Salt Rising

As a kid, we spent weekends at our grandmother's mountain cabin in Prescott, AZ a fair amount of time. After June was over, our beach cabin was far too hot so we'd spend weekends away from the scorching city heat and head up to the mountains.

One of the things I most remember about those times (and there are plenty of great memories associated with the cabin and the summer weekends we spent there) was Salt Rising Bread. A little bakery in town made the bread every Saturday and we'd head into town and hoard it. Bring loaves home to eat that weekend; put a bunch in my grandmother's freezer for later; and take some home to our Phoenix home. There is nothing on this earth as delectable as fresh Salt Rising Bread. I love it toasted. It is just delicious.

When I was 'in between jobs' in the fall/winter of 2001, I attempted to make this bread. The starter is made with either cornmeal or sliced potatoes, scalded milk and flour. The trick is: it MUST be maintained at 100-105 degrees Fahrenheit for 8-10 hours for it to appropriately 'react' and double in size. The bread has no yeast in it - it rises basically via 'fermenting' and it needs heat to do that. Finding a way to keep that temperature constant in my grandmother's day was easy - gas stoves had pilot lights and stayed warm. Or you could heat the oven for a bit, let it cool a tad and stick the starter in there.

Nowadays, ovens don't have pilot lights. I tried leaving the oven light on after having the oven on - but the lowest the digital control oven can heat to is above 200 - so it falls below 100 long before the 10 hours is up. I tried a lot of things. None worked.

King Arthur Flour company was selling a salt rising yeast - basically the 'starter' in dried form. So I always thought that when I retire, I'll order some and make the bread. But, I found out this week that they no longer make it and so I'm stuck.

'Lo and behold, the Internet.

First, I found a bakery in Berkeley that makes the bread every Wednesday. So one of the Wednesday's of my upcoming vacation will be spent schlepping to Berkeley and hoarding a ton of the bread. I'm resisting the urge to buy a freezer to store 'extra'.

And then, tonight, I did a Google search on 'salt rising starter' - and there it was - an entire video library of all the methods of making the starter; different options for keeping it warm; hints for the 'sponge' - which is like a continuation of the complex starter process but for a shorter time. And finally, the actual bread. So I'm going to try to make it again when I'm on vacation. IF I can do this, I will be able to make my own. And someday, maybe spread the goodness of SR Bread across the land. It is so great.

I know my sister is reading this and yes, if I'm successful, I will make extra and overnight ship it to you. I promise.