James Beard's Salt-Rising Bread in 'Beard on Bread' calls for potato. The starter is 1 1/2 c. hot water, 1 medium potato (peeled and sliced thin), 2 Tbsp white or yellow cornmeal, 1 tsp. sugar and 1/2 tsp. salt. These are kept warm: "The electric oven turned to warm or with the light on will provide the right temperature, and so will a gas range with a pilot light on." The potatoes are strained out before using the starter. This is a 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 cups of flour, 2 loaf recipe. It amazes me how many "new" tricks that I see around are things that James Beard published in the 60's & 70's. It seems that people are doing a lot of work nowadays to re-discover things that have been forgotten during the age of convenience foods (of course, I'm only 24, so my perceptions may be false:-).

• Reply