A Thousand Loaves of Bread

Topic: A friends passing

Today I want to share with you the passing of a friend of mine and a devoted eater of my bread, Rev Harold Moss, Church of the Eternal Source. Only my husband who only eats my bread and no other( except perhaps sandwich bread), has given me so much pleasure by the look on his face when he sees I’ve baked another loaf. I meet Harold in 2004 and soon discovered he had a love of food, and an appreciation of bread which he treated like a fine wine. I gave him a loaf of bread that first time, which I think he must have taken over a month to eat, only having a small piece at a time, savoring every morsel. Who could, I ask ,pass up making bread for such a devoted fan. After that first time, it became  a tradition to make bread everytime  we went to see Harold. When we found he had only a short time left I must have made 5 or 6 loaves for him to take home to Boise where he lived. That was in 2008 and I’m so glad we had him with us for a while longer-but though I will make bread for others, no one will ever replace Harold in my heart,and inspire me more to bake for them.

Harold grew up in the late depression and loved a hard to find bread, the recipe I will share with you in his honor:

Salt Rising Bread.

This recipe uses no yeast but is leavened by the bacterum Clostridium perfringens.

While there is salt in the recipe, the title refers to the practice of using rock salt to put the container with the starter mix in it to help maintain the temperature needed for fermentation to start.

Original recipe I used, Harold copied from allrecipes.com-see link below

Salt Rising Bread

  

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 3 tablespoons shortening
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 6 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

1. To Make Starter: Heat the milk, and stir in 1 tablespoon of the sugar, the cornmeal and 1 teaspoon of the salt. Place this in a jar in an electric skillet or crock pot with hot water in it. Maintain the temperature around 105 to 115 degrees F (40 to 47 degrees C) for 7-12 hours or until it shows fermentation. You can hear the gas escaping when it has fermented sufficiently. The bubble foam, which forms over the starter, can take as long as 24 hours. Do not go on with the bread-making until the starter responds. As the starter ferments, the unusual salt-rising smell appears.
2. When the starter is bubbly, it is time to make the sponge. Place the starter mixture in a medium-size bowl. Stir in 2 cups of the warm water, 2 tablespoons of the sugar, the shortening and 2 cups of the all-purpose flour. Beat the sponge thoroughly. Put bowl back in the water to maintain an even 105 to 115 degrees F (40 to 47 degrees C) temperature. Cover, and let rise until light and full of bubbles. This will take 2 1/2 to 3 hours.
3. Dissolve the baking soda in 1 tablespoon of the warm water and combine it with the sponge. Stir 5 1/4 cups of the flour into the sponge; knead in more flour as necessary. Knead the dough for 10 minutes or until smooth and manageable. Cut dough into 3 parts. Shape dough and place it in three greased 9x5x3 inch pans. Place covered pans in warm water or uncovered pans in a warm oven with a bowl of hot water, maintaining a temperature of 85 degrees F (30 degrees C). It will take approximately 5 hours for the bread to rise 2 1/2 times the original size. The bread will round to the top of the pans.
4. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
5. Bake bread at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and bake for an additional 20 minutes or until light golden brown. YOU CAN DRY SALT RISING CULTURE!!! Save 1/4 cup of a successful sponge and pour it into a saucer, cover with cheesecloth and allow to dry. Store dried flakes in plastic in a cool, dry place or freeze until needed for salt rising bread. When ready to make the bread; dissolve the flakes in the new warm starter and continue with recipe. This will give a flavor boost to your bread.

Note: I used plastic wrap on top of a quart jar for the starter and what worked very well for me was to use a couple of heating pads to keep the starter warm enough to start fermentation. 

I also tried polenta , it worked very well. 

Allrecipes.com

For Harold, I will miss you at my table and in my life.

An Ancient Egyptian invocation:

May Horus( the gods and goddess) of ancient Egypt be between you

and harm,

Thru all the empty places

that you may walk

Joanna Linsley-Poe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“THIS IS NOT AN EASY BREAD TO MAKE! It is tricky, but worth the effort for one who loves that very different, pungent smell of salt-rising bread. The cornmeal used for the starter must contain the inner germ of the corn and a constant warm temperature must be maintained.”

I agree this is a tricky bread-but you should have seen the look of complete delight on Harold’s face when I gave it to him!

  ValarieBy:

Salt Rising Bread

Salt Rising Bread

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