Salt Rising Bread: Recipes and Heartfelt Stories of a Nearly Lost Appalachian Tradition

by Susan Ray Brown, Genevieve Bardwell

Overview

Are you a home baker? Have you ever heard of salt rising bread? Are you looking for a new culinary adventure that you can turn into a family activity? In the universe of breads, salt rising bread stands alone.

There is nothing else remotely like it, in flavor, personality and technique. It was slow food before there was slow food -- a yeast-less bread with a colorful American past going back to early pioneer days in the hills of Appalachia. (It might be the first "mountain-to-table" bread.) Over time, the knowledge was nearly lost, but now a new generation of bakers is rescuing the tradition.

For Salt Rising Bread, expert bakers Susan Brown and Jenny Bardwell set out to rediscover the secrets and the science behind the bread's "wild microbes," unique fermentation and memorable taste. Their search took them from the parlors of Appalachian bread-making elders to the laboratory of a renowned pathologist -- to the pages of rare cookbooks, bread museums and pioneer diaries. Salt Rising Bread is a richly illustrated, recipe-filled treasure of American culinary lore.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781943366033
Publisher:	St. Lynn's Press
Publication date:	07/07/2016
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	313,147
Product dimensions:	7.10(w) x 7.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Genevieve Bardwell and Susan Ray Brown live and work in the Appalachian communities where salt rising bread has been a part of life for nearly 300 years. To more deeply understand this beloved heritage bread, the authors have spent over 20 years extensively researching its history, lore and science. Their quest has taken them to archives, scientific labs, bakeries and bread museums across the United States and Europe – and into the kitchens and living rooms of hundreds of expert salt rising bread bakers. Genevieve owns and operates Rising Creek Bakery, which specializes in salt rising bread and ships hundreds of loaves weekly throughout the U.S. She graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, then earned a Masters in Plant Pathology. Susan grew up in southern West Virginia. She learned to make salt rising bread from her grandmother, whose own mother and grandmother had passed on this time-honored family tradition. Together, the authors keep this nearly lost tradition alive through the bakery, classes, Susan's Salt Rising Bread Project website, and this book.

What People are Saying About This

Peter Reinhart

“I must admit that I have fallen under the spell of salt rising bread. It is the quirkiest of breads but, like an expensive white truffle, the earthy aroma and flavor are intoxicating; the more I eat the more I want.”
Peter Reinhart, baker/author Peter Reinhard’s Artisan Bread Every Day

From the Publisher

“I must admit that I have fallen under the spell of salt rising bread. It is the quirkiest of breads but, like an expensive white truffle, the earthy aroma and flavor are intoxicating; the more I eat the more I want.” ~Peter Reinhart, baker, author Peter Reinhard’s Artisan Bread Every Day

Alice Waters

“My friend Marion Cunningham first introduced me to salt-rising bread—she had been experimenting with baking it in her kitchen, perhaps for one of her cookbooks. She made me some toast at her house, and it was just unlike anything I’d had before—the taste was something really different and unique. It was absolutely perfect toast—it didn’t need anything on it, not even butter. And it made great sandwiches, too!"
Alice Waters, chef, restaurateur, bestselling author, The Art of Simple Food , 40 Years of Chez Panisse

Editorial Reviews

"Authors Genevieve Bardwell and Susan Ray Brown posit in their excellent, small-but-jam packed book that salt rising bread has its roots in the hills and hollers of that storied mountain region. The book combines oral history from longtime salt rising bread bakers — indeed, Bardwell's Rising Creek Bakery in Mount Morris, Pa., specializes in salt rising bread — with tips for success and recipes for both the bread and dishes prepared with it." ~Robin Mather, Artisan baker bringing back salt rising bread

From the Publisher

Authors Genevieve Bardwell and Susan Ray Brown posit in their excellent, small-but-jampacked book that salt rising bread has its roots in the hills and hollers of that storied mountain region. The book combines oral history from longtime salt rising bread bakers — indeed, Bardwell's Rising Creek Bakery in Mount Morris, Pa., specializes in salt rising bread — with tips for success and recipes for both the bread and dishes prepared with it.

Artisan bakers bringing back salt rising bread - Robin Mather

At his home in Woodcliff Lake, award-winning New York Times photographer Fred R. Conrad grapples with the most finicky (and funky) of doughs to create yeastless salt-rising bread.

Retired from the Times since 2014, Conrad is spending these pandemic days at his home, fiddling with one of America’s more obscure styles of bread – a yeastless white loaf called salt-rising bread. Beloved for its tight crumb and tangy flavor, it is notorious for the pungent aroma it exudes while fermenting.

“I grew up with this bread in Michigan,” he says. “My father, grandfather and great grandfather were full-time professional bakers. My great grandfather came from Germany and brought the first rotating commercial bakery oven to America, around the turn of the 20th Century.

“My father baked salt-rising bread at home. When he made the starter, it smelled like a dirty gym sock. But my recollection is that, when the bread was toasted, having it with butter and strawberry jam was the best possible breakfast.” Now baking the bread himself – thanks to a slender 2016 book called Salt-Rising Bread, by two Pennsylvania women – he has confirmed that impression. “I’m reliving my childhood,” he says.

The loaves, Conrad says, “look like Wonder Bread. It’s very white. But when you toast it, the taste is transformed and becomes even better. The flavor is different, tangy, kind of cheesy.” Modern recipes call for a starter made from sliced potatoes, sugar, baking soda, flour and water. Rising depends on keeping the gloppy stuff warm overnight.

With the baking, he’s gotten good results. But overall, “It’s very finicky. There are times it fails and you don’t know why. People have all sorts of stories of not going to bed at night because they’re watching their starter, or not allowing their kids or animals in the kitchen when the starter is doing its thing. It’s all voodoo. That’s the charm of this bread.”

New Jersey Monthly, May 2020: "Can't Find Yeast? Try Salt-Rising Bread Instead" - Eric Levin

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