Experiments in Salt Rising Bread - or "oh my god what died in here

[Kerry Beal]

A couple of weeks ago Anna N and I went down to Buffalo and had lunch with Patris. We got on the topic of sous vide and that brought up the discussion of using your sous vide to control the temperature of your bread starters and sponges while they are rising. Patris's mom had expressed an interest in having some salt rising bread (aka Pioneer Bread) - something she recalled from years past. Apparently it makes great toast.

Anna dug up some recipes - here and here, and I decided to give it a go.

Apparently the starter does not involve wild yeasts - instead it is an attempt to culture Clostridium perfringens - the causative organism of gas gangrene. Never having had a fear of microbiology I set out to culture it.

The key seems to be starting with corn meal that still has it's germ - so Bob's Red Mill version seemed to fit the bill. I also bought a bag of organic potatoes - the concern being that regular potatoes are treated to prevent sprouting.

I did a sort of combination of the two starters - cornmeal, potatoes, a bit of sugar, a bit of salt, some bicarb to keep the culture neutral to alkaline, boiled and slightly cooled water.

I put the jar into the sous vide at 40º C - left it for around 20 hours or so. Experiments resulted in two tries at this - my timing was all off for the first round.

Starter in the sous vide.

Descriptions read - should be bubbling and smell like cheese - that would be apt if cheese had crawled up something's ass and died! Not quite as foul as gas gangrene in human tissue - but still noticeable. Each stage gives a stronger smell!

Sponge - starter is added to flour, a bit of sugar, scalded milk, salt and more bicarb.

Sponge rising in the sous vide to double.

I mixed the dough in the Thermomix - it was exceeding sticky and I had to add a whole lot more flour than instructed.

I rigged a perforated tray over the sous vide - cranked it up to 50º C so the loaves would be rising at about 40º C.

First batch rising.

Never rose beyond this - baked into three little smelly bricks that could have done serious damage if something was hit with them.

Next batch took from 1 pm to the next morning to rise to this point.

This is when hubby came into the house - threw open all the windows - and suggested that he was ready to vomit! Cheese they said! Cheese. I've never smelt limburger this bad.

Baked. Took one of the small loaves in to work with me (wasn't prepared to taste it myself) - described as 'interesting' by the one person who had tried it before I left. Hadn't been toasted though - perhaps that would have helped.

When I open the dishwasher - even though it has run once - it smells like death. All the garbage cans, the compost bin, and the garage in general also still smell. It has permeated the polycarbonate container and it's lid that I put the sponge in. Even my polycarbonate sous vide container has a faint odour.

Loaves are frozen - waiting for my next trip down to Buffalo - wonder if they will get me stopped at the border when I roll the windows down - they'll think there is a body in the trunk!

[rotuts]

as I recall, C. perfringens is an anaerobe. maybe that's a bit of your problem. however:

"C. perfringens is the third most common cause of food poisoning in the United Kingdom and the United States "

doesn't say much about Canada, but I bet its on the rise " Locally "

also:

"The action of C. perfringens on dead bodies is known to mortuary workers as tissue gas and can be halted only by embalming."

this might indicate that your dishwasher needs to be embalmed.

I notified the USofA Customs agents at the Ontario boarders to BOLO "aromata" as above.

HomeLandSecurity (sic)

has applied for a multimillion $$$ USA grant to re-train their sniffer dogs.

BOLO.

Edited September 21, 2013 by rotuts (log)

[SylviaLovegren]

There was a bakery in Seattle when I was a kid that made salt rising bread. It made the most delicious toast, ever. Had no idea the culture was the same as gas gangrene...**gag**. Are you using the Joy of Cooking's recipe? Or?

[Kerry Beal]

Nope - the ones I linked to in the OP with the starter a combination of the two.

[bethesdabakers]

Fabulous description!

Mick

[djyee100]

If I remember correctly, Andiesenji once said her family's bakery made salt rising bread. Quick! Somebody send her a SOS.

[Shelby]

So, just curious, what makes the toast great? The flavor or texture or both?

I'd experiment myself, Kerry, but you've scared me off lol.

[Kerry Beal]

So, just curious, what makes the toast great? The flavor or texture or both?

I'd experiment myself, Kerry, but you've scared me off lol.

Don't know - haven't got the guts to try it!

[quantumcloud509]

Well...um...thanks for trying that out for me

[SylviaLovegren]

So, just curious, what makes the toast great? The flavor or texture or both?

I'd experiment myself, Kerry, but you've scared me off lol.

It's a combination. The weird flavor goes away and it's just a yeasty "bread" smell, maybe a bit of sourdough but the taste isn't sour. The texture is dense and firm, yet soft and yielding. Just yummy and unlike any other bread I've had. It also takes a nice crust, get's crunchy on the outside while tender inside without over browning.

[janeer]

Thank you for the hilarious documentary. I have many old New England cookbooks with recipes for salt rising bread, and raves about how the old fashioned New Englanders just love it. Have always meant to try, but now...not so sure. But still curious: why all the fans?

[Kerry Beal]

I suspect it's one of those things that if you don't have to smell it while under construction it might be more tolerable.

[andiesenji]

I bake salt-rising bread but I still have some of the SPECIAL YEAST from King Arthur Flour (not in stock now) or the starter from Weisenberger as I like the flour mix - I buy the 10 pound deal.

Unless you have a truly controlled clean room, you can't develop a culture and keep the unwanted "mutant" yeasts from infecting the culture. I know, I have tried. Once it goes "off" dump it immediately and the spores will be throughout your kitchen and will infect any sourdough culture you open up in the room.

The true aroma should smell like sweaty feet while the culture is WORKING but not after the bread is baked - it should have a cheesy aroma not as strong as limberger or even brick cheese - but similar to a Tallegio.

Run your dishwasher without detergent but with a cup of ammonia poured into the bottom before starting the cycle.

The stuff will penetrate plastics of all types, even Lexan, and rubber rings on jars and those have to be boiled with vinegar in the water, along with anything such as a plastic spatula or ?? that has come in contact with it.

Edited September 23, 2013 by andiesenji (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Good info Andi - thanks for the head's up. Dishwasher is OK now after giving the door a wash and running it a second time (stainless lined).

My polycarbonate rising container smells ok now after a few days of outgassing. The lid only has a whiff left.

[rotuts]

I am Soooooo slow. please forgive me. this is a very inventive and subtle project designed to Get a New Car !

most older cars, ie your current car, do not have an internal Bleach cycle with Rinse !

Brilliant. just Brilliant.

[Kerry Beal]

Nope - old car is only 13 or 14 - way too soon to get rid of it.