Making this bread is not simple. It is challenging, but well worth the effort if you enjoy the distinctive, strong fragrance of salt-rising bread. The inner germ of the corn must be present in the cornmeal used as the starter, and a continuous warm temperature must be preserved.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 day 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 day 1 hr |
| Servings: | 36 |
| Yield: | 3 -9×5 inch loaves |
Ingredients
- 1 cup milk
- ½ cup cornmeal
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- 3 tablespoons shortening
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
- 6 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
- To Make Starter: Heat the milk, and stir in 1 tablespoon of the sugar, the cornmeal and 1 teaspoon of the salt. Place this in a jar in an electric skillet or crock pot with hot water in it. Maintain the temperature around 105 to 115 degrees F (40 to 47 degrees C) for 7-12 hours or until it shows fermentation. You can hear the gas escaping when it has fermented sufficiently. The bubble foam, which forms over the starter, can take as long as 24 hours. Do not go on with the bread-making until the starter responds. As the starter ferments, the unusual salt-rising smell appears.
- When the starter is bubbly, it is time to make the sponge. Place the starter mixture in a medium-size bowl. Stir in 2 cups of the warm water, 2 tablespoons of the sugar, the shortening and 2 cups of the all-purpose flour. Beat the sponge thoroughly. Put bowl back in the water to maintain an even 105 to 115 degrees F (40 to 47 degrees C) temperature. Cover, and let rise until light and full of bubbles. This will take 2 1/2 to 3 hours.
- Dissolve the baking soda in 1 tablespoon of the warm water and combine it with the sponge. Stir 5 1/4 cups of the flour into the sponge; knead in more flour as necessary. Knead the dough for 10 minutes or until smooth and manageable. Cut dough into 3 parts. Shape dough and place it in three greased 9x5x3 inch pans. Place covered pans in warm water or uncovered pans in a warm oven with a bowl of hot water, maintaining a temperature of 85 degrees F (30 degrees C). It will take approximately 5 hours for the bread to rise 2 1/2 times the original size. The bread will round to the top of the pans.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- Bake bread at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and bake for an additional 20 minutes or until light golden brown. YOU CAN DRY SALT RISING CULTURE!!! Save 1/4 cup of a successful sponge and pour it into a saucer, cover with cheesecloth and allow to dry. Store dried flakes in plastic in a cool, dry place or freeze until needed for salt rising bread. When ready to make the bread; dissolve the flakes in the new warm starter and continue with recipe. This will give a flavor boost to your bread.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 124 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 24 g |
| Cholesterol | 1 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 3 g |
| Saturated Fat | 0 g |
| Sodium | 86 mg |
| Sugars | 1 g |
| Fat | 2 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I didn’t get past the starter…this recipe is incomplete according to other sites…I left the starter in the crockpot for 26 hours and it never fermented…I will not attempt this recipe again…to the person submitting this recipe~~if you can’t submit all ingredients and instructions for making a recipe, don’t submit it on a site for everyone to make thinking they would be successful~~this was a waste of my time…I made it according to the recipe to the letter and directions…
This is a difficult bread to make; however it was worth it. I am from Western NY and salt rising bread is “the National bread of WNY”. This tasted just like the bread (or close) from the Angelica Bakery in Angelica NY (Yes the town is named after Angelica Schuyler (Church). It turned out way it was supposed to and smelled like old dirty socks. My oldest daughter took one loaf home and said it reminded her of “home”,
I changed nothing. I made it exactly as written. I had used another recipe with less than great results. This recipe was what I was looking for when I tried the other which used potatoes. I will admit, while I thought that the bouquet was amazing, my wife thought it repulsive. She isn’t a fan. The bread was what I remembered as a child! The best! I am making it tomorrow.
Why is this so addicting? I think I would be thinner if it weren’t! Even though we call it ‘gangrene bread’…… Success is more consistent with 1) warmer rising temperature for starter, sponge and loaves, 100-110F. I have a yogurt maker that is perfect for the starter/sponge stage. Keep things nice and warm, or the bacteria will die, and the bread won’t rise 2) add 1 teaspoon of dry gluten at the sponge stage, helps the rise and the finished product. 3)when the loaves are shaped, coat tops generously with butter or shortening ( I just let my hands melt it, don’t go to the trouble of melting seperately), cover with a damp towel, and keep a bowl of hot water in the oven or proofer, keep the temp. at 100-110 consistently. The dough rises aggresively if you keep it warm and damp, keep an eye on it or it will jump out of the pans! 350o is better bake temp for my oven, otherwise too dry. This is a good recipe, I find the tweaks have eliminated failure THUS far.
I had great success on my second attempt with this recipe. Bob’s Red Mill cornmeal works wonderfully. I used it both times, but the first time I used tap water in the second step. When the resulting sponge failed to ferment, I wondered if the chlorine in the tap water killed the bacteria. So I switched to bottled purified water, and everything went smoothly. If you are having trouble, you might want to try unchlorinated water.
I’ve never had salt rising bread before, so I didn’t know what to expect. This is really good!
I don’t remember this bread growing up the last 62 yrs & I love the sharp (kinda Swiss-Parmeson)taste. Makes the most awesome buttered toast. I really love it with sandwiches lightly toasted & incredible with s/w’s that use a tangy cheese like alpine Swiss or aged Swiss or other pungent cheeses. Am making it (3 loaves) right now but one loaf has 2 tsps of Italian seasonings. BTW, when working with the dough (it’s sticky) I sprayed my hands with Pam which helped tremendously! Anyone else tried other spices/herbs they could share? I love this bread. I started out looking for a yeast free bread as my grandson is allergic to any molds or fermented products & this is it!
I wanted to make this bread to use as an ingredient in my Thanksgiving dressing like my grandmother and mother used to make. This recipe turned out great!!
I wanted to make this bread to use as an ingredient in my Thanksgiving dressing like my grandmother and mother used to make. This recipe turned out great!!
Great recipe. I had been looking for years for a salt rising bread recipe that turned out. My grandmother used to make this and there is no better bread than salt rising for making toast for breakfast. Thank you so much for submitting this.
I have yet to try this recipe but cannot wait! My Dad’s sister, Aunt Mary used to make Salt Rising Bread & as kids, we loved it. Guessing it was probably passed down from my Grama. So happy that I finally have a recipe to try it out. Thanks, Vicki Guess I should have read how much work is involved…my Aunt was a farmers wife with plenty of work to do & heaven only knows how she found the time for this…but I will try it anyway
first time I made this and it turned out great. Second time , not so great, don’t know what happened.
Made this bread yesterday – was prompted by my Mother who was talking about my grandmother liking it so well. It was time consuming but turned out great! I used a small crock pot and put the starter in a pint mason jar and used the warm setting. For the next addition I was able to use a 2 quart mason jar. This step bubbled like mad and kept overflowing the jar! I used a large roasting pan with hot water in the stove for rising the bread in the pans. I only had one bread loaf pan so I used a small cast iron skillet for one loaf and a cake pan for the other- worked just fine! I did not need the entire baking time though (my oven gets pretty hot) did the 10 min. at 375 and then only 9 min at 350.
I need some help. I tried to make the starter for the Salt Rising Bread using germ-in corn meal and our old Rival crock pot. Using a fluid thermometer I had from my home-brewed beer making days I kept track of the temp. It was steady at about 125 degrees Fahrenheit. Too hot evidently. No foam within 48 hours. Questions: How long should you cook the cornmeal, sugar, salt and milk combination. Mine was warm – not boiling. The sugar and salt dissolved. The corn meal didn’t appear to change. Although I used a glass jar with a rubber ring and clamp down top, I didn’t clamp the lid down. Should it be tightly covered or not covered at all? I gave up after 48 hours but how long can you keep going without needing a fresh batch of starter? Last question (for now). My oven’s lowest temp is 170 degrees and my toaster’s is 150. The crock pot on “Low” is 125 F (50 C) and not adjustable. We live in an all-electric home. No gas or propane. Our electric furnace/heat pump does not lend itself to this project. We don’t own an electric skillet. We have a waffle maker?? What could I buy or use to maintain 100 degrees? Thanks, everyone, for taking the time to consider my plight. I really appreciate it! Let me hear from you. BFCore
My father has Alzheimer’s and he was asking for this over and over again. Thank you for helping me find what he was looking for! He LOVED it, and I didn’t think it was horrible to make. It was actually a nice challenge and I kind of became obsessed with it 😉 It is delicious toasted with butter! Again, thanks!
Many years ago (30+) I remember our bakers orders “salt rising yeast” from the yeast man. It made a delicious yet very “stinky” loaf of bread. I tired this recipe and was excellent! It brought back memories and though it was “stinky”, when I toasted it and put butter on it, I was in heaven! Thank You for this great recipe.
This bread is ideal for toasting. It is fun to make and is something different. I have noticed that the flavor turns out different with different brands of corn meal. The first few batches were so strong smelling that I had to cut the sponge with extra water and flour to tone it down. With the corn meal that I have now, though, the flavor is spot-on and it is just perfect. I just wish I could remember which brand I bought. To make the starter, I heated the milk to about 110F or so, and put it in a glass jar with a loose fitting lid. I then warmed my oven (which has a pizza stone on the bottom) using only the light and a drug-store heating pad set on high as heat sources. This combination kept the oven interior at an even 104F. The starter was perfect and the resulting loaves rose within a few hours.
This recipe is the best! I have made salt rising bread for years using a potato/water mixture as a starter but the cornmeal/milk is much better. I use melted butter not shortening. On the second recipe I increased it by half with the same excellent results. I have a 100 deg proof setting on my oven that makes this bread easier.
This is a great recipe! Works everytime. Makes wonderful toast!
If you had problems with this recipe a likely problem is that you could have used “degerminated” corn meal. That happens to be the only kind sold in my local grocery store so I have to go old school and grind actual dried corn for this.
This recipe was so much faster and better than the one I have. The results were great. I made it exactly as the recipe stated but used the back of the coal stove to keep it warm. Great flavor. This is one recipe I’ll keep making..Thanks for sharing