Thin Crust History

[Pete-zza]

After three years of making pizza crust from my childhood, I’d like to add some salt. When do you add salt to the recipe? I’ve read that adding with yeast and water cuts out the yeast. Also, how much salt do you think I should use with this recipe?

satchel,

You can mix the salt in with the flour or you can dissolve the salt in the water. You can also mix the IDY in with the flour. That avoids any possible problems with the yeast and salt being in the same place at the same time.

I concluded from the Monical's nutrition information that there was no salt added to the Monical's dough. But if you would like to add salt to your dough I suggest about 1.75%.

Peter

[satchel]

satchel,

You can mix the salt in with the flour or you can dissolve the salt in the water. You can also mix the IDY in with the flour. That avoids any possible problems with the yeast and salt being in the same place at the same time.

I concluded from the Monical's nutrition information that there was no salt added to the Monical's dough. But if you would like to add salt to your dough I suggest about 1.75%.

Peter

Thank you, Peter. I remember you concluded no salt. Thus I never added. But I’d like to try now. I’m bad with math, what sort of teaspoon or tablespoon would be 1.75%?

But if I mix the salt in the water with the yeast, which is at the beginning, they will both be there at the same time. Should I just mix salt with flour? The beginning part of my recipe is basically for the yeast in water with pinch of salt. Thank you!

[Pete-zza]

Thank you, Peter. I remember you concluded no salt. Thus I never added. But I’d like to try now. I’m bad with math, what sort of teaspoon or tablespoon would be 1.75%?

But if I mix the salt in the water with the yeast, which is at the beginning, they will both be there at the same time. Should I just mix salt with flour? The beginning part of my recipe is basically for the yeast in water with pinch of salt. Thank you!

satchel,

The amount of salt depends on the weight of the flour, not its volume. Can you tell me what kind of flour you used and what kind of measuring cup you used and how you got the flour from the flour bag into your measuring cup? You can see some of the different ways that people do that at the Mass-Volume Conversion Calculator, under Measurement Method, at https://www.pizzamaking.com/FoodSim.htm.

If you put the salt in the water and stir it in and then add the IDY, that will not hurt the yeast. But if you put the IDY in the water and then add the salt, that is not good because salt is hygroscopic and can leach fluids from yeast cells by osmotic pressure and harm yeast performance. It will not do that if the salt is first added to the water and stirred in. Usually, it is easiest to just add the salt to the flour and avoid this problem, although if the salt is a coarse salt, then it is usually better to dissolve it first in the water. The IDY can just be added to the flour.

Peter

[satchel]

satchel,

The amount of salt depends on the weight of the flour, not its volume. Can you tell me what kind of flour you used and what kind of measuring cup you used and how you got the flour from the flour bag into your measuring cup? You can see some of the different ways that people do that at the Mass-Volume Conversion Calculator, under Measurement Method, at https://www.pizzamaking.com/FoodSim.htm.

If you put the salt in the water and stir it in and then add the IDY, that will not hurt the yeast. But if you put the IDY in the water and then add the salt, that is not good because salt is hygroscopic and can leach fluids from yeast cells by osmotic pressure and harm yeast performance. It will not do that if the salt is first added to the water and stirred in. Usually, it is easiest to just add the salt to the flour and avoid this problem, although if the salt is a coarse salt, then it is usually better to dissolve it first in the water. The IDY can just be added to the flour.

Peter

Thank you! I don’t have a scale right now. I can’t go by weight. I use Heckers flour and a standard American measuring cup that is one full cup. I use 3 cups of flour. Would 1 teaspoon of salt be too much?

[satchel]

Also, I scoop the flour from the bag with the measuring cup.

[Pete-zza]

satchel,

The Hecker's all purpose flour has a protein content in the range of 11.5-11.9% so I used the King Arthur all purpose flour as a proxy for the Hecker's all purpose flour since its protein content is 11.7%. And using the Medium Measurement Method, I estimate that your three cups of Hecker's flour weighs around 401 grams. 1.75% of that is 7.0175 grams, or 0.24753 ounces. That translates into 1.26 teaspoons, for ordinary table salt. So, around 1 1/4 teaspoons should do it.

Had you used the measurement method that King Arthur recommends (the Textbook method), you would need 1.18 teaspoons of ordinary salt. So, you can see how the method used to measure out flour can affect the values of all of the ingredients other than the flour, including salt.

Peter