Substituting Salts in bread recipe - need help

[jennyema]

ALL SALTS are around 99% sodium chloride and have the same saltiness per unit of weight, though not by measure volume because of grain size.

Yes. It's important to remember that all salt is essentially the same, and is equally salty.

The difference in salts is found in the size of the grain and the addition of iodine in table salt and the naturally occurring minerals and other "sea stuff" in sea salt.

You can certainly bake and cook with sea salt.

Personally I never do because sea salt is relatively expensive and there's no benefit in using it. The subtle taste differences in sea salt are lost when you bake with it or use it in a cooked dish. I use it almost exclusively as a finishing salt. I do have a table shaker of sea salt that someone gave me, so I use that but won't replace it.

Otherwise it's kosher salt for pretty much everything.

 

[Russellkhan]

Yes. It's important to remember that all salt is essentially the same, and is equally salty.

The difference in salts is found in the size of the grain and the addition of iodine in table salt and the naturally occurring minerals and other "sea stuff" in sea salt.

Not just Iodine. Table salt also contains anti caking agents and sugar, of all things.

You can certainly bake and cook with sea salt.

Personally I never do because sea salt is relatively expensive and there's no benefit in using it. The subtle taste differences in sea salt are lost when you bake with it or use it in a cooked dish. I use it almost exclusively as a finishing salt. I do have a table shaker of sea salt that someone gave me, so I use that but won't replace it.

Otherwise it's kosher salt for pretty much everything.

I do keep kosher salt around and use it for cooking. My problem with it for baking is measuring it. I tried for some time but never found a conversion ratio for replacing table salt with kosher salt. I decided using a table salt grind sea salt for my baking was worth the cost since it allowed me simple measurements and avoided the additives in table salt.

 

[jennyema]

Not just Iodine. Table salt also contains anti caking agents and sugar, of all things.
I do keep kosher salt around and use it for cooking. My problem with it for baking is measuring it. I tried for some time but never found a conversion ratio for replacing table salt with kosher salt. I decided using a table salt grind sea salt for my baking was worth the cost since it allowed me simple measurements and avoided the additives in table salt.

The standard conversion for table to kosher is 1: 1 1/2 for Morton's Kosher and 1:2 for Diamond Crystal.

kosher table conversion diamond morton's - Google Search

But kosher salt doesn't dissolve as well as table salt so isn't as good for baking.

I don't mind the additives in table salt when baking. The iodine and dextrose don't change the taste, with the one exception being perhaps bread.

I usually use kosher salt when baking because I'm lazy. It's right there in the crock and the table salt is across the kitchen in the cupboard.

 

[SharonT]

A soup that I made yesterday called for "Gray Salt," which I've never seen. I read that it's trendy the last couple of years but that there may be some controversy about it?

 

[jennyema]

A soup that I made yesterday called for "Gray Salt," which I've never seen. I read that it's trendy the last couple of years but that there may be some controversy about it?

Grey salt is an expensive type of sea salt.

If it was called for in your recipe, I hope it was as a finishing salt, and not a seasoning salt. There is absolutely no need to season with something like that.

You need not finish with it either if you don't want to spend $$

 

[Andy M.]

A soup that I made yesterday called for "Gray Salt," which I've never seen. I read that it's trendy the last couple of years but that there may be some controversy about it?

Sounds like a Michael Chiarello (Napa Style) recipe. He uses grey salt for everything.

Jennyema is right on. You can make a delicious soup without it.

 

[Russellkhan]

The standard conversion for table to kosher is 1: 1 1/2 for Morton's Kosher and 1:2 for Diamond Crystal.

kosher table conversion diamond morton's - Google Search

But kosher salt doesn't dissolve as well as table salt so isn't as good for baking.

I don't mind the additives in table salt when baking. The iodine and dextrose don't change the taste, with the one exception being perhaps bread.

I usually use kosher salt when baking because I'm lazy. It's right there in the crock and the table salt is across the kitchen in the cupboard.

Thanks, that's the conversion ratio I was looking for. But I guess I'll stay with RealSalt for my baking (mostly breads), as I believe it's smaller grains allow it to dissolve better. Besides, since I only use it for baking, a bag goes a long way and it really isn't all that expensive when I think about it in terms of cost per loaf.

 

[Zereh]

But you can't deny that finishing with a "grey" salt, or any other high-quality sea salt, definitely makes your taste buds sing. It adds something extra that is more than just saltiness ... they have unique, subtle flavors.

 

[les]

I've use Pink Himalayan salt, have a look at the link, it's healthier for you

Himalayan Salt - The Purest Salt on Earth with Amazing Health Benefits

 

[Andy M.]

I'm more than a little skeptical about the claims made on that site. It's salt - Sodium Chloride.

 

[les]

I'm more than a little skeptical about the claims made on that site. It's salt - Sodium Chloride.

yes, but Sodium content is 1.63g per Tsp. I buy it from my local health shop, it actually tastes better than any other salt.

 

[FlyGuy]

I am a bread baker, and grain size aside, pretty much any salt you buy in the store will work for baking bread. I use Kosher salt because it dissolves well with its hollow grain structure, and it has a higher purity level as was mentioned before. This is important to me. I weigh all of my ingredients instead of measuring, so it doesn't matter to me what salt I'm using, as long as I get 1.5 - 2.5% of the total flour weight in salt, depending on the recipe.

 

[Andy M.]

yes, but Sodium content is 1.63g per Tsp. I buy it from my local health shop, it actually tastes better than any other salt.

Actually, according to the Nutrition Facts label on that site, a 1/4 tsp. serving contains 573mg of sodium. Times 4 that equals 2.3 grams of sodium per teaspoon. According to the USDA, table salt contains 2.3 grams of sodium per teaspoon. They are the same. Sodium chloride. All sodium chloride is the same. The only difference is in any other minerals or impurities in the salt. They make up a minute percentage of the total.

That being said, if you want to spend between $7 and $8 for a pound of salt...

 

[les]

Actually, according to the Nutrition Facts label on that site, a 1/4 tsp. serving contains 573mg of sodium. Times 4 that equals 2.3 grams of sodium per teaspoon. According to the USDA, table salt contains 2.3 grams of sodium per teaspoon. They are the same. Sodium chloride. All sodium chloride is the same. The only difference is in any other minerals or impurities in the salt. They make up a minute percentage of the total.

That being said, if you want to spend between $7 and $8 for a pound of salt...

I don't buy it from a website...too expensive, I was reading the contents on the bottle. A friend reccomended it as she was given advice from her alternative medicene therapist, so I looked into it & started using it. I only put the website up to show people there's an alternative to regular salt, that has healthy info.

 

[Andy M.]

I don't buy it from a website...too expensive, I was reading the contents on the bottle. A friend reccomended it as she was given advice from her alternative medicene therapist, so I looked into it & started using it. I only put the website up to show people there's an alternative to regular salt, that has healthy info.

I understand, les. There's nothing wrong with trying to eat in a more healthful manner.

My point was that the information on the website is misleading or wrong. All salt on this planet came from sea water and all salt is chemically the same - sodium chloride. I am concerned that you are being mislead into thinking this salt is materially different from other salts regarding health benefits.

 

[les]

I see what you mean, when I first looked into this some months ago, this is one of the quotes I found:

• The healthy alternative to table salt
• Contains 84 minerals & trace elements
• Does NOT cause the problems associated with table salt (sodium chloride)

I won't paste all the info...bit too long, but I'll give you the link. It was hard to find a site without someone trying to sell, so that's when I went to the health shop to check.

Himalayan crystal salt

this is still relatively a new product here, it is however turning up more & more in our supermarkets. Jamie Oliver also has it on sale, and he's about the best promoter of healthy cooking we've got at the mo.
I will see if I can find out more about this, it would be of interest. I'll have a chat with some people who arn't selling the stuff.

 

[Callisto in NC]

I don't know if this is considered relevant to the conversation but, there was a spammer a couple months back trying to sell the Himalayan salt stuff. It just makes me wonder because there's been so many fads come and go through people who sell this sort of thing (diet pills, health powders, things like that).

 

[jennyema]

yes, but Sodium content is 1.63g per Tsp. I buy it from my local health shop, it actually tastes better than any other salt.

All salt -- no matter what kind -- contains almost exactly the same amount of sodium. There really is no difference.

The tiny amount of trace minerals in himalayan salt do not make it healthier for you in any meaningful way.

Plus, unless iodine or dextrose are "problems" for you, table salt is just as healthy.

 

[Andy M.]

les:

I'm sorry but that link is not believable!

Look at this quote:

"Our regular table salt no longer has anything in common with the original crystal salt. Salt now a day is mainly sodium chloride and not salt. With the advent of industrial development, our natural salt was "chemically cleaned" and reduced only to sodium and chloride."

This is a ridiculous statement. As has been discussed, salt is sodium chloride. It is now and it was 250 million years ago. Himalayan salt is different from table salt in that its impurities have not been removed. These impurities are non-salt items that mixed with the salt in the ground over the millennia. If they are selling you anything it's the impurities. However, it comes with salt.

Table salt usually has other things added to make it easier to use and to prevent iodine deficiency. These can also be considered impurities because they are not salt.

Salt is a chemistry term for a whole class of compounds. Sodium chloride, potassium chloride, calcium chloride are all salts (among others). We are talking about one of these salts.

I believe this is nothing more than a sales pitch, similar to selling snake oil, to get lots of money for salt. They are trying to attach an aura of higher purpose to a basic compound. If there other minerals in with the salt are that important, I suggest you seek them out in a simpler and purer form.

If you choose to use this salt, that's up to you. I hate to see you and others being tricked by questionable marketing practices.

 

[jennyema]

Salt now a day is mainly sodium chloride and not salt.

Not only is it a ridiculous, misleading and patently false statement, it's not even written in proper English.

I am always, always wary of any kind of marketing materials that are so clumsily written.