February 4, 2023 - 11:32am
Salt for beginners
May I share this video: I found it very useful to see just how important salt is - and why, and why the 2% rule is so important.
It did make me wonder, though: why do we sprinkle (the right amount of) salt onto (or into) our dry ingredients and not dissolve it in the water we use?
(I was also impressed with the Chain Baker for his clarity and authority; have I been missing something that's widely known about his channel?)
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You can dissolve it in the water, disperse in the flour, or just add when mixing everything together. Makes no difference.
(Well, perhaps there is a difference if you knead in the salt after autolysing the flour...)
Chain Baker is great!
Thanks, Ilya - I've never seen a recipe, formula or procedure that suggests 'pre-dissolving' the salt in water, as we might do yeast.
I know that salt inhibits the action of yeast; so I was thinking that to 'pre-dissolve' could run the risk of hitting the yeast everywhere it looks instead of introducing itself to it gradually at knead time :-)
It'll be fine for sure. Don't rub your yeast directly with salt, but in solution with all the water for the recipe it will be ok. Instant yeast also you don't need to dissolve in water first. You can just dump everything in one bowl. Not with fresh yeast of course, and supposedly might not work with ADY, but I guess in a higher hydration dough even that should be fine.
Understood, Ilya. Thanks. I'm not looking for novelty for its own sake. And, as you say, what we do already seems to work.
On a post here, someone wrote to knead 10 min (machine) then add the salt and yeast.
It seems to make a difference for me.
-from a chain baker fan. :)
Thanks, jo_en; Yes, I've seen sprinkle later. Though rarely in FWSY…
I plan to try the Rye loaf which he makes look so easy :-)