The Art of Salt-Rising Bread and Where to Get It
If you live in West Virginia, chances are you’ve heard of salt-rising bread. And if you live in the Morgantown area, you’ve most likely heard of it because two renowned breadbakers live just 15 minutes up the road in Mount Morris perfecting a centuries-old tradition of starting and baking it.
I made an impromptu visit to Rising Creek 2 Tutto Gelato in Suncrest last week. I visited early on during their first opening in 2021 for gelato (of course), and most recently I stopped for breakfast. Between then and now, I had heard of Rising Creek Bakery & Cafe, but it was out of the way from where I lived and frequented. The unusually long name of the second location, though, had me going to their website to learn more. I also kept reading about this unique and constantly mentioned salt-rising bread throughout the website. So, I turned to Google… which led to the WVU Libraries… NPR… the New York Times. The founders of nearby Rising Creek Bakery, Genevieve (Jenny) Bardwell and Susan Ray Brown, are food historians, published researchers, and master bakers. They are also co-authors of the only book on the subject, Salt Rising Bread: Recipes and Heartfelt Stories of a Nearly Lost Appalachian Tradition.
I almost didn’t write this, because of the way they both passionately portray baking this heritage bread as an art form. How could I match that in my short article about how great the cafe’s food is? The deeper I dove, the more I realized that baking or cooking anything with cultural significance is an art. In 2018, the two master artisans led Amy Dawson of Lost Creek Farm (yet another renowned Appalachian heritage food maker) in an apprenticeship through a grant given from West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program. The program is dedicated to preserving our state’s cultural heritage and living traditions, and the apprenticeship is granted to pass on West Virginia’s heritage through cultural expression or traditional art forms. Bread is art, indeed.
So what is salt-rising bread?
From a Grit.com article that Bardwell penned herself, “Salt-rising bread is a naturally fermented bread from the Appalachian region of the United States, originating over three hundred years ago. This bread is risen by wild bacteria captured on fermented corn and potatoes, which lend a delicious, complex “cheesy” flavor and a dense crumb."
While researching the historical origins, the earliest recipe Bardwell and Brown found was from the 1790s in the West Virginia Archives Library in Charleston.
“Our research culminated in the conclusion that salt-rising bread was the ingenuity of the early women settlers in Appalachia, who discovered a method of raising bread without yeast. It seems the salt, along with the added warmth, inhibits wild yeasts while promoting bacterial growth.”
Getting to The Dish
I was surprised when I received it on my plate. The toast, which is the optimal form to consume it in as recommended by almost every recipe I read, arrived smaller and denser than your average pieces of toast from a diner. Just by sight alone, you don’t expect much. But salt-rising bread packs an incredibly flavorful punch that I couldn’t quite pinpoint. It was tangy, with a faint hint of cheese, and a crunch that rang out nearly like a toasted baguette but felt much softer. When paired together with my omelet, well, the combo sent my eyes into the back of my head. The bread only enhances the flavors of breakfast - butter, egg, and cheese. Of all the recipes I read through, they all describe what I was tasting as a “cheesy” flavor, and all of them use quotation marks on the word cheese. I wanted more.
So here I sit, the morning that this article is due to the paper, eating a breakfast sandwich because I wanted to pay attention to the flavors again. Safe to say I’ll be making a stop here much more often.
The omelet was buttery and the ingredients were tucked into the pocket versus cooked into the egg, which kept it from breaking. I tried their Nutella hot chocolate and that is a dessert. I should have asked for an espresso shot to go with it.
The sausage egg and cheese breakfast sandwich I am eating right now between two pieces of salt-rising toast? Ten out of ten. The herb sauce is a delightful addition to keep it moist.
Having something so delicious and steeped in Appalachian culture is a delight.
When and where can you get it?
The original Rising Creek Bakery & Cafe which sells and ships salt-rising bread is located in Mount Morris. You can buy a loaf from 9a-2p weekdays and 9a-3p weekends, Tuesday through Sunday. Both Bardwell and Brown retired from the bakery and sold it to the Clovis family in 2019 who continues on this Appalachian tradition.
You can also usually get a loaf at their second location in Morgantown. The Tutto Gelato concept opened in 2021, sprouting from a study abroad trip to Italy. I think that the specialties of both businesses have come together in a way that is true to West Virginia. Gelato, though Italian, stands as a nod to family traditions and heritage throughout Appalachia. We embrace the cultural significance that Italian food (ahem, pepperoni rolls) has historically on this region.
Rising Creek Bakery & Tutto Gelato Cafe is located at Colonial Park in Suncrest. Offering an array of homemade baked goods, paninis, soups, gelato, and coffee, they have consistently won awards at the Taste of Morgantown event at Mylan Park. Visit the cafe Tuesday through Friday from 9a-2p and on the weekends from 8a-3p.
*This article was originally written by The Morgantown Dish for the Dominion Post and has been repurposed digitally for the blog.