Salt Rising Bread

There are a lot of reasons not to love salt rising bread, a quirky no-yeast bread thought to have originated in 18th-century Appalachia. Making it is a two-day commitment, the dough is notoriously finicky, and its pungent aroma smells more like something coming out of the gym than the kitchen. But the bread emerges from the oven a dense, white, cheesy taste sensation that’s as distinctive as it is obscure. Fans claim it makes the absolute best toast; even famed chef Alice Waters has fallen under its spell. Food historians and bakers Genevieve Bardwell and Susan Ray Brown celebrate this culinary specialty in their new book, Salt Rising Bread: Recipes and Heartfelt Stories of a Nearly Lost Appalachian Tradition. Here they share the recipe followed by the late Pearl Haines, a Pennsylvania woman who baked salt rising bread for some 90 years, as well as a recipe for turning the bread into a truly Appalachian stuffing.

Pearl Haines’s Salt Rising Bread

You Will Need

• 1⁄2 cup scalded milk 
• 3 teaspoons cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon flour
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• additional flour (about 21 ½ cups for six loaves)

To Prepare

• Pour milk onto the dry ingredients and stir. 
• Keep warm overnight until foamy. 
• After the raisin’ has foamed and has a rotten cheese smell, in a medium-size bowl add 2 cups of warm water to mixture, then enough flour (about 1 1⁄2 cups) to make like a thin pancake batter. Stir and allow to rise again until it becomes foamy. This usually takes about 2 hours.  
• Next, add 1 cup of warm water for each loaf of bread you want to make, up to 6 loaves (e.g., 6 cups of water makes 6 loaves of bread). Add enough flour (20 cups for 6 loaves or about one 5 pound bag of flour plus 1/3 bag of flour). Form into loaves and grease tops. Let loaves rise in greased pans for 1.5 to 3 hours—sometimes longer if it is a cold day. 
• Bake at 350° F (180° C) for 35 to 45 minutes or until loaves sound hollow when tapped. 

Salt Rising Bread Stuffing

You Will Need

• 16 cups of 1-inch salt rising bread cubes (1.5 loaf )
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 2 cups medium-diced onion (2 onions) 
• 1 cup medium-diced celery (2 stalks) 
• 2 tablespoons chopped, fresh parsley or  2 teaspoons dried parsley 
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1-2 cups turkey broth or chicken stock

To Prepare

• Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C) 
• Place the bread cubes in a single layer on a sheet pan and bake for 7 minutes. 
• Remove the bread cubes to a very large bowl. 
• Melt the butter and add the onions, celery, parsley, salt, and pepper. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes until the vegetables are softened. Add to the bread cubes. 
• Add the turkey (or chicken) broth or stock to the mixture. Mix well and pour into a greased 9x12-inch baking dish. 
• Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes, until browned on top and hot in the middle. Serve warm. 

Excerpted with permission from Salt Rising Bread: Recipes and Heartfelt Stories of a Nearly Lost Appalachian Tradition (St. Lynn’s Press).