Baking with Canadian Wheat Using Reduced Salt Formulations
Bread is a staple food product enjoyed by consumers around the world but is under scrutiny to meet global health trends and government regulations. This includes the demand for baked products to contain lower levels of salt. While too much sodium can cause health concerns, salt plays an intrinsic role in baking by improving gluten strength, dough handling properties and loaf volume.
Several countries have already developed reduced salt baking formulations but, until now, information has not been available on how CWRS (Canadian Western Red Spring) wheat varieties react to reduced salt levels in baking. Cereals Canada is pleased to share the results of a three-year research project that investigated the performance of CWRS varieties in standard and reduced salt pan bread baking formulations. Watch this informative webinar to hear from the Cereals Canada baking experts who were involved in the project. You will learn about the role salt plays in baking, and how to get excellent results when using lower-salt formulations to meet consumer demands and government regulations.
Baking with Reduced Salt: Questions and Answers
Q: What role does salt play in baking?
A: Salt is important in baking because it:
- enhances bread flavour.
- improves gluten strength by creating more hydrophobic bonds.
- slows the rate of fermentation. An increase in yeast activity is observed and proof times are reduced with lower salt levels.
acts as a preservative by controlling bacteria growth.
Q: Why are food companies being asked to reduce salt content in their baked products?
A: Sodium is important for maintaining good health but only ~0.5g per day is necessary. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a reduced sodium diet of less than 2g per day. Canadians are currently consuming nearly 3g per day, while on a global scale it is estimated that consumers are getting double the recommended average, ranging between 3.5–5g per day.
High sodium intake is associated with several health risks including hypertension, heart disease, stroke, and other diseases (e.g., osteoporosis, cancer). WHO projects ~2.5 million deaths could be prevented each year by reducing global sodium consumption.
Source: World Health Organization: Salt Intake
Q: What countries currently have government regulations in place to address sodium consumption?
Nineteen countries currently have mandatory maximum salt limits for foods including Argentina, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Netherlands, Palestine, Paraguay, Portugal, Qatar, Slovakia, Spain, South Africa, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
Some countries have mandatory front-of-package labels for foods high in salt. These foods must have labels that include warnings, health messages, or guidelines surrounding daily amounts to inform consumers. These countries include Finland, many Latin America countries, and others.
As well, there are some countries, including Fiji, Hungary, Mexico, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, that have regulated the price of foods high in salt by imposing taxes on them.
Q: What did you observe when using a reduced salt formulation?
A: We found it necessary to make some adjustments when using a reduced salt formulation. At the Cereals Canada pilot bakery, mixing times had to be adjusted and dough handling properties were noticeably different. Mixing times for reduced salt dough were shorter, which is beneficial for production efficiency in bakeries. When handling the dough, there was some stickiness with most of the varieties, but this was easily resolved by using more dusting flour for rounding and sheeting and moulding.
The Cereals Canada test bakery uses No Time Dough (NTD) and Long Time Fermentation (LTF) baking process methods which are both fixed. In the NTD baking process, mixing and proof times were reduced with the reduced salt formulation, and dough handling properties for some varieties showed reduced strength. In the LTF baking process, some varieties had reduced mixing times and lower fermentation tolerance was observed due to higher gas production. Lower fermentation tolerance had some impact on total bread score, which is the evaluation of the bread’s interior and exterior characteristics, but the total bread score was still within the acceptable range.
Q: If salt is reduced in a pan bread formulation, should the amount of yeast in the formulation change?
A: Yes. If salt is reduced, yeast should also be reduced. When salt in a bread formulation is reduced, the yeast activity increases. This can cause the dough to overproof and increases the risk of the dough collapsing. The level of yeast to reduce will depend on the amount of salt reduced in the formulation but, from experience, reducing salt by 0.25% requires a 0.25% reduction in cream yeast.
Q: The research presented was on specific varieties of CWRS (Canada Western Red Spring). How can this information be extrapolated to the entire CWRS wheat class?
A: CWRS is the mostly widely grown wheat class in Canada and the varieties chosen for the three-year study represent the most commonly grown varieties in Canada. The data from this study showed that there was minor to no impact of reduced salt with these varieties and could be extrapolated to other CWRS varieties.
Q: Is it possible to reduce salt by 50% in Artisan Breads? If salt is reduced, do we also need to adjust other baking ingredients?
A: Most artisanal breads already have a low amount of salt added to the formula – typically 1.5%. Reducing the salt by 50% may decrease the dough strength, lower the fermentation tolerance of the dough, and decrease flavour. Artisanal breads are not baked in bread pans and strength is important to hold its shape through proofing and baking. Individual bakers would have to assess their formulations and processes to determine what would be needed to add strength or flavour to their product.
Q: Are there other ways to reduce the salt content in bread?
A: Salt replacers can be used in bread to reduce salt content. The most common is potassium chloride because the physical properties are similar to salt, and it provides the same functionality. However, it has a bitter aftertaste and can only replace 10–25% of the salt in bread without negatively affecting flavour.
Autolyzed yeast extract is commonly used to replace the flavour of salt. It is made from baker’s yeast which is broken down into simpler compounds that can be used in combination with potassium chloride.
Additionally, there are ingredient companies that have developed enzymes to replace salt which provide similar functional and flavour properties of salt.
Funding Acknowledgement:
Cereals Canada received funding from the Government of Canada under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership’s AgriScience Program, a federal, provincial, territorial initiative, for this study.
