Salt-Rising Bread

Preparation info
  • Yield:

    2

    loaves.
    • Difficulty

      Easy

Appears in
Craig Claiborne's Southern Cooking

By Craig Claiborne

Published 1987

  • About

Salt-rising bread is one of the greatest inventions, which I think of as peculiarly Southern. It smells and tastes a little bit “cheesy” and is not to everyone’s liking, but it makes excellent sandwiches and toast. Because of the timing and temperature, it takes a little practice to make a perfect loaf.

Ingredients

  • 2 medium-size potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
  • 2 tablespoons cornmeal
  • ½ tablespoon

Method

  1. Place the potatoes, cornmeal, sugar, and salt in a 3-quart bowl. Add the boiling water and stir until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Cover with plastic wrap or foil. Set the bowl in a pan of warm water over the pilot light of a stove, or where it will stay at about 120 degrees, until small bubbles show in the surface, 24 hours or longer.
  2. Remove the potatoes