Searching the web for salt rising bread again, not having done it recently, I was surprised to find a lot of good information. I am constantly surprised at how web content is growing exponentially. One site (linked below) was particularly rich in information. I won't try to even summarize it. But one author, who claims SRB is a conundrum, has largely removed conundrum by some extensive and smart experimentation. His experiments overthrow some of the main myths about making SRB. There is a page telling where SRB can be bought. Basically it is prevalent in the Appalachians and the Western New York (not Central NY, as she says) county where I grew up, plus a few other scattered places. I'm very familiar not only with all the NY towns where SRB is sold, but with some of the specific stores. So I can vouch for the accuracy of this information. The origin of SRB is more of a mystery than I thought. No one seems to know, other than it predates the availability of commercial yeast or baking powder. It requires no yeast and, since it is started from scratch each time, there is no need to maintain a starter. In fact, someone tried to keep a starter in order to maintain an especially good strain but failed. As one of the resident fermented food geeks, I found this extremely interesting reading. Jim Here is a link that might be useful: Salt Rising Bread Project

Thanks for all the replies!! It definitely renews my confidence and tells me I didn't do anything wrong. Claire, I'm going to check the Proof feature on my oven... I Have a Proof button but didn't know what it was for! (I COULDA read the instructions but who wants to do THAT?) LOL, I will read them now. Jessy, great loaf! I have yet to attempt a six braid but I will soon! I'll be happy if it turns out looking half as good as yours! MacThayer, yes! Smooth and elastic. That's what it was. So I got it right - wheeeeee!!!!! Here's my recipe for challah. This was from the person I took a 3 hour morning class from. She handed us a recipe with a lot of detailed instructions then said, oh but I don't actually follow the recipe word for word, I do it THIS way. I wrote down the notes of how she does it, then did it that way and it came out great. Vanilla Challah 8 cups bread flour (may need to up to a cup more) 2 packages rapid-rise yeast 2 ½ cups warm water ½ tsp baking powder 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract 1 Tbsp salt 4 large eggs ¾ cup oil ¾ cup sugar or vanilla sugar mixed sugar (or vanilla sugar) and cinnamon for rolling Mix yeast, warm water and sugar. Put into mixer. Add oil. Add 3 eggs, vanilla. Add flour/baking powder a little at a time. Let the mixer knead it. Shape into a ball and cover. Let it rise 20 minutes. Knead 5 minutes. Cover again and let rise 30 minutes. Knead briefly. Use a knife to separate into two even pieces. Separate each piece into three pieces which you roll into long "ropes". Roll each rope in the cinnamon/sugar mixture for thorough coating. Braid the ropes (each three ropes braids into one loaf). Put on pan on parchment paper and cover. Rise for one hour or till itÂs puffed up to double in size. Brush top thoroughly (get in all the "nooks & crannies") with the 4th egg. Sprinkle with sugar or cinnamon sugar. Bake at 325 35 minutes (if you make two loaves) or about an hour if you use the whole dough to make one loaf.

Posts by Annie & Grainlady convinced me that I should buy a Zojirushi. So last year my husband got me one the larger one for Christmas. I use it exclusively for kneading & rising. (I don't care for the way the crust turns out when the machine does the baking. I had another brand years ago and the crust was the same, so I think it's just part of the bread machine experience.) My husband is on a low sodium diet, so I make all our breads and cut the salt content by half. We're not big toast eaters so I usually make sandwich buns, dinner rolls, bagels, etc. and keep them in the freezer until needed. Because I bake the dough myself, I don't fuss with special bread machine recipes. I just put the ingredients in the machine following the recommended order. I let the dough rise in my machine and then take it out to form and bake. However, while it's kneading, I check it to see if it needs a bit of extra liquid or flour. You can't just dump everything in, walk away, and have a perfect loaf. There are so many variables that I think it's really necessary to check the dough while it's kneading. One advantage to baking it yourself is that if you find that, for some reason, the dough is still too dry or too wet, you can adjust it before sticking it into the oven. The large machine is perfect for marathon baking days. I've used it to make three different breads in one day. I'll get one recipe going and pull out the dough to rise in a bowl while I use the machine to mix up & knead another recipe. Then I'll do the same thing. Only the last recipe made will actually rise in the machine. That way I can get almost a month's worth of sandwich & breakfast breads baked in just one day. I also use it for kneading sourdough bread. But I take that dough out and let it rise on its own, many times overnight. The instruction manual for the Zojirushi gives the times for the different processes (pre-heating, kneading, add-ins, rising) so I just set my kitchen timer a few minutes past the beginning of the kneading cycle to check the dough. Then I set the timer again for the beginning of the rise. I usually rub a bit of oil on my hands and dab the top of the dough ball so it won't dry out during the machine rise. I make pizza dough in it all the time and let it rise in the machine unless I'm doing one of my marathons. I think using the full operation, from pre-heat to final raise, probably takes longer than if you just took the dough out and let it rise on its own. Before I got the bread machine, I either made bread by hand or using my food processor. There was nothing wrong with those methods. The thing the machine did for me was allow me to make larger quantities of bread products at one time to accommodate my husband's dietary requirements.

I see your points, Pal. I'm just trying to understand the reasons, not question the judgements or make some sort of claim about the windows in my house. Are there financial incentives for owners of historic homes to maintain the original elements of the home? Like the Energystar tax credits? I know there are design and restoration requirements for homes in my community designated as historic by our local commission. But many people who live in genuinely historic homes steer clear of that official designation because of the stringent requirements. It's too costly, no matter how lovely or endeared the home. But if there were financial incentives for maintenance, that might persuade them to paint what's there every 7-10 years, for example, rather than replace with a modern window that doesn't require such maintenance. ETA the Energystar tax credits isn't a good example here but it's the financial incentive they provide to persuade a homeowner from making a certain choice that's the point.