Demystifying the "saltiness" in bread

In food manufacturing, the use of salt is a key part
.
In particular, salt plays an indispensable role in improving the flavor of bread, inhibiting the physical properties of dough, suppressing substances that hinder fermentation in wheat flour, the main raw material, regulating the role
of enzymes, and preventing the reproduction of miscellaneous bacteria.

Table salt is the deciding factor in bread making

If no salt is added to the dough, the stirring time will be shorter and the dough will be unusually soft
.
If you enter the fermentation process directly, although the gas production capacity will be better than that of the dough with salt, the connection inside the dough is weak, and the gas retention power becomes particularly poor
.

During the forming process, the dough will have obvious looseness and stickiness, although the fermentation rate is faster, but the dough in the oven has a poor degree of expansion, the baked finished product is poorly colored, and it not only tastes salty, but also difficult to feel the unique flavor
of bread.

Therefore, in bread dough and finished bread, the main role of table salt is to inhibit the action of enzymes in the dough, increase the amount of residual sugar in the dough, and act on proteases at the same time to make the loose dough elastic and improve the holding power
of gas.
In addition, salt can also prevent the reproduction of bacteria, etc.
, and when fermented for a long time, it can prevent abnormal fermentation and avoid the appearance
of odor sources.
There are trace substances (purines) in wheat flour that hinder the fermentation of baker's yeast, and salt can inhibit the production
of this substance.

In addition, the holding force of the gas becomes better, the pores inside the bread will become thinner, and the color of the inside of the bread will become white
.
According to the powder tester experiment, the dough with salt added to the dough formed slowly, the elasticity increased, and the stability was high
.
It can be seen from the dough stretching device that when the amount of salt is within the range of 2%, the salt increases, and the tension and stretch of the dough will also increase
.
These facts are enough to prove that table salt can stretch gluten, increase gas retention, and inhibit the action of
enzymes.

The role of table salt in bread

Add flavor

A moderate amount of salt can produce a light salty taste, and it can also be mixed with the sweetness of sugar to make the bread more sweet.

Salt can also highlight the taste and aroma of other materials, so as to enhance fragrance and freshness
.

Inhibits bacteria

Yeast and wild bacteria are generally very weak in resistance to table salt; The osmotic pressure caused by salt in bread, delaying the growth of its bacteria, can also properly neutralize the overgrowth of yeast, if a dough that forgets to add salt, its fermentation rate will be fast, and it is easier to produce alcohol and other miscellaneous flavors, and at the same time the fermentation rate is too fast, yeast will quickly decompose the sugar in the dough, and eventually affect the coloring
of the bread.

Stabilizes gluten

Salt can change the physical properties of gluten, increase its ability to absorb water, make it expand without breaking, regulate the effect of gluten, because salt enhances the strength of gluten, so that the bread quality is improved
.
Table salt affects the nature of gluten, mainly to make its texture dense and increase elasticity, so that it will be easier not to stick to hands
when shaping bread.
Flour with slightly weaker tendons can use a larger amount of salt, and flour with strong gluten should use a relatively small amount of salt
.
Salt also affects the formation of dough gluten, and many bakers like to put salt at the end, because the dough gluten formation without salt will be faster, so that adding salt when the final stirring is almost completed can also indirectly shorten the dough beating time
.

Improves color

Use salt to condition the appropriate gluten and enhance the toughness of the gluten, so that the dough expands and stretches better when baking in the oven, and can produce a relatively fine tissue inside; This allows light to pass through the thin tissue wall film easily, so the color of the internal tissue of the baked bread is lighter and whiter
.

Regulates fermentation

Because table salt has the effect of inhibiting yeast fermentation, it can be used to adjust the fermentation time
.
Dough that is completely unsalted rises quickly, but the fermentation situation is extremely unstable
.
Especially in hot weather, it is more difficult to control the normal fermentation time, and it is easy to over-ferment, and the dough becomes sour
.
Therefore, salt can be said to be a material
that "stabilizes fermentation".

Amount of salt

There are many ratios of salt dosage, toast bread is generally 2%, sweet bread is 0.
8%, depending on the product, the amount of salt will be different, even the same toast
.
In addition, the amount of salt used will also be affected
by the difference between summer and winter, or the balance between raw materials, the specific volume of bread and other factors.

Especially when using soft water, it is better to add a little more salt, in the preparation method that requires long-term fermentation, even if the amount of baker's yeast is large, as long as a small amount of salt is used, it can stabilize the dough and improve the taste, aroma and coloring of
bread.
In addition, bread with a small volume or low oil sugar will be easier to feel the flavor of salt when eating, and it is better
to decide the amount of salt with this in mind.

The effect of table salt on bread making

With the change of salt addition, the water absorption rate of the dough also changes: if salt is added by 1%, the water absorption rate will decrease by 1.
5%; Salt added 2%, water absorption reduced by 2.
3%; Salt was added by 3%, and the water absorption rate was reduced by 3.
7%.

But this data is contrary to our feeling, perhaps because people feel the strong elasticity of dough, but the powder quality meter measures the viscoelasticity
of dough.
At the same time, the longer the mixing time indicates that the range of dough elasticity is also wider, that is, the dough elasticity becomes stronger
.
By the way, the water absorption rate when making noodles is calculated simply by adding 1% table salt and reducing the water absorption rate by 1%.

In addition, according to the measurement data of the dough tensile meter, the tensile resistance increases as well as the stretch, making salt an ideal raw material
for bread making.

Salt has always been added to yeast nutrients, and salt is very suitable as a bread improver
.
The addition of about 0.
5% salt to the medium seed method can reduce the need for oxidants, and the bread produced is large in volume and high
quality.

(Medium Bakery)

China Food News(November 14, 2022, Version 05)