Salt

Harvesting salt in the Dead Sea
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Just before slicing into a loaf of bread I made yesterday, I had the sinking feeling that I had forgotten to add salt. Maybe, I thought, I'd never notice the difference, but I did. In fact the bread was absolutely insipid, totally without sparkle. I'm baking a "real one" today.
What I found most interesting was the dough acted just like a dough that had salt added to it. The conventional wisdom is that you need the salt not only for flavor, but you also need it to strengthen the gluten. Some even say the dough can rise out of control.
For me, the only certainty is that you need the salt for flavor, to make the bread taste like bread.