Making bread with MSG instead of salt?
Just to be clear, because the original post isn't clear as written:
I'm asking for people who have actually tried putting MSG in bread in lieu of salt, and their experiences with it. I'm aware of the various salt alternatives such as KCl, but I don't keep them on hand.
I've got someone I know who's on a sodium-restricted diet, and I tried making a salt-free sandwich loaf for him. I've forgotten the salt before, so I knew I had to add something - in this case, I did rosemary, garlic, Mexican oregano, and used some toasted sesame oil as the fat.
My thought is, how about MSG? I can use a gram of it and get 180mg of sodium for the entire short loaf, vs. 3200mg (give or take) for my typical bread recipe (about 1.5% salt by volume.)
My question here is, has anyone tried it before? I definitely wouldn't sub it 1:1 for salt - it's entirely too strong for that - but I think it might give just enough flavor to make it more palatable with the combination of herbs I already have in the loaf.
When my father-in-law's heart disease put him on an NaCl-restricted diet, a shaker of KCl appeared on the table (that's potassium chloride). I'd vote for trying that before MSG, which comes with plenty of its own issues and unknowns.
Tom
A lot of the "issues" that come with MSG are overblown, to be fair - pretty much anything that tastes "umami" (e.g. mushrooms, tomatoes, beef, etc.) is going to contain glutamate, and you get the MSG once you salt it. Even when people do have problems with MSG, it tends to be because of too much of it, rather than just the existence of it (I've known quite a number of people who refused to eat Chinese food that'd happily chow down on a BLT...)
KCl is an option I've heard of - my grandmother used to use the stuff - but I'm not sure how I'd cover up the taste of it in the bread.
I'm doing it one way or another, unless someone comes by and says "I've tried it, and no, here's why it doesn't work" - I was just hoping for a voice of experience. :D
While it is true that MSG can help to reduce the amount of salt (NaCl) added to some foods, I suspect that it might not work well in breads.
I agree with @OurCrumb: subbing some of the NaCl with KCl will help reduce the Na load in the bread. Up to 50% KCl can be used before the bitter/metallic taste of the KCl becomes apparent. I routinely replace some of the NaCl with KCl to reduce the Na content of breads.
I am also interested in Na reduction in bread and did a little digging. I found that other salts have been used for Na reduction in bread, like calcium chloride (CaCl2) and magnesium chloride (MgCl2). I have not tried using them yet, but I do have CaCl2. I tasted a small amount and found that it didn't have the strong aftertaste that KCl has. Check out the following post here on TFL:
Effect of Salt in Bread Baking
Another option is to reduce the amount of NaCl used in the bread from the typical ≈2% to 1–1.5%. You may have to experiment with how low you can go before the bread becomes bland. Also, stronger flavored breads like sourdough ryes may also allow for Na reduction.
Interestingly enough, I stumbled across a similar post already when I was attempting to do the bread I already made. I've worked around those issues.
Problem with using KCl is that I don't keep it around because I don't use it. :D
I think I have some CaCl2, but uh, it's in the form of the dessicant I have in my damp-rid stuff. :P
Thanks for clarifying your question.
My concern with using larger amounts of MSG do not stem from the usual concern about negative reactions to it. I actually do use MSG to boost the flavor of savory dishes so I can reduce the overall Na content.
What is unknown is how that MSG umami flavor interacts with the other flavors in bread. I don't normally associate plain bread with the kind of umami that MSG imparts. But if you're adding herbs, spices, or veggies, then it probably will enhance those flavors.
I am curious to know how the bread tastes with MSG. Will you report back on your results?
> What is unknown is how that MSG umami flavor interacts with the other flavors in bread. I don't normally associate plain bread with the kind of umami that MSG imparts. But if you're adding herbs, spices, or veggies, then it probably will enhance those flavors.
That's definitely what I'm not sure of, and will have to figure a way around. I know it tastes super weird if it doesn't find some sort of flavor to "enhance," so to speak. I just need to find those flavors. :D
> I am curious to know how the bread tastes with MSG. Will you report back on your results?
Oh, definitely. I'll probably end up making a blog post and putting a pointer to it here.
I'm on sodium restriction myself. I have used Nosalt (potassium chloride) for breadmaking. It is available at Walmart. I do prefer the flavor of part Nosalt and part seasalt. I have also used Losalt which is a blended product that I can buy at my grocery store. Losalt comes either iodized or non-iodized. Bread without any of these is pretty bland so cutting sodium from other foods is a better solution than leaving it out altogether.
I remembered that I previously had read some articles on using potassium in place of sodium and what amount of potassium substitution is optimal. I came up with a number of articles about the subject. This may be interesting to many members.
Try a Google search using "Potassium Chloride as a Salt Substitute in Bread". You should find a bunch of info. One is a graduate thesis with their measured results.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10107793/
Consumer acceptance of reduced sodium white and multigrain bread: Impact of flavor enhancement and ingredient information on sample liking
Aubrey N. Dunteman and Soo‐Yeun Lee
Chronic consumption of sodium in quantities exceeding recommendations has led to sodium being designated as a nutrient of health concern for overconsumption. As a result of the prevalence of sodium overconsumption, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released voluntary sodium reduction goals for a wide variety of products on both short‐ and long‐term timespans. As food palatability may decrease when sodium is reduced, flavor enhancers such as monosodium glutamate (MSG) may provide a promising solution to mitigate such palatability loss. The objective of this research was to investigate consumer acceptance of white and multigrain breads with either a 43% or 60% reduction in sodium content and with and without MSG as well as to investigate the influence of information on consumer acceptance of these breads under blind, informed, and informed with education conditions. Seventy‐eight frequent bread consumers participated in the evaluations. A significant difference was evidenced across breads with different levels of sodium content and MSG status, although no difference was seen across the different evaluation conditions. Consumer segmentation found multiple consumer clusters showing different liking patterns of the bread treatments for both white and multigrain breads. Breads with sodium content set at the FDA's long‐term goal with and without MSG were liked no differently in nearly all attributes evaluated than the full‐sodium bread demonstrating the feasibility of producing acceptable reduced‐sodium breads. Future research characterizing the predominant sensory attributes of full‐sodium and reduced‐sodium breads with and without MSG would be valuable for identifying the drivers of liking in such products.
Practical Application: The findings of our study suggest that consumer liking of reduced sodium white and multigrain breads could be improved with the addition of monosodium glutamate. Increasing the acceptance of reduced sodium food products could help to reduce the risk of hypertension and subsequently heart attacks and stroke for the American population.