Two Bakers Document The Women Who Inspired Them in New Book

Have you ever heard of Salt Rising Bread? Legend has it this traditional Appalachian food, which uses no yeast, was created by pioneers in West Virginia who had very few ingredients.

Bakers Susan Brown and Jenny Bardwell have been working to document the recipes and stories of salt sising bread over the past few years.

Their new book is called Salt Rising Bread: Recipes and Heartfelt Stories of a Nearly Lost Appalachian Tradition. In this interview, they share the stories of the women who taught them to make salt rising bread and the reasons they believe this traditional bread is still worth baking.

Making homemade bread does take a lot of time, admits Susan Brown. But it’s worth the hours of labor “because one of the things that happens when you bake something yourself and serve it to your friends and family [is] you start creating stories.”