SELF-RISING BREAD 223 
Self-rising Bread. This has been known for generations under the 
name of “‘ salt-rising ’ bread. As suggested by the name, the fermenta- 
tion is aspontaneous one. Hunt and Wessling (1917) give the following 
instructions for making: 
1 cup milk 1 tablespoon sugar 
2 tablespoons cornmeal, white Butter (if used) 1 tablespoon 
1 teaspoon salt 
Flour. “Scald the milk. Allow it to cool until it is lukewarm; 
then add salt, sugar and cornmeal. Place in a fruit can or heavy crock 
or pitcher and surround by water at about 120° F. Allow the mixture 
to stand six or seven hours or until it shows signs of fermentation. If it 
has been fermented sufficiently, the gas can be heard as it escapes.” 
As shown in the above paragraph, the fermentation is a chance one. 
It is, then, almost an uncontrolled process. The agent inducing this 
fermentation has received much study. Kohman (1912) has given a 
review of the literature and some of the data and references mentioned 
here have been taken from his interesting paper. There seems to be two 
sides to the question of the organism which is concerned. One side 
argues that the fermentation is induced by wild yeasts which get in 
from the air. In support of this are the investigations of Mitchell 
(1908), Bailey (1914), and others. That it is a bacterial change is sup- 
ported by the work of Heinemann and Hefferan (1909) and Kohman 
(1912). The middle ground that both yeasts and bacteria are con- 
cerned is taken by Lehman (1894), Peters (1889) and perhaps Harrison 
(1902). Lehman isolated an organism which he called Bacillus levans. 
Heinemann and Hefferan isolated a bacillus from corn meal which had 
many of the characteristics of Bacillus bulgaricus. They proved that 
the organism came from the corn meal and believed that, in self-rising 
bread, the high amount of acid formed by this bacillus (1.65 per cent) 
from the milk, united with the inorganic salts to form carbon dioxide. 
The extensive work of Kohman (1912) indicated that bacteria were the 
important agents in the fermentation. He believes that members of 
the colon group are concerned. The gases produced by the salt-rising 
bacteria consisted of two-thirds hydrogen and about one-third carbon 
dioxide. These bacteria aerate the bread by decomposing some of the 
constituents possibly the carbohydrates. The organisms are probably 
of the type B. levans (Lehman). Woodward (1911) believed that the 
fermentation in salt-rising bread was due to the presence of organisms 
which are introduced with the corn meal. The organism which was 
isolated was not a yeast but belonged to another group. It was advised 
