Ever tried, or baked, no salt bread?

Cafe Society
1

I’m more an arts than science girl, so I’m still unsure, after doing some reading, whether it’s a good idea to try making my own ‘no salt’ bread.

It would really help reduce sodium intake in my family, that’s for sure.

Anyway, I thought I’d give it a try, using a salt substitute called ‘also salt’. It seems good in other things I cook, as a replacement for salt, so I thought it was worth a try.

Even though all my science friends insist it cannot work. I’m not convinced.

At any rate it’s going in the oven, in about 20 mins’ (after it’s second rising). So stay tuned and I’ll let you know if it’s edible.

But I was curious if any other dopers have tried to bake their own salt free bread? And what kind of results they had?

2

As a baker professionally I’ve not often made saltless or even reduced salt breads. They tend to have less flavor, if nothing else.

The following link is very good in explaining the role of salt in bread.

I’ll be very interested in how your bread turns out, and will mark this thread to come back to!

3

I made salt free bread once by accident(brain fart).

YEEECCCHHH!!!

4

How high in sodium is the bread you are currently eating? I watch my mom’s sodium levels, and bread is just not one of those things that I even bother checking, to be honest.

And I think there was just a mention in Cook’s Country magazine about salt-less bread and the awful texture and taste that resulted. No idea how a salt-substitute would fare.

5

Most breads have 150 mg of sodium, per slice. So for hubby, who eats sandwiches at lunch, that adds up quick. Because the ingredients will have some sodium content too. Think mayo, tuna fish, cheese, meats, etc.

It’s only been a few months tracking sodium, for me, and one thing I’ve learned is you gotta keep swinging. I am continually caught off guard by things I thought had no sodium, but do have some. So, I’m determined to keep carving out sodium from our diet, a little here, a little there.

Fingers crossed on the bread!

6

Nothing new to add – echoing above. I made salt-free bread once. ONCE. not that good IMHO. “Who is the salt, in my bread, Yes indeed, yes yes indeed!” It would be interesting to try a fake salt substitute – but I’m guessing the relation between yeast and the limiting salt is what’s really important.

7

I bought saltless bread once. The texture was fine, nice crust, good crumb, it behaved just like real bread - but it tasted revolting.

8

Y’know what? It’s not bad, actually. I should have left it as one loaf, instead of two. It would have made a more ‘sandwich friendly’ loaf, I think.

Still, I am encouraged!

It doesn’t taste like I put enough salt substitute in. I put in what the recipe called for, but I think, next time, I’ll up it a bit.

(In the name of full disclosure I am also adjusting to no salt margarine, so when I sliced of the crust, warm from the oven and tasted it, it tasted like it needed more salt. But part of that could easily be the lack of salt in the margarine, I’m thinking.)

I may send hubby to work tomorrow with sandwiches made out of it and see what happens.

I would also like to try substituting half whole wheat flour into the recipe next, and see what happens, what kind of bread I get.

9

When I was a baker we had this one guy who would come in and order a salt-free loaf once a week, which I dutifully made until the owner told me to stop wasting my time on it (thank god, too, because it was a real PITA (hee hee, bread joke) making a single special loaf when my smallest batches of dough weighed in at about 80 pounds.

I can’t speak to the taste, but I do remember what Peter Reinhart said about salt-free bread: don’t. Cut your salt intake elsewhere.

10

Loved it!

I don’t know who he is - but he can kiss my ass! It ain’t easy living on 1200mg of sodium a day. Unless he’s actually doing so, his opinion doesn’t much matter to me!

11

He’s a pretty accomplished baker - his book The Bread Baker’s Apprentice was basically my bible while I was making bread.

I don’t have a copy currently, so I can’t quote to you exactly what he said, but it wasn’t quite that blunt. It was more along the lines that if you’re spending the time to craft a really excellent loaf of bread, the lack of salt is such a large detriment to both the process and the taste that it’s not worth it (note that he said this on the page that contained his recipe for a salt-free loaf - your scientist friends are way wrong about it not being possible though by this point in the thread you have Figured That Out).

1200 milligrams is pretty difficult, no doubt, and I didn’t mean to harsh on your dietary restrictions. :slight_smile:

12

I’ve bought it by mistake once… absolutely inedible. Who knew bread is useless without salt?

13

Well, I did send it with hubby for his sandwiches, which he ate and said, ‘not bad’. (Cutting over 300mg of sodium from his lunch!) He also had it with thai curry last night, for dinner, saying, ‘needs more salt’.

Keeping in mind it was a first effort, I’m counting it a success. For one thing, it did come together as somewhat lovely bread, in fact. Science be damned! (I did a little research and learned that in some places, salt was a somewhat late addition, to the making of the local bread!)

The salt substitute worked, sort of. The bread came together, but tasted not unsalted, just not sufficiently salted. Using the same amount, as the recipe called for salt, maybe wasn’t enough of the salt substitute, I’m thinking.

At any rate, I am encouraged and intend to keep trying. As for this batch, I think I’ll turn it into ‘no sodium’ croutons, for my ‘lower sodium’ Caesar salad (a meal I adore, with some poached chicken, mmmm!) Some olive oil and spices, toast in the oven, voila!

No worries. Tracking sodium is challenging. You have to give up so much. I often eat ‘no sodium’ lunches, so I can eat a more normal dinner. I am often caught off guard by things I thought had no sodium in them. Sodium free bread would make life easier. And I’ve learned the only way to get there, is to keep cutting back, wherever you see a chance.

Hence my pursuit of sodium free bread, even if it means making it myself.

14

I did a very low sodium diet for a while several years back, and I found this book to be quite helpful.

15

I did a summer in law school in Florence. Traditionally, Tuscan bread has no salt (legendarily a result of high salt taxes in the Middle Ages). It is fucking dire. But of course, that’s just plain saltless, while the OP is using fake salt, which isn’t at all the same animal.

–Cliffy

16

Speaking of baking bread, I make it occasionally in the breadmaker, and have uneven results. I know it’s the result of me messing with the ingredients, though. This last time I used two cups bread flour, one cup oat flour and about a quarter cup of wholegrain cereal. (Not cold breakfast cereal; a Hodgkin Mill cooked cereal thing.)

I decreased the overall flour amount by the amount of cereal I put in, and put in two teaspoons of yeast, instead of the 1-1/2 called for. The result was that the bread fell. We could still eat most of it, and it was pretty good, but no nice round top and crust. It wasn’t really any more dense, which was odd. Any clues what I did wrong? I used a full teaspoon of sea salt, which is what was called for. The sugar was honey.

17

Same happened to me. I wouldn’t say it was horrible, but it was incredibly dull and flavorless. I ate it. One of my friends made the same mistake when baking a batch of bread, and just dumped all the loaves–he couldn’t eat them. I really don’t think it’s that bad, but you can definitely tell something is missing.

18

The point is to up the flavors so the bread doesn’t need as much salt sub., your idea of whole wheat flour will be a good help, but think toasted whole grains then ground to flour and used immediately in the bread. With more flavor from the ingredients then the tongue might not notice the lack of salt, just a thought, I have made bread most of my adult life, but nothing like grandmothers, made with whole wheat freshly ground on a grisk mill, with the germ and all. mmmmm…hot out of the oven, add a little honey and a glass of fresh squeazed milk. uups my farm is showing.

19

Actually despite his opinion on no salt breads I think Peter Reinhart’s recipes would be a huge help. I love his whole grain cook book and if my husband could have a loaf of the french bread every day he’d be in heaven. All his recipes call for retarding the dough at different points in the process in order to allow flavours to develop so if you’re cutting salt and need to increase flavour that would be a great help.

I do find that I use about 1/2 the salt he calls for, not because I’m cutting sodium but I’m a terrible lazy cook and since the only salt in the kitchen is sea salt in the grinder I tend to quit grinding early :smiley: but with the flavour of the bread I really don’t miss it.

20

How does he do this ‘retarding the dough’?

Thanks for the suggestion, I’ll look into it. It has occurred to me, that I did not try, the very first suggestion I was given, sodium reduced baking wise, and that was simply half the salt of any recipe.

Perhaps I’ll try that next as hubby proved less happy with the bread on day two! I’ll definitely sub half whole wheat, make one large loaf, and just half the called for salt. See how it comes out, then carefully calculate the sodium per slice (see how many slices I get), and see what the difference really is.

Thanks for the encouragement!