Have you heard of salt-rising bread?
Probably not, if you're neither a passionate bread baker, nor a resident of certain parts of the country – the southern and western portions of the Appalachians, western New York down into western Pennsylvania, and parts of Michigan. This traditional American bread remains popular in these regions, where it's often sold in bakeries.
But if you're living in, say, Colorado, or Connecticut? You probably never heard of salt-rising bread.
So let me describe it to you: it's a fairly dense, fairly moist, very close-grained white bread, with a distinctive "cheese-y" flavor. It makes wonderful toast. But its most salient characteristic? It's not made with yeast. And, contrary to its name, it doesn't rely on salt for rising; in fact, this bread has less salt than many standard breads.
So what's the deal?
Salt-rising bread had its American origins back in the early 1800s, when commercially produced yeast wasn't available. Housewives found that a mash of cornmeal and milk (and/or potatoes) could produce a bubbly substance that could then be used to raise bread.
The "starter" was tricky, though, needing consistent warmth to work; it's thought that perhaps "salt-rising" refers to the rock salt that pioneer women might have heated and piled around their starter, to keep it warm.
These days, those of us experimenting with salt-rising bread find ourselves with the same challenge as our forebears: how to keep the starter warm for the 12 to18-hour, two-stage process it needs to leaven bread.
Heating pad, top of the fridge, near the wood stove, over a heating grate... all of these are imperfect solutions. (I know, I've tried them.)
But now, I've found the perfect tool for not just salt-rising bread, but all kinds of yeast breads, plus sourdough starter and yogurt, too.
This "climate controlled" electric proofer offers temperature settings from 70°F-120°, plus a water tray for optimum humidity. If you're a baker who struggles to find a cozy place in the house for rising bread or feeding sourdough (or salt-rising starter and bread), you might consider this tool.
But don't worry; while this proofer makes the whole process a lot simpler, I've found another "hot spot" in my house; and it's hopefully one that'll work for you, too.
If you've never made salt-rising bread, please be prepared to trust me through some of the following procedures. Yes, it's very important to keep the starter warm. Yes, it's supposed to smell that way. The bread's aroma is redolent of cheese, though there's no cheese in involved; the flavor comes from the slight fermentation of the ingredients during the bread's preparation.
Speaking of fermentation, be prepared; the starter and dough will smell like... dirty socks? Old sneakers mixed with Parmesan cheese? Somewhat unpleasant, anyway, but please bear with me – it's just the enzymes and bacteria doing their jobs and giving the bread its special qualities. If you've ever made cheese or yogurt, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
OK, let's get started here, shall we? This bread is built in stages. First stage: starter #1.
Heat 1/4 cup (57g) milk (skim, 1%, 2% or whole) until it's nearly but not quite boiling; small bubbles will form around the edge of the pan (or microwave container), and you might see a bit of steam. This is called "scalding" the milk.
Cool the milk until it's lukewarm, then whisk together the milk, 2 tablespoons (14g) cornmeal (yellow is traditional), and 1 teaspoon sugar in a small heatproof container. The container should be large enough to let the starter expand a bit.
A note on cornmeal: while you can certainly use "supermarket" cornmeal, organic is probably preferable, since it comes with additional "friendly bacteria."
Cover the container with plastic wrap, and place it somewhere warm, between 90°F and 100°F. The bread proofer mentioned above is ideal for this, since you can set the exact temperature you want.
I find my turned-off electric oven, with the light turned on for about 2 hours ahead of time (and then left on throughout the starter's time in the oven) holds a temperature of 95°F to 97°F, perfect for this starter.
I tried a heating pad covered by an overturned bowl, but it didn't work. Before you even start this process, find someplace reliably warm for the starter; if you can't find someplace that'll stay warm for up to 12 hours at a time, it's best not to try this recipe.
Let the starter rest in its warm place overnight, or for 8 to 12 hours.
The starter won't expand much, but will develop a bubbly foam on its surface. It'll also smell a bit fermented. If it doesn't bubble at all, and doesn't smell fermented, your starter has failed; try again, using different cornmeal, or finding a warmer spot.
Next, we'll build on this first starter; let's call this starter #2.
Combine the following:
1 cup (227g) hot water (120°F to 130°F)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Add 1 1/2 cups (177g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour, stirring until everything is thoroughly moistened.
Stir starter #1 into starter #2.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and place it in the same warm spot starter #1 was in. Let it rest until very bubbly and doubled in size, 2 to 4 hours.
Success!
If the starter's not showing any bubbles after a couple of hours, move it somewhere warmer. If it still doesn't bubble after a couple of hours, give it up; you'll need to start over.
If the process isn't working for you, don't be too discouraged; even our pioneer forebears found this bread notoriously fickle, working perfectly one day, not so well another. Personally, I think it's all about finding a spot that's reliably warm, between 90°F and 100°F.
Transfer your bubbly starter to a larger bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer (or your bread machine bucket).
Add the following:
4 tablespoons (57g) soft butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 to 2 1/2 cups (269g to 298g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
Start with the smaller amount of flour. In the depths of summer, when your kitchen is hot and humid, you may need to use more. But usually you'll only need about 2 1/4 cups to make a dough that's cohesive and elastic yet still a bit sticky, as pictured above.
Hey, what's with the salt being added after the dough was already partially kneaded, you ask? Simple; I forgot to add it when I added the butter and flour. Good lesson: when you forget an ingredient in yeast bread dough (including the yeast), simply knead it in when you remember.
In fact, sometimes you forget the yeast and only realize it when your dough doesn't rise. Go ahead and knead the yeast into that unresponsive lump of dough, and give it an hour or so; it should be fine.
OK, back to business. Knead everything until smooth; this took 7 minutes at medium speed in my stand mixer. The dough will be soft, and fairly elastic/stretchy.
Shape the dough into a log, and place it in a lightly greased 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pan.
Cover the pan, and place it back in its warm spot. Let the loaf rise until it's crowned about 1/2" to 3/4" over the rim of the pan, which could take up to 4 hours or so.
This won't form the typical large, domed top; it will rise straight up, with just a slight dome.
Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F.
Bake the bread for 35 to 40 minutes, until it's nicely browned. Again, it won't rise much; that's OK.
Remove the bread from the oven; if you have a digital thermometer, it should read about 190°F to 200°F at its center. Wait a couple of minutes, then turn it out of the pan onto a rack to cool.
Run a stick of butter over the bread's surface, if you like; this will add flavor, and a lovely golden sheen.
Here comes the hard part: DO NOT slice the bread until it's completely cool! You'll make the loaf gummy if you do. And after all you've been through to get to this point, you surely don't want impatience to get the better of you now.
Once it's cool – enjoy! Toast it. Use it for sandwiches. Make grilled cheese. This bread keeps quite well at room temperature for 5 to 7 days; if there's any left over after that, it's best to wrap it tightly and stow it in the freezer.
Salt-rising bread can be quite a journey; but the end result is well worth it, in my book. Partly because I feel good keeping alive a very old tradition; and partly because, hey, who doesn't like cheese-y bread?
Please read, bake, and review our recipe for Classic American Salt-Rising Bread.
June 30, 2022 at 5:34pm
So, I have a question that even if the answer is "yes," probably won't be soon enough to let me get any sleep tonight. Can you do an overnight cold proof in the fridge for the final rise? I started this last night, but woke up to find the starter hadn't taken, so I started again this morning and am now realizing I will be baking waaaaayyyyy past my bedtime.
July 1, 2022 at 1:42pm
In reply to So, I have a question that… by Alan (not verified)
Hi Alan, I'm sorry we weren't able to answer your question in a more timely fashion! Ordinarily we wouldn't recommend doing a refrigerated shaped rise with this type of bread recipe, but we hope you did manage to get some sleep and that your bread rose nicely and baked beautifully.
February 4, 2022 at 11:55am
I have been waiting to post about SRB until I have consistent results. In my hometown (Asheville, NC) we had a local bakery (Quality Bakery, on Pack Square) that made this bread and it was readily available at any
time. This was the only bread we purchased that was “store bought.” I have had SRB in recurring memories over the years, but had not thought seriously about making it. In January last year (2021) I finally researched for a source and found that Rising Creek Bakery and Cafe (Mt. Morris, PA) sold both SRB and starter mix.
I bought two loaves and the starter; the bread was good yet not quite what I remember for flavor. My first batch, using the bakery’s instructions was very much like their commercial loaves, good but not quite my
memory. Since then I have attempted SRB several times, some duds and some successes. I still use their starter, but boost it with Bob’s Red Mill cornmeal, and follow King Arthur’s recipe and directions. Wow! the “aroma” is something else - - hard to go into the kitchen without saying “what’s that smell?” It really permeates the air, even coming from my Brod & Taylor proofing oven. A fresh batch today, again, ripe!
November 4, 2023 at 9:15am
In reply to I have been waiting to post… by John Erickson (not verified)
Good morning, John. My wife and I just got the brod &Taylor proofing oven and have already attempted to make SRB. our starter has failed :( what temp setting do you use to get your starter to work?
Best regards,
Daniel
November 5, 2023 at 10:49am
In reply to Good morning, John. My wife… by Daniel (not verified)
Hi Daniel, John may not see your question, but we'd encourage you to use the temperature recommendations PJ offers in this blog post (95-97°F).
March 7, 2021 at 5:37pm
This comment may be premature. This is my first attempt at SRB and all went well and as described in this post until I added the flour to the bubbly mixture of the combined two starter phases. I doubled the recipe because I have a lot of family to share with, so my beginning flour measurement was 4½ cups. The resulting dough, after needing for several minutes with my bread hook, was quite dry. Not the slightly sticking consistency called for in the recipe. I'm now waiting for it to rise and we'll see how it turns out, but my advice to anyone trying this for the first time is to reduce the initial flour input to under 4 cups. It's much easier to add in than to take away.
December 31, 2020 at 12:33am
I grew up eating salt rising bread in Texas. We ate the bread only because my parents and grandparents came from Indianapolis and Kentucky. I am going to try to make the bread this weekend but have been struggling to figure out what to use to regulate the temperature. Here's my potential solution: I bought a salon quality wax heater (< $40) that can be set at the appropriate temperature. It holds a 3-3.5 c mason jar perfectly. I haven't had the bread for years, keeping my fingers crossed!
October 30, 2020 at 10:57pm
I have now made this recipe several times. It is wonderful. So far I've not had one failure. I double the recipe. Then freeze the extra loaf for later. This works well. I love your recipes. The are thorough and easy to follow. When we were kids, my sister and I enjoyed salt-rising bread made by VanDeCamp bakery. I haven't seen SRB in many years. I was so happy to find your recipe. Thank you so much.
September 3, 2020 at 10:24pm
I grew up in Denver Colorado. In the early 1970's Frost bakery on Krameria and 14th Ave sold Salt Rising Bread. The smell as it toasted was not appetizing to a teenager, but the flavor was heavenly. I live in the Kansas City Missouri area now and an old friend mentioned last year he'd found the best toasting bread ever, Salt Rising Bread. He couldn't locate any locally, so I decided to see if I could bake some. My first attempt yielded success, my next two trys were failures. I believe using cornmeal that is NOT de-germinated may help and temperature regulation during the first starter phase is essential. On my first successful attempt my husband and I monitored the temperature constantly. We had to hang a treble light in our oven with a 40 watt bulb (our oven light alone did not keep the oven warm enough), we worked diligently to keep the temperature between 90-100 degrees. The second two attempts I did not monitor the temperature as closely and both failed. Maybe they failed for another reason but I feel it was due to too much temperature fluctuation. Now I own a bread proofer and attempt number 4 will be underway soon. Fingers crossed!
April 29, 2020 at 3:18pm
We had Salt Rising Bread in the Pacific Northwest in the 60's and 70's offered through Van de Kamp's Bakery. They were small loaves but absolutely delicious. I tried making once with potatoes and gave up after the first try. This time around I am going to try the corn meal and I won't give up until I am successful!!! We all loved the smell of toast and it was particularly good with homemade strawberry jam. After I moved away from home to Colorado, my dad sent me two loaves. When the mailman delivered them, he said the package shook like something was broken and smelled terrible. I was smiling when I took the package from the postman and let him know it was just bread. You can imagine the look on his face but I was in seventh heaven!!! The part that was smashed I simply toasted in the oven. None of it was thrown out!! Looking forward to making this recipe.
Pagination