With all respect to Elizabeth Harbison and her book full of good recipes,
her post contains some mythology that should be corrected.
> The only problem could happen if:
> * you had no salt, the loaf would rise out of control
> * you had no natural sugar (sugar, honey, molasses, whatever) the yeast
> wouldn't be activated so the dough wouldn't rise much ... [snip]
I make salt-free bread in and out of bread machines. I also make
sugar-free bread. There are several ways to control the rate of
fermentation and rise:
==> Yeast: the more yeast, the faster the rise.
==> Firmness/water content: firmer bread rises more slowly. Moister
bread rises faster.
==> Salt: slows down rise.
==> Sweeteners: speed up rise. If you put in sweeteners, it gives the
yeast a jet-assist. But yeast is perfectly happy to feed on flour
alone; yeast converts the starch in flour to sugar. If sugar, honey,
and the like were needed to "activate" the yeast, french bread (which
by law, in France, contains only water, flour, salt, and yeast) would
be impossible.
==> Temperature: bread rises faster when it's warmer. This doesn't
apply much to bread machines, which don't usually have programmable
temperature settings.
If you want low-salt or salt-free bread, use less salt -- or none at all. If
your bread mushrooms and collapses, it's rising too fast. Reduce yeast, sugar,
or water.
If you want bread that's less sweet, leave out some or all of the
sugar/honey/molasses. If the bread doesn't rise fast enough, add yeast, or add
water. Or reduce salt.
Like Elizabeth Harbison, I don't measure carefully. But I make an exception
when I'm using a machine. Making machine bread with low salt, or no salt,
requires that you measure accurately. Declare yourself a scientist: experiment
with different combinations, and keep good records.
Jay Hosler