is there more salt in shop bought bread than homemade?

apprentice_tycoon

There was a report on the radio about the Food Standard Agency pressing again to get salt levels lowered in various foodstuffs.

They mentioned bread and I was wondering if anyone knew if there was more salt in shop bought bread than homemade? I make all our bread and I'm happy with the taste at around 2 level teaspons of salt to 700g of flour. If manufactured bread has more salt than that I can understand it having to be reduced, if it's the same then it looks like they are suggesting lowering the salt my recipes too!

hermit-crab

Next time you are shopping you should look at the packets to see how much sodium (salt) is in bread. These days I think the law requires that manufacturers list ingredients and amounts. If the amount is similar to the amount you use in your home made bread then you might have to reduce it for the sake of your health.

Ticklemouse

I know there's more salt in shop bought bread than my bread - I currently use 1/4 tsp per 600gms flour. However, it wouldn't surprise me if there was loads more salt in a commercially bought loaf than 2 tsp.

Just found something that said in 2003, average salt content in a white loaf was 533 mg per 100 gms of food.

Doesn't that make it about 1.3 gms of salt? Which means over 10 gms of salt per large loaf :eek:

Just found this on the Hovis site. By my reckoning - that's still 10 gms per large loaf! (I am right in thinking that you multiply the sodium by 2.5 to get salt content?)

comping_cat

I dont add any salt at all to my HM bread, so definatly less than shop bought!!!! We havnt noticed a difference in taste since i started leaving the salt out. I also use less sugar than the recipe recomends.

Heth_2

You could always try gradually reducing the amount you put in your bread/cooking if you are worried. We don't use salt when we cook veg, pasta etc..and don't notice the difference at all, whereas if I cook for my parents and don't put salt in then they notice. I'll use a bit of salt if a recipe says so, and it seems a good reason for me, but still quite rarely.

aussielle

is there more salt in shop bought bread than homemade?

I suppose it depends who's making it. A few weeks ago I had my first attempt at homemade bread and managed to produce a 'salty housebrick'

It wasn't until I told my Mum and she realised the recipe had been misprinted and said 1 tablespoon instead of 1 teaspoon that I realised why it was such a disaster...needless to say my breadmaking skills have been the source of many jokes and family amusement lately!

lister

catowen wrote:

I dont add any salt at all to my HM bread, so definatly less than shop bought!!!! We havnt noticed a difference in taste since i started leaving the salt out. I also use less sugar than the recipe recomends.

Ah, but salt serves three principal purposes when making bread. Firstly to control taste. It is certainly possible to distinguish bread with no salt, although I don't find it at all unpleasant.

The second purpose is to control yeast action and the resulting bread texture. Salt will retard or even stop yeast action, so too much, especially with fresh yeast, can be a bad idea unless you want salty unleavened bread... It also helps, in conjunction with gluten, to trap the carbon dioxide given off by the yeast. You won't be able to hold the rise as well without salt. Italian breads such as ciabatta traditionally don't have any salt, which is part of the reason for their shape.

Finally, the third purpose is to aid crusting. Salt in the dough helps to an extent, but very crusty bread can be made by brushing salt solution onto the bread before baking (you can also use milk or eggwash - the latter being how the golden, crisp top on a baguette is made traditionally).

calleyw

Ticklemouse wrote:

Just found this on the Hovis site. By my reckoning - that's still 10 gms per large loaf! (I am right in thinking that you multiply the sodium by 2.5 to get salt content?)

I believe so and that is one big bug bear of mine. It makes it look less. So people oh look it is low sodium that is low salt. Wrong.

I never add salt to anything I cook. And rarely have salt on the table. Only for chips and that is once a month.

My husband eats more packaged goods than me. He eats tinned/cup a soups and beans etc. I have taken to buying the decent cup a soups and giving him half a packet. Not on money grounds but on health grounds.

I no longer use instant gravy. As if you make that wrong I can almost feel my kidneys packing up.

If you are eating a diet full of basic foods such as fresh/frozen veg and meat and very little pre-packed foods you should be fine. But if you eat a lot of prepacked foods with pastry etc then you salt intake will be much higher.

And the things they put salt in makes your hair stand on end. To me it would make the product cheaper to make it with no salt.

I believe that in the Asda including Value range they have removed a lot of salt. More info here

My mum still puts salt in with her veggies. Can't get her to stop it though. Being doing it so long it is hard habit to break.

Yours


Calley

Mr_Proctalgia

It pays to be careful and compare like with like, the stuff you should be worried about is the Sodium content of whatever you are eating, the RDI of sodium is 2400mg (2.4 Grams) this is the equivalent of 6000mg (6 grams) of Table Salt (Sodium Chloride). However do not forget sodium content of baking power too and anything else lables as Natruim or Na. Remember that you can get low sodium substitutes in the form of Potassium Chloride which has most of the taste and much much less of the effect of salt.

Personally I find some foods are dire without salt and just use sensible amounts where wanted.

Sarahsaver

Depends how much salt you put in it;)
One or two teaspoons in a normal sized loaf should not do anyone too much harm in my experience.

tr3mor

You're better using the more natural "rock salt" or "sea salt" than you are using the iodized table salt. Less extra chemicals.