Flour- Impacts Salt Perception?

[pizzablogger]

I made a batch of pizzas last night comprised solely of KAAP. It is the first time in a few years that I have not made pizzas either entirely from Caputo Pizzeria or with Caputo as the primary flour of a two flour mix.

As expected, there were some differences with extensibility and handling, but the one thing that struck me was the crust tasted like it needed seasoning.  Because it has been in the mid 70s here, I used the same amount of salt as I often do in warmer weather (2.80%) and the HR was the same as usual.

I found it odd that it was noticeable.  My wife didn't have some slices until later....without me saying anything she immediately asked if I lowered the salt.

Has anyone else ever noticed such a thing? I'm not sure if malted flour would mask salt in such a way, but I found it odd.

That being said, the coloration and leoparding on the pizzas after a 3:20 bake were much more pleasing on my LBE than my Caputo efforts to date.    --K

[Pete-zza]

Kelly,

If you look at the specs for the Caputo Pizzeria 00 flour at http://brickovenbaker.com/docs/pizzeriatech.pdf and for the King Arthur all-purpose flour (aka Sir Galahad) at http://www.kingarthurflour.com/professional/nutritional-analysis-bakery-flour.html, you will see that the flours have a fair amount in common even though they are milled from different wheat grains. You will also note that the amount of barley malt added to the KAAP is minuscule, at 0.07 mg per 100 grams of flour. Although I have not seen the sodium content number for the Caputo flour, the sodium content of the KAAP is minuscule, at 0.59 mg per 100 grams of flour. That number includes the sodium content of the barley malt, and is equivalent to about 3/100th of a teaspoon of salt. I would guess that the Caputo flour is similarly low in natural sodium. That is true for just about every white flour whose specs I have examined. I also checked the ash contents of the two flours since that can have an effect on taste. The KAAP specs don't show the ash value but it is 0.48%. For the Caputo flour, it is only slightly higher, at 0.50%.

Unless you mismeasured the salt (too little), the only thing that I can think of that might help explain what you and your wife noted is that the Caputo flour has more gluten than the KAAP. You can see that from the gluten mass list posted at Reply 26 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,18075.msg176901.html#msg176901. Gluten is protein, and protein has flavor. It is possible that you and your wife also got accustomed to the taste of the Caputo flour after using it for so long and, as a result, you perceived that something was missing in the KAAP flour.

Peter

[TXCraig1]

Having used a lot of both KAAP and Caputo, I have not noticed a difference in salt perception, AOTBE.

CL

[pizzablogger]

Kelly,
Unless you mismeasured the salt (too little), the only thing that I can think of that might help explain what you and your wife noted is that the Caputo flour has more gluten than the KAAP. You can see that from the gluten mass list posted at Reply 26 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,18075.msg176901.html#msg176901. Gluten is protein, and protein has flavor. It is possible that you and your wife also got accustomed to the taste of the Caputo flour after using it for so long and, as a result, you perceived that something was missing in the KAAP flour.

Peter

I use a digital jewelers scale which measures to the 100th of a gram (and check the calibration with a 100g weight prior to using), so the accuracy of the salt is not the issue.

The gluten content could be an issue (good call Peter and thank you for bringing that up).  The Caputo Pizzeria does have 10% more than the KAAP, but I would be surprised that it would be as noticeable. What I just thought of is that the bag of KAAP flour that I have is now quite old....

I've got another batch of KAAP and a batch of MC00 fermenting right now, so I'll revisit this issue soon.

And the Hudson Manhattan Rye Whiskey I was enjoying prior to pizza making certainly could have played a part. 

Thanks Peter.

Craig, AOTBE? At All To Be Exact?

[Pete-zza]

Kelly,

AOTBE = All Other Things Being Equal.

Peter