Opinions - Salt Rising Bread

[eastkygal]

I'd love some TF opinions on this traditional Appalachian bread recipe. I have gleaned it from a traditional cookbook however, it is obvious some of the recipes were changed after industrialization. Would this be good TF bread? Can the recipe be tweaked?

Salt Rising Bread
3 medium potatoes
2 tbsp. corn meal
1 tsp. sugar - (I fingure succanat)
flour
4 cups boiling water
2 cups lukewarm milk
1 cup water
pinch baking soda
pinch salt
2 tbsp. melted butter

Peel and slice potatoes, add cornmeal, sugar, salt and boiling water. wrap in a heavy cloth and keep in a warm place overnight. Take out potatoes, add milk, soda, salt, and butter. Now you can put in enough flour to make dough stiff when kneading. Form into loaves. Put into greased pans, cover and let dough rise twice in size (I'd probably leave it overnight). This makes 4 loaves.

I wonder if one could leave out the sugar altogether.

[Magelet]

interesting, I wonder what the potatoes are for if you don't put them in the final bread...

I think it could be adapted. You probably could leave out the sugar, or use sucanat or something. a tsp isn't that much sucanat. I would add a little lime water to the original mix for overnight, to nixtamalize the corn meal, and then ideally you would use sprouted flour the next day. I think it would work and could be pretty healthy that way. Oh, you said you'd leave it overnight. I think if you did that, you wouldn't need sprouted flour. It sounds good.

[serenbat]

I wonder what the potatoes are for

to some potatoes are very traditional way of making bread and rolls- it's the starch that some want from the potato's water