By Kevin Williams
Salt-rising bread is a recipe that has come up from time to time over the years. Recently, reader Dolores emailed me to ask if I had an Amish recipe for the bread. Yes, I do! But first a little bit about the bread: you get a nice, soft bread without having to hassle with yeast. Some people also just can't eat yeast so this is a good option for them too. It's not a bread that you find often in Amish bakeries. I did, however, find a loaf once in a Mennonite-owned bakery outside of Owenton, Kentucky. This was back in 2013. My understanding is that the Countryside Bakery there is now closed and that most of the Mennnonite community there moved someplace else. If anyone has more information, please let me know.
The bread was very basic, soft, and white, but as the name implies it is a salt-rising and not a yeast-rising. Salt-rising bread recipes are valued by Amish cooks because sometimes you just don't have any yeast on hand. These are some toasted BLT sandwiches we enjoyed using the salt-rising bread...the tomatoes and lettuce were from our garden, along with cheese, crisp veggie bacon, and cheese for a very filling but healthy meal. The bread was wonderful. Below is a recipe that comes from the Amish Cook archives so you can make your own salt-rising bread!:)
- 3 medium potatoes
- 3 tablespoons corn meal
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 4 cups boiling water
- 2 cups lukewarm milk
- 1 cup water
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 3 tablespoons melted shortening
- 7 cups flour
- Peel and grate potatoes.
- Add corn meal, sugar,1 teaspoon salt, and boiling water.
- Cover and set in pan of hot water.
- Allow to stand (overnight) until sufficient fermentation to hear gas escape and can see bubbles.
- Add milk, water, 1 teaspoon salt, and shortening.
- Add flour to make stiff dough to knead.
- Knead till smooth and elastic.
- Form into three loaves and put into greased loaf pans.
- Cover and let rise until double.
- Knead about 10 minutes.
- Bake in 350 oven for 10 minutes then at 300 for a total tof 35 to 40 minutes
Gloria Johnson
Kevin, instruction 2 and 5 both say to add salt but there is only one line in the list of ingredients that says salt. Could you clear this up for us please? Sounds like a very interesting recipe!
Gloria Johnson
Thanks Kevin for answering my question on the salt. I just may try this recipe!
Gloria
Kevin
Good luck with it Gloria, let us know how it turns out!
Marge nistler
Wow never heard of this. Will definitely try it. Will let you know how it turns out!
Libby Thompson
Do you knead the dough again after putting it in the loaf pans? Seems like it shouldn't be disturbed once in the pan. Love your blog and look forward to more great recipes. Since I also raise my own hens, I would appreciate any recipes including eggs.
Kevin
I am behind on moderating comments, Libby, I apologize....And, no, you do not knead once it is in the pans. You are correct.And I'll try to post some egg recipes soon!
Jim
Hi Kevin,
I am making this for the first time and after II made the starter with success I might add, I added the milk, water, salt and shortening and then added the 7 cups of flour. It was way to thin, more like a batter than a dough. I have my partner with me and she suggested to add more flour until it could be kneaded. That took me 16-1/2 cups of flour. it was really too much for my mixer to knead, properly, but it looks pretty good now. And it filled only three loaf pans to my surprise. It's still rising now, but it's getting there. Has there been any other comments of the liquid to flour ratio or did I miss something?
Kevin Williams
Hmmm, I've not heard any concerns about liquid to flour ratio and this has been a pretty popular recipe. Let me know how it turns out, Im guessing if it looks fine now, it'll be OK. That is a lot of flour but, I have learned, the hard way, that there are so many variables when it comes to baking, even things like climate, elevation, etc...hope it turns out!