My bread dough turned into a pancake after I forgot the salt

So yesterday I was all excited to make my first sourdough loaf from a starter I've been feeding for two weeks. Mixed everything up, let it rise for 4 hours, and it looked like a sad, flat blob. Turns out I completely forgot to add the salt. It spread out like a pancake on the counter and baked up dense and flavorless. Has anyone else ruined a batch by skipping a key ingredient like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

david12322d ago

And you know what's funny @jason11, I did the exact same thing on my third loaf. I was so proud of my starter for doubling in size that I just rushed through everything. The salt is doing more work than you think - it controls the yeast activity so the dough doesn't ferment too fast and turn into a puddle. Without it, the gluten structure never really sets right and everything just flattens out. I started weighing my salt into a little dish before adding anything else and that saved me. Now I triple check my ingredients list before mixing wet and dry stuff together.

jason1122d ago

Yeah "sad flat blob" describes exactly what happened with my first loaf when I forgot the salt too.