Salt in Baking . . . Why?

Appears in

Published 2011

About

The majority of baking recipes call for salt, but why in the world of sweets is it there? Quite simply, salt seasons everything, whether savoury or sweet. It heightens the chocolate taste in cakes and brownies, and brings out the vanilla in a simple shortbread cookie. Salt also tempers or balances out taste in highly sweetened desserts. Just look at the popularity of salted caramel desserts—that salty/sweet contrast is so appealing. Without the salt, desserts could taste flat or bland.

So, should you wish to, you could eliminate salt from baking for dietary reasons without impacting the science behind a baked item, but it would impact the taste. However, salt measurements in baking aren’t typically so great that they significantly raise our sodium levels. For notes on adjusting salt in recipes if using salted butter, see the section on unsalted butter.

'Brilliant app for foodies'

'Spotify of cookbooks'

Part of

Before you Bake

Melting Chocolate

The licensor does not allow printing of this title