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I have a sourdough bread recipe that calls for either Real Salt or unrefined salt. I do not have either of these and I’m not sure if these salts are fine or coarse. I have Himalayan pink salt coarse for grinding, coarse kosher salt & Morton’s iodized salt.

Are any of these comparable?

Luciano
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Phyllis
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4 Answers4

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This may come across as a little cynical ;)

Don't believe the hype.
Salt is salt.

The difference between Himalayan, iodised & kosher is so small you'll never taste it. They're all 98%+ sodium chloride. To a 1Kg loaf you're going to add something like 10g salt.

As it will completely dissolve before you bake it, not even the granule size is important.

Tetsujin
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    For baking, this is absolutely correct. – Jack Aidley Dec 21 '20 at 18:43
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    Thank You! I was more concerned about the question of fine or course as I have a few no knead recipes that specifically call for coarse and cautioned that if you use fine to decrease the amount. This recipe did not specify grind & called for the weighing of all the ingredients except the salt! Hence my dilemma. Thanks so much! – Phyllis Dec 21 '20 at 20:12
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    There is a difference in flavor between kosher and regular iodized table salt, in that kosher is much less "salty" in flavor. (Generally allowing you to more finely tune the flavor). In regular cooking, if you're used to kosher and thus using considerably more of it, you'll end up making things way too salty if you switch to table salt. I don't bake much, so couldn't tell you what effect it has on sourdough. – Darrel Hoffman Dec 21 '20 at 20:32
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    @DarrelHoffman Isnt that just because small salt crystals pack better than some of the big ones so you get more salt per unit volume with "regular"? – Matt Dec 22 '20 at 01:28
  • Baking is chemistry; in theory, iodine impurities could change the chemistry of the baking process. In practice... – Deleted Dec 22 '20 at 03:10
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    @Deleted - As a chemist I don't believe that the amount of iodide added to salt would significantly change any chemical reactions in baking. // Iodine is a necessary trace element for humans. That is why it is added to table salt. – MaxW Dec 22 '20 at 20:01
  • I guess you have to take the recipe with a... [grain of salt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grain_of_salt) – Thomas Dec 23 '20 at 10:42
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    With that said, there are certain speciality salts that do add flavour as well as salt. Black salt (kala namak, etc) is one example where it adds a pungent, sulphurous aroma something like strong egg. – J... Dec 23 '20 at 12:08
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    @MaxW *As a biologist*, I 100% *know* that they could significantly affect the behaviour of the wild yeast and sourdough bacteria. As far as I know this happens to not be the case for iodine in sourdough bread. But that’s pure luck, not because it’s biologically implausible. And if you substituted iodine with other “innocuous” compounds in the same quantity you might see a large effect. – Konrad Rudolph Dec 23 '20 at 14:22
  • Among all the other variables you're going to experiment with before you reach the recipe that suits you or your family, why not try whichever varieties of salt you think might be worthwhile? What else Tom, Dick or Harriett says here might work for them and why should it work in your kitchen? – Robbie Goodwin Dec 24 '20 at 01:01
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Any salt will do. The trick is figuring how much salt. If a formula is based on a specific salt, and you switch, you need to adjust. For example this author did a comparison. She weighed 1 level Tablespoon of various salts and found:

Iodized table salt 14g.
Fine grind Himalayan pink salt 12g.
French Fleur de Sel 11g.
Sardinian Black fior di sale 9 g.
Maldon Sea Salt Flakes 7g.
Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt 6g.

You need to adjust for this difference if using volumetric measures. Best to use a scale.

moscafj
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    That may be why all bread I make following one recipe turns out unbearable salty. (I have reduced to half the amount and it is good to my taste now.) – Willeke Dec 20 '20 at 18:03
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    Volumetric measures are terrible for that very reason. Any decent bread baking recipe should avoid those. – user2705196 Dec 21 '20 at 17:38
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    Thank you for that very valuable piece of info! I truly had no idea! I’ll be saving this handy chart for all my baking! – Phyllis Dec 21 '20 at 20:14
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    @Phyllis Just switch to metric mass units. Much more practical. – Nobody Dec 22 '20 at 09:36
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    @Nobody: Note that the average American does not own a kitchen scale (although "I want to bake some bread" is a pretty good reason to go out and buy one). Recipes, particularly for other forms of cooking, are almost always given in volume (with US customary units, of course). – Kevin Dec 22 '20 at 19:33
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    @Kevin That is new to me, but makes a lot of sense considering the units I see in recipees. I guess scales used to be more expensive or something, but my 0.1g resolution scale was less than $30 and I can measure all ingredients in one go, including spices (if they are used in more than trace amounts - for baking the only thing I can't weigh on that scale is vanilla extract because most of the time I just use around 0.05g or so). I would never want to give that scale up anymore. – Nobody Dec 22 '20 at 19:56
  • @moscafj - You should add to your post that a solid tablet of sodium chloride (Density = 2.17 g/cm^3) which has a volume of 1 tablespoon (14.79 ml) would have a mass of 32 grams. – MaxW Dec 22 '20 at 20:13
  • @MaxW...you just did. – moscafj Dec 23 '20 at 00:07
  • @user2705196 or everyone use Morton's Iodized Table Salt like God intended!! – RonJohn Dec 23 '20 at 05:13
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    @Kevin The average american also doesn't bake bread. – J... Dec 23 '20 at 12:10
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Himalayan salt is not really from the Himalayas, but from the Salt Range, which is nearby -not exactly 'Himalayan snow melt' (in fact an underground salt deposit from a sea that dried up hundreds of millions of years ago).

It has a bunch of impurities (or 'minerals'), which make it pink. It had no commercial value until recently when it became popular for Instagram. That's the value. It looks good in photos.

Salt is iodized for public health reasons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iodised_salt#In_public_health_initiatives

Kosher salt is coarse and lacks iodine. It's for koshering meat, but the coarseness is good for some purposes (rubbing on meat). In the UK you can't buy it very easily, but you can buy coarse salt that's functionally identical (in that it's coarse and salt).

All work the same way. A fine salt and a coarse salt is handy to have. And a scale with at least 0.1g resolution to accurately measure them. Any time you are dissolving the salt, they are all identical, just make sure to weigh them - measuring cups and measuring spoons are bad.

thelawnet
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My understanding is that within some communities, it is believed that iodized salts slows down or kills the microbes.

This is not true, which has been shown a couple of times: studying sauerkraut and studying fermented cucumbers.

aahlback
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    But it does help your thyroid if your diet is otherwise deficient in iodine (e.g. you don't eat any seafood) – tdavies Dec 22 '20 at 12:42