Towards the end of 18th Century, the influence of salt was recognised in baking bread. Salt was seen to have an important role to play in bringing out the flavour of the baked product. During mixing, salt reinforces the plastic properties of the dough and improves its cohesiveness and elasticity. Later in the 1960’s, it was understood that salt also acts as an antioxidant, it was then that many bakers adopted a practice of delaying the addition of salt. Fine table salt was used as it would dissolve quickly and so it could be added just 5 minutes prior to the end of mixing time. This was done with the use of intensive mixing methods with the intention to encourage maximum levels of oxidation and bleaching. This method also tends to facilitate the forming of gluten bonds during dough formation and results in a slight improvement in dough strength. However, this method also led to the decline in the taste of the bread baked. The common practice today in the production of bread i
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