Salt-Rising Bread Recipe (2024)

HI Baker Brad, Acutally, there are enough resident bacteria on the surfaces of the cornmeal and flour. I also suggest using a couple tablespoons chickpea flour to help the fermentation. Just a secret from a pro.

There are two moments of potential failure that may necessitate restarting - the first at the end of step one and the second at the end of step two. The recipe on the King Arthur site describes what those failures look like and what you can do about them. It also is more specific and clearer about how to create a consistently warm space for the starter to ferment, and offers a few other helpful hints.

Oh lordy I love salt rising bread, as it does make the most extraordinary toast. Used to be able to buy it in many Southern bakeries but alas, no more.Wish some enterprising bakery would take it up again and sell online as the taste really is worth the trouble.I'll give this recipe a try. Had also heard that potatoes could be used to culture a starter.thanks NYT

You can make a starter with potatoes, corn meal, baking soda, a little flour and scalding water. You can order salt rising bread online from Rising Creek Bakery, where I learned to bake it

Rising creek bakery in mt morris, pa still sells and ships out salt rising bread weekly!Www.Risingcreekbakery.com

The first (and only) time I had salt rising bread was in 1971, when I was on a high school 4-H trip to Michigan. My host family took us to a country-style restaurant, and there we were served the most delicious bread I'd ever eaten. I've never forgotten the taste nor the name of the bread, but this is the first time I've seen a recipe for it. I look forward to trying it out.

HI Paul, The sous vide is perfect! I set mine at 40C (105F). I also find that putting in a tablespoon or two of chick pea flour usually helps make a successful fermentation. Just a little secret from a pro.

Rhodes Bakery in Atlanta sells the most delicious Salt Rising Bread and has since 1929...

My grandmother made what she termed Salt Rising Bread regularly - my grandfather’s favorite bread. She used warm milk from her own cows and sliced potatoes set on the back of her wood-burning stove overnight. Then the liquid was used the next morning in her regular bread making routine instead of yeast. Thanks for the memories.

Why is this called "salt-raised?" Is baking soda is considered a salt?

An InstantPot electric pressure cooker set on "Yogurt" setting works extremely well. I select Yogurt > custom > 110°.I use a half gallon canning jar for step 1, making the starter. I use a metal mixing bowl covered with foil suspended over the IP (similar to a double boiler set-up) for step 2.A sous vide set-up also works well.

Harold McGee wrote a really great article about salt rising bread a few years back. The crazy thing is that the bacteria that’s doing the work is actually a clostridium - not yeast or lacto bacillus. You create an alkaline environment with the baking soda it’s nuts. The times I’ve made it, I used boiling water, flour, and sliced raw potatoes, and baking soda. I’ll be trying this recipe ASAP.

My sense is that this recipe requires the bacteria from cow milk in order to ferment into a working starter.

Salt-rising bread takes the August tomato-and-mayo sandwich to a new level. Following the King Arthur Flour recipe, I cheated with a 1/4 tsp. of yeast. It may not have been pure but it was sure good.

If you are able to get the salt-rising culture going, you can save out a portion and dry it in a baking pan. Once dried, put it in a small zip lock bag and then add some if the dried culture to your next batch. This will help to light off the culture the next time you make the bread. It still isn't guaranteed to work very time but I've had very few failures since I started adding a half teaspoon of the dried culture each time I start a new batch.

I had a different recipe years ago where the starter was about double. You would take half the starter after you added more flour to make one loaf. This left you with starter to continue making bread. Y I u never used all thecstarter unless you wanted to stop making the wonderful bread. Does anyone know this old recipe as l would love to be able to make it again where you have starter left for the next time.

The best theory I’ve seen so far for why it’s called salt rising is that the pioneer women would make their starter in the morning and pack it in rock salt to ferment during their day traveling west…

Has anyone tried with this Bread Flour? I have 25 pounds of KA Bread Flour and about 2 cups of AP flour in the pantry. In principle, it should give a better rise and oven spring.

Salt rising bread is available for purchase in Cattaraugus and Allegany Counties along the Southern Tier of New York State at a few grocery stores, notably Giant Foods in Wellsville and Cuba. Also at Reid’s Food Barn in Olean. Also, Swatt Bakery in Olean. Delicious bread that is great for toast but also for a magnificent grilled cheese sandwich! Can’t wait to try this recipe out and bake some homemade salt rising bread!

If using a sous vide for the starter, can a Mason jar be used? With the lid?

I tried it twice, and failed the first time, and success the second. I used a heating pad to set the starter on, and it worked perfectly. After it's all said and done though, I didn't like the density of the bread as followed by the recipe. However, I discovered that with yeast added in, it is light and fluffy, and yummy. This will be my go to recipe for white bread but with yeast going forward.

I’ve tried this recipe 2 times now with the same disappointing result. Steps 1-2 seem to be successful - bubbly, foamy starter and a bubbly, double in size mixture at the end of Step 2. I use my Kitchen Aid mixer with a dough beater for Step 3 and transfer to a bread pan. But then it doesn’t rise at all - even after 4 hours. I expect this loaf will have the same brick-like texture as the first try. Boo. Would appreciate any suggestions!

Why doesn't the article explain why it's called "salt-rising" when the salt doesn't cause it to rise? Can anyone explain?

1st encountered salt-rising bread when I moved to Virginia as a child. This comes close--subtly different taste, more close-textured, but the same delicious toast.I made the starter in a cup in my yogurt maker--perfect temp, tho it took a little longer than the recipe predicted. But when the action began it was unmistakeable.The dough was harder to keep warm: I nested the bowl in an inverted tea cozy; put it in an oven heated slightly too high; goosed the temp now&then. Good results.

This did not turn out well at all. The batter DID rise well in the bowl, but once it was transferred to the loaf pan, it hardly rose at all, and came out like a brick. Also, the smell as it was rising was awful, although the flavor (yes I bit into the brick) was okay, but nothing spectacular. I won't try this again.

I really appreciate that you try to offer metric measurements. Would it be possible to extend this service to temperatures as well? 100° in my part of the world is likely to kill any bacteria, good or bad...(For others in the same fix: 104-110 ℉ is 38-43℃)

And 350℉ is 175℃

Is it safe to leave the sous vide on over night for the first step? Trying to figure out how to make this bread in one day. What happens if it’s longer than 8 or 10 hours?

For steps 1 & 2, if your oven has various function-settings (bake, broil, convection, etc.), see if it has a Proof function (mine does!). If it does, select it and then set the temperature to either 105 or 110. Steady as a rock.

Why is it called salt rising bread? Do we ever get to find out?