to handle & shape (which is great), but the crumb was much softer and less chewy (about which I feel less enthusiastic).
What have others discovered re: pros and cons of salt reduction - any observations?
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Hi
Benefits: toughens the gluten; gives control to the fermentation; gives flavour; ties up water, so acts as a preservative.
Negatives: excess salt in the diet causes known and serious health problems; a drain on a country's resources, and a waste of human lives.
That's the summary
Best wishes
Andy
I've regularly made no-sodium bread in the past, but didn't notice anything about the crumb, but I really didn't have any salted bread coming out of my oven at the time to compare it with.
How about trying it all the way with no salt and see if the difference is extreme? If I ever get around to making Pane Toscano, which is totally salf-free, I'll write up a post.
I definitely will continue to reduce; this has really helped with handling higher hydrations which hopefully will reinstate the crumb. I guess along with the mantra "watch the dough, not the clock" I will add "read your tastebuds, not the rules" to lessons learned.