I like salt rising bread, especially toasted. All the recipes I have seen call for white flour and none for whole wheat flour. Since this is a very old type of bread, I am sure that in the beginning there must have been some whole wheat flour used. So here is the recipe I have devised along with the means of having essentially fool-proof starter.
Picture on the left is 50% whole wheat Salt rising bread and the one on the right is white salt rising bread. Notice both have a relatively flat top this is typical.
SALT RISING BREAD STARTER (TRADITIONAL)
Though NOT a sourdough bread, it does use a naturally occurring bacterium to make the leavening. Read the notes on salt rising bread in the chapter of Notes. Use the starter for either the white or the whole wheat bread. I am NOT usually an advocate for “organic” foods, but I suspect that sprouting inhibitors used on potatoes have disastrous results in making a salt-rising starter. To be on the safe side, I recommend using “organic” materials in this starter. The bakers at King Arthur say there is nothing in their flour to inhibit the starter. They do not sell cornmeal.
1 or 2 medium “organically grown” Irish potatoes (4-8 oz.) peeled and thinly sliced.
4 cup (33.2 oz.) chlorine free water heated to 190°F
1/2 cup (2.5 oz.) “organic” cornmeal
1/4 cup (1.1 oz.) “organic” whole wheat flour
1 Tbs. (0.5 oz.) sugar
1/4 tspn. baking soda
1 Tbs. (0.5 oz., 6 g) dried starter reserved from past sponges, if available.
Place the peeled and sliced potatoes in a bowl that will hold 2+ quarts. Pour on the hot water ~190°F. Sprinkle the cornmeal, whole wheat flour sugar and soda on the water and stir just to wet the ingredients. The temperature has probably dropped to ~165°F. Cover the bowl, and set in a warm (about 95 to 105°F) spot where the temperature remains fairly constant. After an hour add the dried starter, stirring slightly. Let the starter sit undisturbed for about 10 to 20 hours. The starter should have bubbles and have a strong cheese-like aroma. If you do not have bubbles and the cheese-like aroma, your starter is not active and your bread will not rise. Quit now. If the aroma is present, remove the potato slices and continue with the sponge, either white SRB or whole wheat SRB.
SALT-RISING WHOLE WHEAT BREAD
(50% whole wheat flour, 50% white flour)
SPONGE (S. R. W. W. BREAD)
All of the above Salt Rising Starter, ~36 oz.
1 2/3 cups (14.7 oz.) scalded, tepid milk
1/4 tspn. baking soda
6 1/2 (27.6 oz.) cups whole wheat flour
1 tspn. (0.2 oz.) sugar
Scald milk (190°F) then cool to 110°F. Pour the starter into a large mixing bowl. Stir in baking soda, milk, sugar, and whole wheat flour, some lumps may remain. Cover with a plastic wrap and again set in a warm (95 to 105°F) place, and let the sponge rise. This may take as long as 4 hours, or as short as 1 hour. When ready, the sponge will have doubled in volume, will appear creamy, foamy, and still have the strong cheese odor. Remove about a 1/4 cup of starter and spread it out on a sheet of parchment paper to dry. When dry (about a day) break it up and store in a zippered bag for later use in a starter.
DOUGH (S. R. W. W. BREAD)
all of the above sponge, ~76 oz.
~6 1/2 cups (27.6 oz.) unbleached bread flour
1/4 cup (2.8 oz.) honey
1 1/2 Tbs. (1.0 oz.) salt
1/4 cup (2.0 oz.) melted and cooled butter
melted butter for greasing the pans and for brushing the dough
Put 3 cups of flour, 1 tspn. sugar, and 1 1/2 Tbs. salt into bowl containing the sponge, and blend. Stir in the melted butter. Then add enough flour (~3 cups, or more) to make a soft, manageable dough that you can knead.
Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead for a minute or two, adding flour as necessary. Let it rest for ten minutes. Resume the kneading until the dough is smooth adding flour as necessary. (It will not be elastic.) Divide into three loaves (about 2 lb. 1 oz. each), and shape each piece to fit 5“ x 9” loaf pans. Place each into a greased loaf pan, brush with melted butter, and cover with plastic wrap. Set loaf pans in a warm place (100 to 110°F) to rise. This final rise takes about 2 to 4 hours, and the loaves should double the original volume. Let the loaves rise until just above the top of the pan, and do not slash the loaves.
BAKING (S. R. W. W. BREAD)
Preheat oven to 450°F (with a pan of boiling water on the bottom shelf) and the middle shelf reserved for the bread pans. When the dough has risen, spray the dough with water, and place immediately into the oven. After 15 minutes reduce the oven temperature to 350°F. Bake until the interior temperature of the loaves is 195° to 200°F. There will be little or no oven spring. They should sound hollow when thumped with a finger on the bottom, about 40 minutes. It is better to over-bake than to risk under-baking. Turn out on to a cooling rack, brush with butter, and cover with a damp cloth until cooled. Bread may then be packaged and frozen.
SALT RISING BREAD NOTES
This bread is also known as salt-risen bread. This is NOT a sourdough bread. On the contrary, the organism responsible for the leavening prefers a near neutral pH, slightly on the basic (alkaline) side. The baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is added is to obtain that pH, not to leaven the dough. Were the baking soda not added, the acid produced by the bacteria would greatly slow the growth of the bacteria, if not kill them. Another difference is that this organism prefers a much higher temperature, 95 to 105°F (35 to 41°C). This temperature would kill the sourdough yeast and lactobacteria. The bacterium responsible for leavening salt rising bread (SRB) is anaerobic, i.e., it thrives in the absence of air, whereas the yeast and lactobacteria of sourdough can metabolize their nutrients either aerobically or anaerobically.
Clostridium perfringens is reported to be the bacterium responsible for the leavening of salt rising bread. , Apparently, the spores of this bacterium are wide spread and present in all grains and other plant material. Nielsen2 has reported making salt rising leavening from many different starting materials viz., various grains, cheese, and even the bark of white oak, and the bark of black locust. Apparently, it is the high temperature of the milk or water that activates these spores and then the continued temperature of about 105°F that promotes the metabolism of the bacteria. The gas produced is said to be mostly hydrogen. Juckett, Bardwell, McClane, and Brown state, “SRB starter samples were cultured at the University of Pittsburgh and abundant C. perfringens, type A grew out of all samples. However, none of the cultures were positive for enterotoxin and thus would be unlikely to cause human food borne disease. While this does not preclude the possibility of other starter mixes containing enteropathogenic strains, the baking process appears to reduce bacterial contamination to safe levels and SRB has not been implicated in causing any human disease.”
Apparently, C. perfringens grown on a medium containing animal flesh will produce the enterotoxin. The toxin is NOT produced when the same culture is grown on plant material with or without milk or milk products.
A proofing oven is ideal for the various rising steps. One can be made of a large cardboard box, or an ice chest, with a light bulb for heat. (Do not let the bulb touch the box.) Our oven with the oven light on and the door slightly cracked gives a temperature of about 105°F, perfect. A gas oven with only the pilot light on may work. Proper temperature is critical for successful production of salt rising bread. Too high a temperature kills the organisms and too low (below 95°F) will not permit fast enough growth. A temperature of 95 to 105°F seems to be about ideal for proofing. This organism likes a higher temperature than does yeast. Apparently, a much higher temperature is needed to get the spoors activated so that the organism can start metabolizing the food, about 180°F. If the temperature is too low say about 140°F the starter may produce bitter tasting loaf of bread. Could this be caused by the genus Leuconostoc, a bacteria that prevalent in plants? In any case, using a high temperature of water in creating the starter reduces the occurrence of the bitter flavor.
As the dough matures it looses its elasticity. The risen dough in the baking pan will jiggle like a bowl of jelly as it is placed in the oven. This is probably due to the bacteria having metabolized the gluten and thus destroying the network that retains the gases and gives structure to other breads. The metabolites of this compound may well be the source of the cheese-like aroma.
Do not use any product that has a live culture in it such as sweet acidophilus milk, yogurt, or buttermilk. Or, at least scald (190°F) such a product to kill any active organisms. The organisms may be antagonistic to the leavening organism. Do not add any acid product at any stage. Do not add animal tissue, such as ham, liver, and beef, or stock made from these materials.
Be careful of preservatives that may be in the various ingredients. They may kill the leavening organism. Salt is a preservative; too much will slow or stop the leavening process. Since the bacterium is anaerobic, avoid beating air into the starter, the sponge, and the dough. Getting the culture going has long been a problem for me while others seem to have no problem. Could it be that those people just raise their own potatoes or buy only those foods that are “organically” grown? On this premise, I made my starter with “organic” potatoes and “organic” cornmeal, and “organic” whole-wheat flour. The starter took off within six hours! I have found that “non-organically-grown” potatoes are treated with several chemicals that could very well inhibit bacterial growth. I have not been one to advocate “organic” foods, but I do believe that they just might be necessary for salt-rising starter. I have since found that the problem was with the potatoes. Home grown or “organically grown” potatoes that have not been treated to prevent sprouting seem to be suitable, or use “organic” cornmeal as the only source of C. perfringens.
If at any time in the process the product does not appear to be working, i.e., generating the gases needed for proper rising and having a cheese-like aroma, discard it, and start over. The starter and the sponge must generate gas, and the dough must at least double in bulk. The most likely cause for failure is either too high or too low a temperature during proofing. Saving out some of the sponge and drying it at room temperature for later use, is a means of providing some assurance of success of the fermentation.
Do not overproof the loaf – let it rise until it is just above the top of the loaf pan. Do not slash the top of the loaf.
Jenny Bardwell & Susan Brown, eHow Presenters, made a video on methods for making salt rising bread. (http://www.ehow.com/video_2340947_salt-rising-bread-recipe.html)
