Salt rising bread recipe from Scientific American 1917

This recipe was published in the Scientific American of October 6, 1917, page 213, along with an article written by H.A. Kohman, Senior Fellow of Bread Research at the University of Pittsburgh:

Take one cup full of sweet milk in a quart cup. Place on stove until milk boils well. Stare into the boiling milk five or six teaspoonfuls of white cornmeal, to which a pinch of soda has been added. Wrap up well and set in a warm place overnight or until it is light.

For the sponge: Pour 1 and 1/4 cup full of water, as hot as the hand can bear, into a bowl, and add about two cupfuls of flour. Then add the yeast from the quart cup, and stir with a spoon until mixed. Place the ball in a warm place until the sponge rises well, about 1 and 1/2 hours. A good way to keep the sponge warm is to place the bowl in warm water. The water should be at body temperature or warmer.

For the dough: Take one and one fourth cupfulls of hot water (almost boiling) and dissolve it in 4 teaspoonfuls of sugar, 1 teaspoonful of salt, two teaspoonfuls of lard and add six or seven cupfulls of flour. Then add the sponge and mix well. Add more flour if necessary to make a rather soft dough. Mold the bread into loaves at once. Put in a warm place to rise 1 to 1 and 1/2 hours and baked in the usual way.