Someone had a question about how much salt to put into bread. For a plain
bread, that is, one that is made from flour, water, yeast and salt, the
usual percentage is 2% of the weight of flour. I got that from Joe Ortiz's
book, "The Village Baker." Let me see if I can figure this out in my head
for a normal-sized batch. My KA mixer can't take more than 2 cups of
water, say I add 6 cups of flour to make the dough, equals 2 lbs. of flour
or 32 oz. so....2% of that would be .64 oz. of salt. I weighed a
tablespoon of salt, and that's about what 1 tablespoon weighs, .64 oz. Of
course, you can use less, if bread tastes too salty for you at that
amount. The action that salt has on bread is quite beneficial for the home
bread baker, since it retards the breakdown of the gluten strands by the
yeast, giving you a stronger structure. I've tried to make bread without
salt, and it is a sticky business. It seems as if there is not enough
flour in the dough. There you are, adding cup after cup of flour to your
dough and wondering what bad baking gremlin has invaded your kitchen,
causing this dough to act in such an uncooperative fashion! It's the
salt: you forgot it. Or, make it without salt and become an expert at
handling sticky dough. And eat it up quick: it's shelf life will be
shorter because salt helps preserve bread. According to Joe, Tuscan bakers
once had a severe shortage of salt, so they had to bake without
it. Apparently, enough people liked this bread that unsalted breads
continue to be baked to this day.
I hope that wasn't more than you wanted to know.....
Happy Baking.
Terry