Salt Rising Bread

Being new to the South (I actually think of Louisville as being only South-ish), I was naturally blindsided when a local friend asked if I’d ever heard of salt rising bread. Some sort of odd Appalachian delicacy, I assumed. On investigating it a bit I’m fascinated, since it’s a type of bread that’s leavened by salt-tolerant bacteria instead of yeast. It’s made via the sponge method like baguettes, but by fermenting potatoes and/or cornmeal with milk overnight. To keep invading airborne yeast from gaining a foothold (and gumming up the works) you kill the little buggers off by adding…you guessed it, salt. Wow! I’m going to have to try this sometime soon. To find out more, visit this very informative web site.