One of the most dangerous breads you may ever eat! Salt-rising bread, which gets its rise not from yeast or lactobacillus, but instead from Clostridium perfringens, a bacteria that causes food poisoning! Very spooky I know, but this recipe yields an exquisitely delicious loaf with a slightly dense crumb that tastes like a combination of cheddar, swiss, and parmesan cheese. It's unbelievable!
The original recipe, which I modified, is from: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/classic-american-salt-rising-bread-recipe
The recipe is here, and pictures of the process are below:
Ingredients:
Starter 1
1/4 cup milk (67 g)
2 Tbsp. cornmeal (with germ or degerminated) (20 g)
1 tsp. sugar (4 g)
Starter 2
1 cup warm water (120-130°F) (230 g)
1/2 tsp. salt (2.5 g)
1/2 tsp. baking soda (2.5 g)
1/2 tsp. sugar (2 g)
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (228 g)
Dough
4 Tbsp. soft salted butter (56 g)
1/2 tsp. salt (2.5 g)
~2 cups of flour (I used about 310 g)
Directions:
If needed, prepare a warm spot (90-105°F or 32-40°C) 2 hours before preparing the bread. For some people an oven with the light turned on gets warm enough. I used a wax warmer covered with a cardboard box. A proofing box or other temperature controlled environment will also work.
Prepare the first starter the night before you plan to make the bread.
In a small jar combine the cornmeal and sugar.
Heat the milk until it is 170-180°F (77-82°C) in a microwave or on a stovetop. Pour over the cornmeal mixture. Cover with plastic wrap, poke a hole in the top, and store the jar in the warm place until bubbles form and it stinks, about 8-12 hours. Mine needed ~14 hours and started to smell like parmesan/swiss cheese.
When the starter is ready, in a medium sized bowl or bigger jar, combine the 1 cup hot water, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. sugar, and 1/2 tsp. baking soda. Stir in the 1 1/2 cups of flour, until all the flour is hydrated. Add in the cornmeal starter and mix to combine. You want the jar or bowl to be large enough for the starter to double in size.
Cover the jar or bowl with plastic wrap and place in the same warm environment as before, until doubled in size and very bubbly, about 2-4 hours. It should become pretty stinky, this is good! Just don't taste it!!!
Transfer the bubbly starter into a larger bowl and add about 2 cups of flour. Begin to mix by hand until all the flour is absorbed. Knead the dough until a smooth elastic dough forms, about 5-8 minutes. Add a little more flour if it is too sticky.
Shape the dough into a loaf and place in a parchment lined or greased loaf pan. 8x4" and 9x5" pans both work.
Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until it comes on top and doubles in size, 2-4 hours.
Near the end of the rise, preheat the oven to 375°F. Bake the loaf for 30-40 minutes, or until well browned all over and the inside registers 200°F (so it is safe to eat!)
Let the loaf cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
The bread can be eaten fresh, or stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 7 days, or frozen up to 1 month. It goes great with butter and other savory things! Toasted or untoasted.
Makes 1 loaf.
The ingredients I used. I used degerminated cornmeal (Unico brand), which supposedly does not work, but it worked beautifully for this recipe! i actually tried a starter with regular whole grain cornmeal (Bob's red mill) and it didn't develop the stinky smell like it was supposed to.
Mix the cornmeal and sugar together.
Heat milk to scalding temperature.
Then pour the hot milk over the cornmeal mixture.
Side view of the cornmeal, sugar, and hot milk mixture covered with plastic wrap (with a hole poked in the top).
And place in a warm place overnight!
My warm place was a cardboard box covering a wax warmer on towels to insulate heat. It wasn't perfect but I got a stinky result!
Starter after ~14 hours, top view.
Starter after ~ 14 hours, side view. Lots of bubbles and the milk became more solid. It smelled like swiss cheese!
Then to make the second starter, first combine warm water, salt, baking soda, and sugar.
Add the flour.
And mix in.
Then add your cornmeal starter.
And mix in.
Starter 2 before the second rise (side view), covered with plastic wrap.
Starter 2 after the second rise (side view). it has just about doubled!
So bubbly! Next we will turn it into a dough!
Add the starter to a larger bowl.
Add most of the flour, about 2 cups, you may need more or less for this dough.
And mix until all the flour is hydrated.
Dump the dough onto a clean surface.
And knead until smooth.
After shaping into a loaf and placing in a greased pan. This is before covering and rising one final time.
Before the final rise.
After the final rise, top view.
After the final rise, side view. It's ready to bake!
After baking! So golden and amazing! It smells like cheese while it bakes :D
After baking.
Let cool on a wire rack before cutting into. Side view.
Bottom of the loaf, so golden and bubbly!
Once it's cooled slice into that bad boy and enjoy one of the weirdest and most delicious breads ever!!!