I'm sure grainlady could give precise detail, but while excess salt could be a problem, the normal recipe salt concentration is not only good for flavor but at least partly required for a normal rise. You may in fact be causing a partial problem by leaving it out.

I was just reading an Ina Garten recipe for brioche. It had a note about salt and yeast. It said to mix sugar with the yeast and salt with the flour. I imagine by the time you mix the yeast mixture with the flour mixture, the yeast is strong enough to survive the salt. But, like chas said, Grainlady will have the real scoop for you, as will some of the other excellent bakers on this site.

I agree, mix the salt with the flour and proceed. I don't proof yeast, but when I did I did not add salt to the water/yeast/sugar mixture, I added it to the flour. Now, when I use the bread machine to do all my kneading, I put wet on bottom, flour on top, then make separate "wells" for salt and yeast. It all works, but leaving salt out makes some bland bread.

Annie

Thanks to all who offered advice. I have noticed that without salt, the mix (strangely, to me!) doesn't seem to rise as it used to, and there is a definite lack of taste. I'm only talking about half a teaspoon of salt to 2 cups of flour, so will give it a try in a couple of hours when I attempt tonight's dinner!

Thanks again!

When to add salt…

Not only does salt control the yeast and add flavor, it also strengthens and tightens gluten. If you wait to add salt after the gluten has been well-developed, the dough is easier to knead and the gluten develops faster. Once the salt is added, the dough will literally tighten.

Adding salt early or late is a choice. It’s usually added early when using the direct dough method just to keep things simple and make dough quickly. If you tend to be forgetful, add it early because bread/pizza crust without salt is at best, insipid. If you want to develop the gluten quickly, add it late during the last minutes of kneading to strengthen the dough, just before it’s set to rise. Just don't add the salt to the proofing water with the yeast/sweetener. That's a place where salt can kill the yeast.

If you are using a bread machine you can still choose to add the salt late – wait to add it at the add-in beep. It will be easier on your bread machine since the dough will be less “tight” during kneading.

Depending on the type of crumb I want to achieve, I may wait to add the fat AND the salt at the add-in beep. If you add fat early in the mixing it “shortens” the gluten strands and you will get a close, even crumb (better for sandwich-type bread when you need the bread to hold a spread like mayo). By waiting to add fat late in the kneading, you will get a more open and irregular crumb (better for toasting – butter and jam setteling in all those nooks and crannies). You can make the same enriched recipe and add the fat early on one loaf and add the fat late on another loaf, and get different results in the crumb structure and the size of the loaves. The one where it is added early will be smaller/shorter than the loaf where it is added late.

Tip if you are adding salt late. The type of salt can make a difference in how well it gets mixed in. If you are adding salt late, DON’T use regular table salt because it doesn’t mix in quickly and won’t get distributed throughout the dough. Choose flaky sea salt or Diamond Crystal kosher salt because they blend in faster.

Another tip, or rule of thumb: If you are reducing the salt in yeast bread, be sure to reduce the yeast by the same amount. Example: If you reduce the salt by 50%, then reduce the yeast by 50%. If you don’t, you’ll find the dough will proof too rapidly and you could easily over-proof it, especially if you normally use a timer rather than checking the dough. Use a dough-rising bucket so you know by looking when the dough has doubled in bulk. If the dough comes up to the 1-quart line in the dough-rising bucket when you pat it in, when it reaches the 2-quart line you will know it has doubled in bulk. Dough can’t tell time…. It’s more about the strength of the yeast, hydration of the dough, and the ambient temperature that determines how quickly or slowly it takes to rise.