Does Salt Retard the Yeast in Bread Dough or Not?
ritaweeda
4 years ago
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Comments (20)
ritaweeda
4 years agoplllog
4 years agoRelated Discussions
Yeast Amounts in Bread ?
Comments (7)loves2cook4six - In that case, I'd look for bread recipes made with bakers' yeast that are designed specifically for low-sodium; ones that give you a nutritional break down (especially the amount of sodium per serving) rather than altering recipes. Those recipes have probably been tested for success. If you've ever developed recipes (which I've done) you'd better know a lot about the science of the ingredients so when you remove something, what must you add or alter.... There is usually a ratio of 1 teaspoon salt per tablespoon of yeast. One to two tablespoons of dry yeast are needed to rise 6-8 cups of flour. You'll also find naturally-leavened (aka sourdough breads) will make up very well without the addition of salt, or only a very small amount of salt. I have a 95-year old friend who makes salt-free sourdough bread every couple weeks. Recipes that use a sponge method also work better for making low-sodium breads. When we make bread using a straight or direct-mix method, salt plays a big part in regulating the yeast because this type of bread method is designed for speed. Naturally-leavened breads and sponge method take more time to make, however. Be sure to figure out how much sodium per bread serving you are getting, rather than a total elimination of all salt in the bread. After all, you're not eating a whole loaf. A quick and easy way to reduce sodium is to make two or three small loaves, rather than one large loaf. Small loaves can easily be cut into very thin slices (weighing 1/4-3/4 oz. per slice, so instead of getting 16-20 slices per recipe, you may get at least double, or more, than that. Salt isn't the only sodium-contributing food we consume - it's just one of the easiest to over-use. Everyone NEEDS some sodium. "It's important in maintaining the body's ability to regulate acid-base balance, transmit nerve impulses, regulate cell membrane function and muscle activity, and absorb and transport certain nutrients." People rarely consider how much sodium is in their tap water, for instance. In most instances 1/2 to 3/4 t. salt per loaf of bread is not enough to add significantly to dietary salt intake. Remove all the salt and then you'll have to watch the rise of the dough VERY carefully because it will quickly over-proof if you follow "normal" times. A high amount of sugar in a recipe will also slow down the yeast activity. In doughs with high ratios of sugar to flour, osmotic tolerance is low because the amount of available water in the dough is limited for the yeast to work. Too much sugar will draw water from the yeast and inhibit its growth. Two tablespoons of sugar per cup of flour is the maximum that you can add without major gluten damage. It also takes much longer to develop gluten in doughs with a high ratio of sugar, so expect to knead it about double the amount of time you would in order to develop the gluten. -Grainlady...See MoreLOOKING for: Yeast Free Breads (Pita bread, flatbreads, etc.)
Comments (9)I know this is a little late to respond, but I make Rotis all the time. I try to limit the amount of wheat I eat, and using flat breads makes that simpler. I always use whole wheat flour, I find King Arthur the best, because it is finely milled and it makes for a smoother dough. Rule of thumb 1/2 as much liquid as flour. So if I am using 1 cup of flour, I use 1/2 cup water (I often use a tablespoon of whey or even yogurt or kefir - adds a little more flavor to the roti) and salt usually between 1/2 & 1 tsp. The dough is always going to be a little different. If the dough is sticky, I add a little more flour, just enough to make sure it is not sticky. I roll it in a ball and coat it in olive oil then let it rest for at least 15 minutes but usually overnight. (Soaking the dough helps remove the phytic acid, making the nutrients more available. This also makes for a more flavorful roti, as it will sour a little.) I knead the dough briefly to mix in the oil, then roll into little balls, which I flatten and roll in flour until I roll them into disks about 6". The trick with rotis is to make sure your pan is in the right heat zone. Too cool, and the roti will just sit on the pan without puffing, too hot and the roti will burn. I normally use a medium hot...it will be different on every stove. Often my first roti wont puff. If it doesn't puff a little, it will be too dense and a little unpleasant to eat. I just remove it and raise the temp before adding the next roti. Once I have the right temp and the rotis puff before burning, I add the original roti back on. Usually within a few seconds it will puff. I use a spatula to press down on the areas that don't puff, to encourage them to puff. ( I only press down on the cooked side, so not until I have flipped the roti at least 1 time.) I think I generally get about a dozen rotis per cup of flour. I don't usually try seasoning them with anything until they are cooked, because I use them for everything. I have slathered with peanut butter, and sprinkled choco chips and covered with a second roti, back on the grill. I make grilled sandwiches with them, eat scrambled eggs in them, use them for tacos/burritos, heat them, and coat them with cinnamon and sugar, they make great quesadillas, and I even throw them back on the griddle on low heat/or in the oven until they get crispy, and use them for crackers....See Morea few bread baking tips and the pizza dough recipe
Comments (33)I've been reading these and all of trailrunner's post. They are just great. All the hints were great. I bake bread out of boredom, I rarely use a recipe, for better or worse and like the wet doughs as well as quicker higher yeast doughs for pizza. Someday I'll get that "super peel" with the cloth belt thingy. I am forced to pre-cook my thin pizza crusts without one- My favorite bread is an olive bread that is made locally in the East Bay and sold now only at the local Berkeley farmer's market- you can go to their bakery, and they will sell stuff to you, but it's not a store front, no sales help, no hours- if they are there they'll sell it to you- they're also fresh pasta makers- 'Phoenix Pastificio'- if you're ever in the area. I've never tried to make that bread, it's almost Holy to me...( although I know he uses a biga and those black Kalamata olives). It has a thin almost black burnt crust, with large ciabatta holes to the crumb and flavor to die for....See MoreCan I substitute sea salt for kosher salt in this bread recipe?
Comments (29)This has been an interesting thread to follow, and I would have to say cooking is both an art and a science. In fact, I would say food at its best is a blend of art and science, after being a foods judge at fairs for many years. Leave the salt out of a bread recipe and see what you end up with? Bad science. Add the salt twice, an easy mistake, and see what you end up with? Bad science. Add the salt early and the gluten is harder to develop. Add the salt late in the gluten-development and it's easier to develop and won't require as much kneading. All science! The same goes for adding too much water, flour, sugar (or other sweetener); or flavoring ingredients which can affect the gluten-development in bread when you add too much - like cinnamon and nutmeg when added directly to the dough (this is why we sprinkle cinnamon/sugar on the dough surface for cinnamon rolls, rather than adding large amounts of cinnamon TO the dough. Add too much dairy and you'll end up with loaf with characteristics like - low-volume, poor symmetry, poor cellular structure and texture..... That's pure science. When people have a failed recipe, it's generally not from bad intentions or bad artistic interpretation, it's from bad science. Most modern baked goods are based on a ratio of ingredients. Stick to the common ratio whether you use a scale to weigh each ingredient, cups, pint canning jar, tea/coffee cup or mug... for your measuring tool-of-choice.... So take a moment to marvel at the science. "A standard plain cake has, by measure, 1/3 as much fat as sugar, 2/3 as much milk as sugar; and about 3 times as much flour as liquid." This ratio works whether you are making one small cake, one large cake, or enough batter for 100 cakes. Alter the ratio, such as trying to make a low-fat or low-sugar cake, or changing the type of flour used, and you will need to alter the known science with different ingredients and/or mixing methods. This science is most important when you develop recipes because you need to keep in mind ingredients that are tenderizers (fat and sugar) and those that are structure builders (flour and eggs), along with the other ingredients. Back to measuring flour for bread. This is one area that is completely without a standard for a scale or a dry measure, as all measurements for flour in a bread recipe are just a "good (or bad) guess". Add to that the way each person fills a cup with flour which will get you completely different amounts of flour if you were to weigh the amount on a scale, and the measuring cups themselves have NO standard in manufacturing. This is one area of baking where experience (art) along with science will help improve your bread. Due to the differences in the amount of gluten and moisture in flour, and those differences vary from brand-to-brand, season to season (moisture high during the rainy season and low during a dry winter) as well as from bag-to-bag of the same brand, you need to develop the "feel" (art) for bread dough. Your hands will "know" more about the dough than an exact measure. This is why you need to hold back 1/2-3/4 cup of flour during kneading. You may not need to add all the flour once it has the correct "feel" - and you may use all of the flour and require even more than the recipe called for..... It is also better to err on the side of a loose/wet dough than a hard/stiff dry dough. But I would also encourage EVERYONE to get a scale. There are lots more uses, along with measuring ingredients (especially if you find a recipe that is all weight measurements). It's the best tool in your kitchen when you MUST weigh something. It's far more accurate to measure 4-ounces of shredded cheese on a scale than it is to try to measure an equivalent in a cup - do you pack it tight/loose???? You can scale (weigh) the amount of batter in two cake pans to make sure you have an equal amount of batter in each of them so you have cake layers that are the same size. I even scale dough for burger and hot dog buns so I can adjust the size wanted/needed and make them consistently that same size, as well as the amount of bread per serving (a serving of bread is considered 1-oz.). When buns/rolls/loaves are the same size, they will bake more evenly. A reason to weigh the amount of salt is because of the size of the grains of different salt products. The finer the grind, the more salt grains there will be in a teaspoon (or whatever measure) because they will pack very closely together, while there will be less total salt when you put coarse-grinds of salt in the teaspoon because there are more voids of air between the larger chunks of salt. But the difference will probably not make a really huge difference in this bread recipe, but it IS a science factor you may want to keep in mind. And plenty of bread has successfully been made with plain old iodized table salt - even though I personally stopped using it many decades ago. So many things are choices, and neither totally right or totally wrong. -Grainlady...See Moreediej1209 AL Zn 7
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