Salt Rising Bread

Salt rising bread is one of the oldest American breads, and it’s nothing like anything leavened with yeast. Instead of yeast, a wild bacterial fermentation does the rising. Sliced potatoes, cornmeal, sugar, salt, and boiling water sit wrapped in a warm place overnight, cultivating bacteria that produce the gas bubbles that make the bread rise.

The starter has a distinctive smell that surprises people the first time. It’s pungent, almost cheese-like, and completely normal. That same fermentation gives the finished bread its signature tangy flavor and dense, fine-grained crumb that’s unlike any yeast bread.

In the morning, the potatoes come out and the bubbly starter gets mixed with milk, water, baking soda, shortening, and enough flour to form a kneadable dough. The baking soda helps neutralize some of the starter’s acidity and gives an additional lift.

This bread is finicky about temperature. The starter needs consistent warmth overnight to ferment properly. Too cold and it won’t activate. Too hot and you’ll grow the wrong bacteria. A turned-off oven with just the light on works well.

Kitchen Tips

• Wrap the starter bowl in a heavy cloth and keep it somewhere consistently warm (about 95°F / 35°C). A cooler or oven with the light on works well.
• If the starter doesn’t bubble by morning, it didn’t get warm enough. Start over rather than proceeding with a flat starter.
• Knead the dough until smooth and elastic, but don’t add more flour than necessary. Salt rising bread is meant to be on the softer side.
• The rise takes longer than yeast bread. Be patient and let it double fully before baking.

Variations

• Use white cornmeal instead of yellow for a milder flavor in the starter.
• Brush the tops of the loaves with melted butter right out of the oven for a softer crust.
• Slice thick and toast it. Salt rising bread makes exceptional toast with a nutty, tangy flavor.