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Salt-Rising Bread 1889

Recipe found during research in the Homemade Bread, Cake and Pastry book.
King, Florance Beeson, and Freeman, Adelle Blachley. Homemade Bread, Cake and Pastry. United States, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1889.
Print Recipe
Course: Bread
Cuisine: American
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

For 3¼ pounds of salt-rising bread make a starter of the following ingredients:
  • 1 cup milk
  • 7 tbsp corn meal, preferably white
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
Bread Ingredients
  • 7¾ ounces all-purpose flour (about 2 cups) Used during the proofing process
  • 2 cups lukewarm water (100 °F)
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 3 tbsp melted fat
  • 8½ cups all-purpose flour sifted

Method
 

Starter
  1. For 3 ¼ pounds of salt-rising bread make a starter.
    Scald the milk and stir in the sugar, corn meal, and salt. Put this in a clean covered jar and place in a bath of water as hot as the hand can bear. Keep this mixture in a warm place (115 °F) from 5 to 7 hours, or until it shows fermentation. The gas can be heard to escape when it has fermented sufficiently.
Continue after fermentation
  1. To this mixture add: 7¾ ounces flour, 2 cups lukewarm water, 2 tablespoons sugar, and 3 tablespoons melted fat.
  2. Beat this sponge thoroughly, put the jar into the warm water bath (115 °F), and let rise until the sponge is very light and full of bubbles.
  3. To this sponge add 2 pounds 1 ounce (8½ cups) sifted all-purpose flour, which will give a stiff dough. Knead for 10 or 15 minutes, cut, mold into loaves, place in greased pans, and allow to rise until two and one-half times the original bulk.
  4. Bake for about 35 minutes in a moderately hot oven (385 °F) for 10 minutes, then lower to 350 °F to finish.