salt rising bread with buckwheat flour-bbd#39

as the host of this month's bread baking day event, i was given the chance to choose the theme.  i have a coworker who talks about the salt rising bread his grandmother made.  they called it stinky bread because of the cheesy scent that it has.  i have always wanted to try it but have been reluctant because many of the recipes tell you how hard it is to get the starter going.  james beard, in his book beard on bread, almost tells the reader not to bother with it due to the fickle nature of the starter.  honestly, i have made three batches of this bread and all three have worked perfectly.

a recent trip to the whole foods across town gave me an opportunity to pick up some different flours.  i chose buckwheat flour and organic blue cornmeal.  rather than use the standard cornmeal for the starter, i went with blue cornmeal and the recipe for salt rising bread #2.   it took approximately 24 hours for the starter to become active.

to make the sponge, i followed the recipe but made a substitution.  i measured 2 tablespoons of flax seed meal, placed it into a measuring cup and then filled the cup with buckwheat flour.  this mixture was added to the sponge in place of one cup of flour.  i then proceeded with the recipe as it is written-use the link above for the recipe.  the photo shows the sponge as it looked after sitting overnight.

the dough after kneading and waiting to be shaped

waiting to be baked

fresh from the oven

warm bread, mmmmmm.....

follow the link and join us, there is still time-deadline is may 1.