please help me with salt rising bread

We've just gotten a new Kitchen Aid mixer, and so far we've found that the best uses are ice cream and bread making. I've been working my way through Bernard Clayton's Complete Book of Breads -- actually re-working my way, since my first trip down the bread path with his original book 20 (yikes!) years ago. I'm trying to recreate one of my childhood favorites, salt rising bread. If you've never had it, it's a self leavening bread from a mix of cornmeal and scalded milk that ferments and gives the bread a wonderful funky cheese smell that makes fabulous toast. You either love it or hate it, and I love it.

The problem is, I can't get the starter to start. I've tried using whole and skim milk, always letting it cool a little after scalding. I've tried both stone ground corn meal (Bob's Red Mill) and Quaker corn meal. It ferments in my yogurt maker, which keeps the temperature around 100 - 110 degrees. The last batch, I put the starter inside a bowl inside the yogurt maker, and put a little water in the bottom of the yogurt maker. After 24 hours the starter had a vaguely cheesy smell to it (I guess I would too after 24 hours in a hot tub), but definitely was not bubbly. It was discarded for health purposes.

I've seen recipes on the web that also call for a potato in the starter, but I've always preferred salt rising starter without potato. Back in the olden days, I was generally successful with the Clayton recipe and my old Salton yogurt maker, but no more.

Can anyone give me any advice? What am I doing wrong?

That's a really difficult recipe from Clayton's book -- very unpredictable.
How high is the temperature when you scald the milk? This is key for deactivating enzymes in the milk that might get in the way of fermentation.
Also, the recommended temp for the fermentation is 90 - 100 F. Yogurt makers may be a bit too high if it's at 100 - 110.

I'd add a bit of whole rye flour to the cornmeal to help kickstart the fermentation.

I've had luck wrapping a heating pad around a covered bowl to get batters to ferment. However, they were more liquidy than a standard dough so I'm not sure how much that would change things.

Jen

That's a really difficult recipe from Clayton's book -- very unpredictable.
How high is the temperature when you scald the milk? This is key for deactivating enzymes in the milk that might get in the way of fermentation.

My scalding technique (from who knows where) is to stir over heat until small bubbles appear on the surface -- but before it boils. Do you think that I'm not taking the milk far enough? If it does boil, is it the point of no return?

I'll take the temperature in the yogurt maker tonite....maybe it's too hot.

Unfortunately, we don't have a heating pad or blanket -- just an electric matress pad. Might be a little awkward for Mr. Crispy and myself with a bowl of mush cradled between us! (Here I would insert a winky smily face if I knew how!)

Thanks -- crispy

King Arthur flour has a great starter. www.kingarthur.com From my experience you may have let it set to long. It should take from 8-16 hr and is best to use just as it starts to deflat. If your using plastic it can harbour bacteria. Your recipe is good. Between 90-100 degrees is good. You might use a fraction of a Campden tablet which supress other bacteria and wild yeast. It can work even better than the salt. With the campden tablet you can make it with 3 tsp cornmeal ,1 tsp flour ,pinch of baking soda ,and a 1/2 cup scalded milk. Scalding the milk breaks a protien that inhibts bacteria growth. The key is to let it cool and let a film form on the top. Remove the film that the bad guy and continue with your recipe. Here 's a recipe from a baker in britian who's made SRB for 40 years.

In the early evening, set the pre-starter - Two cups of scalded milk, immediately after removing from heat,
Stir in two cups of corn meal, and
Three tablespoons of wheat gluten.


Cover the container loosely with plastic wrap or similar and place it in a space that can maintain a temperature between 95 and 105 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature is important - ten degrees less and action slows dramatically.

First thing in the morning, make up the starter - To the pre-starter, stir in, One cup hot tap water (~125F),
One-and-a-half cup flour,
One-half teaspoon bicarbonate of soda.


Loosely cover the container and return it to warm place. In about two hours the slurry will be covered with bubbles or foam and will have increased volume by 10 or 15 percent. When it reaches this state;

Make up the dough, add to the starter - One tablespoon sugar,
One teaspoon salt,
Three tablespoons shortening (oil or solid), and
Flour enough to make a stiff dough (heat the flour till warm to the touch).


I fit the dough-hook, heat the bowl by rinsing with hot water, and add three cups of flour plus the starter. I let this slurry become somewhat uniform to then continue adding flour until the machine seems to groan (5 or 6 cups, perhaps). I don't have another rule of thumb for judging "enough" for the dough - probably five minutes total time stirring by the time the last of the flour has been added. The finished dough is somewhat sticky and seems tough.

Divide the dough in two, form loaves, and place in greased pans. Oil the surface, if you please. Put the pans into the heat box for about two hours when the dough will have risen to the pan edge. Bake in 350F oven for an hour or until nicely browned.