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Flavorings enhance a baked good's aroma and taste. Salt, sugar or an acidic ingredient, such as buttermilk, cocoa powder or lemon juice are the three most important ones used to give interest to a recipe (a wide variety of flavorings and other ingredients add greatly to a recipe, too).
Butter also plays an important flavoring role. The butter in traditional recipes contributes to and carries flavors throughout the batter. Even more important, butter has flavor of its own that, when it interacts with sugar, is responsible for the caramelized baked taste we associate with baked goods. In reduced-fat baking, the flavorings must be increased to compensate for the reduction in butter.
SARAH SAYS: Salt and a wide variety of flavorings are used to obtain the type and variety of recipe wanted. In addition to being used as a flavoring, salt functions to control yeast metabolism in yeast bread.
Playdough is a great example of salt's effect on gluten. Because playdough is rolled, squeezed and shaped over and over by little hands, it needs to be both stretchy and strong. That strength comes from "gluten" which is formed when flour is moistened and stirred. Salt tightens the bonds between the two proteins that comprise gluten and so increases the strength of the dough, giving it the elasticity it needs to be rolled.
