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Salt Rising Bread

A bread made with a fermented cornmeal mush and a thick batter, baked at 400°F.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Salt Rising Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the sponge

  1. Scald ½ cup of sweet milk.

  2. Stir in enough cornmeal to make a thin mush.

  3. Set aside in a warm place overnight.

  4. Combine 1 pint of lukewarm water, 1 teaspoon of salt, ½ teaspoon of baking soda, and enough flour to make a thick batter.

  5. Stir in the fermented mush.

  6. Let the mixture rise in a warm place for 2 to 3 hours until it doubles in size.

Make the dough

  1. Add 3 quarts of sifted flour, making a hole in the center.

  2. Add 1 tablespoon of salt, 3 tablespoons of sugar, and an egg-sized piece of lard.

  3. Pour in 1 pint of lukewarm water and the sponge.

  4. Mix to form a stiff dough.

  5. Knead for 15 to 20 minutes.

Shape and bake

  1. Shape the dough into loaves that fill the pans halfway.

  2. Let rise until they fill the pans.

  3. Bake in a moderately hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 40 to 50 minutes.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  3. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cornmeal
Ferments with the milk and water to form the starter that leavens the bread.
Baking soda
Helps the sponge begin fermenting and rise before the dough is made.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the gas from fermentation and gives the loaf its crumb.
Lard
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and softens the texture.
Sugar
Feeds the fermentation and adds mild sweetness and browning.

The step that matters

Let the sponge rise until it doubles. The sponge must ferment fully before it is mixed into the dough. Underproofed sponge gives little lift, and the bread turns dense and heavy.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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