What is Salt Rising Bread?

  I love reading old cookbooks because the recipes are really interesting.  When I grew up, my father tried sourdough starter but the breads, pancakes, and other final products never tasted right so he gave up.  It wasn't till years later, we figured out the problem.  He kept it in a metal container.  You can't do that because it absorbs some of the metal and tastes horrible.

In some of the books, there are recipes for something called salt rising bread.  I'd never heard of it and wondered how salt could cause bread to rise.

No one is sure where the name came from but it developed in the early 1800's when commercial yeast was not available and housewives had to make their own.  To create the rising agent, they'd mix a mash of cornmeal and milk or potatoes and milk which produced a nice bubbly mixture.  This leavened the bread.

Unfortunately, it was almost hit or miss back then, getting a reliable leavening agent so the trick was to keep it warm.  It is thought the salt raised part came from the rock salt women warmed and piled around the starter to keep it warm and fermenting.  It takes 12 to 18 hours to get it to this point.

Once its nice and bubbly, its time to add the remaining ingredients and progress as normal.  Its said the final product is a dense - cheesy loaf.

If you'd like to try it yourself here is the recipe.
The sponge is made from 1 cup warm milk, 1/2 cup cornmeal, 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt.  Mix and set in a warm place until its bubbly and releasing gas.  This step takes around 10 hours.  Add in 2 cups of flour, 2 cups warm water, 2 tablespoon sugar, 3 tablespoon melted shortening.  Mix and let set for 2.5 to 3 hours until its nice and bubbly.

Dissolve 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda in 1 tablespoon water before mixing with the sponge.  Add in about 5.5 cups of flour.  Knead, adding flour as needed, for about 10 minutes till smooth.  Cut the dough into three parts, shape and place in baking pans. Let rise till doubled and bake at 350 till nicely golden brown.

Have a great time trying it.

Sprouted Grain Bread

  Occasionally while shopping at a health food store, I've stumbled across sprouted grain bread.  I've often wondered exactly what it is and how its made.

After a bit of research, it appears there are two types of sprouted grain bread, both based on sprouted grains.

The first requires a person sprout wheat berries until the tail is twice as long as the berry.  They are sweet at this point.  The berries are run through a hand grinder so you end up with a nice  juicy, dark and light dough.  Shape the dough into a nice circular shape after working out the air bubbles.  Place on an oiled sheet and bake at 250 degrees for 2 to 2.5 hours. The outside should be firm but not hard while the bottom should be springy.  This only uses the sprouts with little else added. You could add nuts or soaked fruit as you are grinding the wheat berries.

The second type of sprouted grain bread requires the person to sprout the grain berries they want in their bread.  Again, sprout until the tail is twice the length of the berry but instead of grinding at this point, spread the sprouted grain in a single layer on a cookie sheet or dehydrator tray.  Dehydrate or let dry 8 to 12 hours so the grains are dry but not hard.  Grind into a flour a handful at a time.  Be sure to sift the larger pieces out.  You know have your flour.

Now mix 2.25 cups of warm milk and .25 cup of honey together.  Add a package of yeast to the milk mixture.  Mix the 4.5 cups of flour and 2 tsp salt together.  Mix the liquid into the dry ingredients.  Knead about 10 to 15 minutes, place in a bowl, cover,  and let rest until the size doubled. Punch down, place in oiled bread pan, and allow to double before baking at 375 degrees for 45 minutes till a golden brown.  Cool on a wire rack.

The basic differences between the two is whether the sprouted grains are dried and ground into a real flour or if the mixture is baked without traditional yeast. I'm used to the type of bread made the second way usually with sourdough rather than yeast.  The first recipe is more of a dense loaf made of only the ground up berries.

I wouldn't be surprised to find a recipe which has you grind up the sprouted grains like in the first recipe but adding the milk, honey, etc to create a lighter loaf due to the yeast.  I love yeast breads because it tends to produce a lighter loaf.

Let me know what you think.