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I was always taught to add a pinch of salt to flour when baking (mainly cakes / muffins and puddings).

I have recipes that specifically mention adding salt and others that don't.

Is there a scientific reason to add salt?

rbrayb
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  • baking what? bread? pastry? There are important reasons to add salt, both chemical and taste, but they depend on what you're cooking! Please rephrase to be more specific. – Harlan Jul 22 '10 at 19:51
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    I don't think it needs more specificity. The roles salt plays in baking anything are rather well defined. – hobodave Jul 22 '10 at 19:57

3 Answers3

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Salt serves two primary purposes in baking:

  1. To regulate yeast
    • Salt kills yeast. The addition of salt to a yeast leavened dough prevents the little beasties from growing completely out of control.
  2. To enhance and mask specific flavors
    • Salt is almost a universal flavor enhancer. Virtually anything that tastes good, will taste better with salt. What typically comes as a surprise to people is that this holds true with sweet things too, particularly chocolate. The addition of even a tiny bit of salt can make a sweet dish significantly sweeter. It also serves to mask the taste of raw flour.

Update

Also according to Progressive Baker salt affects the strength and shelf life of baked goods.

hobodave
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  • Yup - masking the taste of raw flour was what I understood to be the main reason. Which begs the question of why it's not standard in all recipes? – rbrayb Jul 22 '10 at 20:01
  • Dunno. Off the top of my head I can't think of a single instance of not using salt when baking. – hobodave Jul 22 '10 at 20:05
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    Salt should usually be included. Self-rising flour contains a small amount of salt in addition to baking powder so recipes that use self-rising flour may not specifically include additional salt. However if it's a savory item using self-rising flour I most typically would add more. – Darin Sehnert Jul 22 '10 at 20:10
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    @Darin: Under what circumstances does a chef use self-rising flour? I've always dismissed it as something unnecessary. – hobodave Jul 22 '10 at 20:13
  • @Darin: I answered it myself by stumbling across your blog! http://www.chefdarin.com/2009/08/flour-power/ – hobodave Jul 22 '10 at 21:08
  • @hobodave: Glad to see you found the article on the blog. You're right..most chefs wouldn't be using self-rising flour, at least not in the commercial operation. However obviously it is used in consumer recipes and here in the south most particularly. Since my classes are targeted to the consumer market and helping people better understand, enhance, and improve their cooking and entertaining, it is something that I use. As you probably noted in my blog post, you can easily make your own version of self-rising flour if you don't normally use it. – Darin Sehnert Jul 23 '10 at 00:30
  • @hobodave: "I can't think of a single instance of not using salt when baking" - two that spring immediately to mind are cheesecake and flourless hazelnut torte (or really anything that combines chocolate and hazelnuts). Granted, cream cheese contains salt already, but you don't actually add any salt yourself. – Marti Oct 27 '10 at 17:09
  • @hobodave Would you happen to have some sources to back up your reasons for adding salt? I find it hard to believe that a tiny bit of it actually makes a difference :-\ – floele Mar 26 '14 at 17:10
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I was wondering if baking powder reacts with salt as a catalyst to produce more CO2 bubbles that make the flour self-rising. It also can react with baking soda added to some recipes for the same effect. Salt lowers the pH of any solution it is added to. This is because salt dissolves in water and releases hydrogen ions into the solution. Hydrogen ions decrease the pH of the solution. For instance, adding 1 teaspoon of table salt sodium chloride to 2 cups of water decreases the pH from 8.4 to 7.6. The Hydrogen release may work with the baking powder to promote the creation of carbon dioxide gas as a catalyst.

Patrick Wingert
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    Your supposition there, and your numbers, don’t agree with mainstream understanding of chemistry, which is that sodium chloride has no significant effect on pH of a solution. Pure water, and pure water with table salt added, would each have a pH of 7. Salt does not contain carbon or oxygen, and does not act as a catalyst for acid/base reactions (which don’t need a catalyst). – Sneftel Feb 08 '23 at 08:09
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I believe salt cuts the gluten in the flour and makes it more supple and less elastic, especially when baking breads.

PeterJ
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Pepper chef
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    Welcome to Seasoned Advice, and thanks for your answer! Unfortunately, I think the reality is a bit of the [opposite](http://www.kingarthurflour.com/professional/salt.html) of what you claim: salt is known to *strengthen* and tighten the gluten structure in bread dough. – Athanasius Jun 14 '16 at 15:38