I have no personal experience with making salt rising bread. I remember eating some that my grandmother made back when I was in elementary school and not really caring for it. Mom's yeasted breads were more to my taste. Dunno what I would think of it today.
Salt rising bread is relatively unknown except for a few localities where it is still made. I happen to come from such a place and am very fond of SRB. Recently I came across a really excellent site on this topic: http://home.comcast.net/~petsonk/
Go to that site and pay special attention to Reinhart Nielsen's article.
I hope this thread will lead to a larger discussion of SRB. It is a unique method of bread making. Yeast is not involved. The fermention which produces the rise is the product of a bacterium.
Salt rising bread has a soft texture and distinctive mellow flavor. It is especially good toasted.
Thanks for the link. I hit the site you listed and began to read the suggested article.
I only got through the first page and saw Greencastle Indiana as a source for Salt Rising bread in the 50's. Since my memory is that of a child of the 50's, and having grown up in Brownsburg and Speedway, which are close to Greencastle, I may have eaten that very same bread.
Now I am a baker (owner) of a Great Harvest Bread Franchise. (No I cannot share our secrets or recipes!!)
But I'm trying to find out more for myself and for one of my bakers who has a friend asking about Salt Rising Bread too.
I remember this bread as being just soOOOOO good as toast with fresh butter!!!
"I remember this bread as being just soOOOOO good as toast with fresh butter!!!"
Talk about comforting! I wouldn't eat it any other way.
What Reinhart Nielsen has done is remove much of the mystery and unpredictability from the process, which has not been well understood and has been notorious for failed batches. I had to analyze his info carefully to come up with a recipe. He gives a lot of method but no exact recipe. I have never made salt rising bread, but will try it soon. I feel confident that Nielsen's method will work.
SRB is readily available in certain stores around my old stomping grounds, Allegany county, New York, which is accurately described on that web site. I and my siblings bring back a loaf for everyone when we visit there. I never knew of anyone to make it at home, but have heard of it. What I heard is that it stinks up the house.
This bread needs people such as you, me and PMcCool to carry on the tradition. Anybody else becoming curious? It is not just another variation on a familiar type of bread. It is different from all others.
I was experimenting with some whole wheat soakers left at 100F the other day and noticed some interesting activity which I can only assume to be microbiological (the smell was a bit funky!)
One of the soakers had salt in, the other did not. Both showed signs of some sort of organism at work after about 12 hours.
The funky smell (hard to describe - was not like anything I've come across before with my sourdough starter) - put me off trying to bake the samples (the salty dough had less odour) but I'm curious to know if the organism at work might have been Clostridium Perfrigens - the salt-rising bacterium...
Anyone else have similar experiences? Is this safe to bake and eat...or am I possibly cultivating something far less palatable...?
I have made salt rising bread a time or two, and I would say it smells more like a stronger cheese.
You have to make sure the corn meal you use is the whole grain and fresh. I really like it and have found a yogurt maker a good place to let it get all foamy.
Since it is more of a bread for delicious toast, it seems to stay fresh a little longer than other bread. Boy is it good all slathered with good butter. The reason I rarely make it. Terry
Delicious
Digg
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
Salt Rising
gdubya,
I have no personal experience with making salt rising bread. I remember eating some that my grandmother made back when I was in elementary school and not really caring for it. Mom's yeasted breads were more to my taste. Dunno what I would think of it today.
You could start here: http://home.comcast.net/~petsonk/
Or google on "salt rising" and you'll have over 21,000 additional choices. Have fun!
PMcCool
Salt Rising Bread is Unique
Salt rising bread is relatively unknown except for a few localities where it is still made. I happen to come from such a place and am very fond of SRB. Recently I came across a really excellent site on this topic: http://home.comcast.net/~petsonk/
Go to that site and pay special attention to Reinhart Nielsen's article.
I hope this thread will lead to a larger discussion of SRB. It is a unique method of bread making. Yeast is not involved. The fermention which produces the rise is the product of a bacterium.
Salt rising bread has a soft texture and distinctive mellow flavor. It is especially good toasted.
Jim
Salt rising bread - unique and hard to find
Jim,
Thanks for the link. I hit the site you listed and began to read the suggested article.
I only got through the first page and saw Greencastle Indiana as a source for Salt Rising bread in the 50's. Since my memory is that of a child of the 50's, and having grown up in Brownsburg and Speedway, which are close to Greencastle, I may have eaten that very same bread.
Now I am a baker (owner) of a Great Harvest Bread Franchise. (No I cannot share our secrets or recipes!!)
But I'm trying to find out more for myself and for one of my bakers who has a friend asking about Salt Rising Bread too.
I remember this bread as being just soOOOOO good as toast with fresh butter!!!
gdubya
Wanna make salt rising? You'll be glad you did.
"I remember this bread as being just soOOOOO good as toast with fresh butter!!!"
Talk about comforting! I wouldn't eat it any other way.
What Reinhart Nielsen has done is remove much of the mystery and unpredictability from the process, which has not been well understood and has been notorious for failed batches. I had to analyze his info carefully to come up with a recipe. He gives a lot of method but no exact recipe. I have never made salt rising bread, but will try it soon. I feel confident that Nielsen's method will work.
SRB is readily available in certain stores around my old stomping grounds, Allegany county, New York, which is accurately described on that web site. I and my siblings bring back a loaf for everyone when we visit there. I never knew of anyone to make it at home, but have heard of it. What I heard is that it stinks up the house.
This bread needs people such as you, me and PMcCool to carry on the tradition. Anybody else becoming curious? It is not just another variation on a familiar type of bread. It is different from all others.
Jim
Found the recipes
I don't think there were links to them anywhere on the site, but here's a few salt rise recipes:
http://home.comcast.net/~petsonk/SRB1107_files/page0008.htm
Russ
Anyone else try this?
I was experimenting with some whole wheat soakers left at 100F the other day and noticed some interesting activity which I can only assume to be microbiological (the smell was a bit funky!)
One of the soakers had salt in, the other did not. Both showed signs of some sort of organism at work after about 12 hours.
The funky smell (hard to describe - was not like anything I've come across before with my sourdough starter) - put me off trying to bake the samples (the salty dough had less odour) but I'm curious to know if the organism at work might have been Clostridium Perfrigens - the salt-rising bacterium...
Anyone else have similar experiences? Is this safe to bake and eat...or am I possibly cultivating something far less palatable...?
Sounds like Microbiology
and it sounds like you're on to something. The German written recipe says it smells like old used socks. Does that come close?
Mini O
cheese like more than sock like
I have made salt rising bread a time or two, and I would say it smells more like a stronger cheese.
You have to make sure the corn meal you use is the whole grain and fresh. I really like it and have found a yogurt maker a good place to let it get all foamy.
Since it is more of a bread for delicious toast, it seems to stay fresh a little longer than other bread. Boy is it good all slathered with good butter. The reason I rarely make it. Terry