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Bread

Salt Rising Bread

A bread made by fermenting a batter of water, salt, baking soda, cornmeal, and flour, then baking the risen loaves.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Salt Rising Bread

3 to 4 loaves

Ingredients

Directions

Make the starter

  1. Scald a quart dish and add 1 pint of warm water.

  2. Stir in 1 tablespoon of salt, a pinch of baking soda, and 2 to 3 tablespoons of cornmeal.

  3. Add enough flour to make a thick batter and stir well.

  4. Place the dish in a kettle of warm water, maintaining a temperature you can comfortably bear your hand in.

  5. If water rises on top, stir in 1 to 2 tablespoons of flour.

  6. Return the mixture to the kettle.

Make the dough

  1. After 3 to 4 hours, when the mixture is light, take enough flour in a bread pan to make 3 to 4 loaves.

  2. Make a hole in the center of the dough.

  3. Add the light mixture into the hole.

  4. Fill the dish with warm water.

  5. Add a little salt.

  6. Mix in a thick sponge.

  7. Cover with some flour.

  8. Set in a warm place to rise.

Shape and bake

  1. When light, mold into loaves.

  2. Set loaves to rise again.

  3. Bake for 30 to 45 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

What each ingredient does

Warm water
Dissolves the other ingredients and keeps the mixture warm enough for fermentation.
Cornmeal
Gives the starter a food source for the fermenting microbes and adds a slightly coarse texture.
Baking soda
Adds a small amount of alkali that helps the starter rise and shifts its flavor.
Flour
Forms the structure of the batter and the dough, trapping gas to make the bread rise.
Salt
Controls fermentation pace and adds flavor to the bread.

The step that matters

Keeping the starter at a warm, steady temperature. Salt rising bread relies on wild fermentation rather than commercial yeast. If the starter gets too hot it can kill the bacteria, and if too cool it rises slowly or not at all. Holding it at a gentle warmth lets the fermentation build gas evenly.

“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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