Favorite White Bread - Sodium Optional - Low Sodium Recipes (2024)

Sodiumin off-the-shelfbread is typically about 200 mg per slice, which makes it something that Joe just can’t afford with his diet. We have tried a few no-sodium options that we can grab in our local grocery store, but none of them are anything we want to eat with any regularity. My solution? I bake bread. For those of you who love baking (like me!) this is the obvious solution. For those of you who aren’t bread bakers, I say give this recipe a shot. (You can even half this recipe and mix it in a bread machine if you’ve got one of those. It works great that way.)

Tips

1. Check the temperature of your water. I always use a meat thermometer to measure the temp of my water (my favorite thermometer is a Thermapen, but you can use whatever you have). Shoot for water that is about 110°-115°. Remember that if the warm water goes into a cold bowl, it will lose a few degrees so you may want to measure the temp in the bowl.
2. The amount of flour that you use can vary widely, depending on many factors (flour brand, humidity, elevation, or your measuring technique). I use as little as 3.5 cups of flour in the dry winter months to 4.75 cups in the more humid summer months. Add a bit at a time until you can knead it easily, and stop adding flour before it is touh or dry.
3. Knead the dough before itsfirst rise. I don’t just mean to punch it down once or twice and then let it rise. I meanknead the dough. Work it, folding it in on itself for about 8 minutes. It seems like a very long time, but it really helps the gluten develop (the gluten is what gives bread its hallmark texture). You should knead the dough long enoughfor it to become really elastic. (I sometimes cheat and mix the dough in my stand mixer with a dough hook for 6-8 minutes instead of kneading. If you have a stand mixer that can handle it, it makes this much much easier.)
4. Let the dough rise in a warm place. I live in Montana, which means my house is not always the warmest environment for letting bread rise. My solution? I put the dough in the oven with the ovenoff, and the oven lighton. The light creates enough heat to let the dough rise perfectly. BTW I also put a sticky note on the oven controls to remind myself not to accidentally turn on the oven (I did this once – not pretty).

Techniques with photos

Those are the biggest things. I took a few photos along the way to show you how the dough looks at different stages. This first one is after I’ve added about half the flour. At this stage, I dump the whisk and start working the flour in with my hands. The dough might seem a little bit sticky at this stage, but it works for me – just plan on adding flour every minute or so until it gets a bit more firm. Oh and by the way, I count this as kneading from this point forward (start your timer).

Here’s one where I have kneaded the dough for about 8 minutes. The dough is nice and smooth at this point. And for any of you who might be wondering, yes I washed the bowl after I was done kneading. And yes I always do this, and have for years. It just makes cleanup so much easier.

Ta-da! There is the dough after it has risen for an hour and a half or so.

And there it is! Really delicious homemade bread that has only 57 mg sodium in a whole loaf. Like I said, you can half this recipe and use a bread machine (follow the manufacturer’s instructions). Or you can get super crazy (like me) and double this recipe for four loaves. The bread freezes just finefor a couple weeks. It is never quite as moist as an oven-fresh loaf, but it works for us.

Print

Related Posts