Eating Healthier in Today's World

SPONGE DOUGHS FOR THE HOME BAKER

Sponge doughs were probably invented by old-time professional bakers who were tired of never getting home from work, and wanted to have a chance at a good night's sleep before they had to get up and start the bread for the breakfast customers.  Before leaving in the evening, the baker would mix up a portion of the dough for the first of the next morning's bakings.  It would ferment overnight, giving him a head start on the day.  Such a prefermented portion of a larger dough is called a sponge.

The need to make bread quickly without sacrificing the good nutrition, flavour, and keeping quality of longer-rising dough is not doubt even nowadays the most frequent impetus to follow the sponge pattern.  But there are other good reasons for making sponges too. 

Sponges offer a lot of flexibility.  When your schedule is unpredictable, a sponge will be hurried up or will wait awhile, without so much damage to the bread as if it were a straight dough.  Besides, sponges can be made to move faster or slower as you like.

Sponges will help make the bread lighter.  We always make whole grain bread using theBosch Kitchen Machines.  If you don't have the privilege of owning one, and are making 100% whole grain bread by hand, a sponge will help lighten the texture of the dough and give it a great flavour to boot. 

It is pleasant and even fairly easy to prepare dough for two loaves of bread by hand.  When you are faced with kneading twice that, though, some serious muscle and endurance are required.  By kneading in stages and letting the yeast do some of the work, the process can become a lot more manageable.  For example, you can make five loaves of a Whole grain sponge bread, if you are in fairly good shape.  The sponge also gives you an option of making different kinds of bread--say rye, or raisin-buckwheat or a whole grain sourdough a the same time. 

Low-gluten wheat flour and flours from other grains as well as beans have a lot to offer nutritionally, and they may have out-standing flavour, too;  but in some cases adding them at the beginning of the fermentation period can make poor bread.  However, you can make a sponge with a high-gluten wheat flour, let it ferment, and then add the weaker flours with the other dough ingredients, and get the best use of each. 

A sponge dough ordinarily requires four risings:  one for the sponge, and two plus the final proof for the full dough.  When you use a weaker flour in the dough , only one rising between sponge and shaping may be required.  Be alert to the state of the dough, and evaluate it cannily before you decide to let it rise again prior to shaping.  If it seems nearly ripe, round it and let it have a little longer rest than usual, then to ahead and shape without further ado.

Most recipes can be adapted to the sponge method.  For best results we suggest you choose the sponge pattern that is closest to the timing you want to follow, and divide your own recipes ingredients similarly.  The amount of flour and water, the temperature of the sponge and dough, any other ingredients that may be included---all will affect the fermentation of the sponge and the success of the bread.  Still, with a sponge, there is always leeway.  Ideally you use it to make your dough when the sponge has risen as much as it can and started to recede or fall back.  But if you need to, you can take it up much sooner or let is go much longer and still have good bread.  Longer-fermenting sponges, like longer-fermenting doughs, give you more flavour, nutriition, and keeping quality. 

A professional baker's sponge usually contains half to three-quarters of the flour, the yeast, part of the sweetener, and enough water to make a stiff dough.  Generally a tell our customers to put in all the liquid, the sweetener, haft the flour and the yeast and mix it together until well mixed and then let it sit for about 1 hour until it bubbles up like a giant sponge at which time you add the other ingredients including the salt and the rest of the flour and proceed to knead it for the require time depending on what kind of flour you are using.  This is called a wet sponge. 

The chart below is intended to give a quick overview of the basic possiblilites for making sponges of various timings.  What is comes down to is mixing up about half of the flour and water with enough yeast to let the mixture ferment in the time you have for it.  To lengthen the time, use less yeast and mix a stiffer dough, included the salt, and keep it cooler.  To hasten its work, include more yeast, make it softer, hold the salt until you make the dough, and keep it warmer.  Though sponges are accommodating and flexible, it isn't a case of anything goes.  If you are just trying the method out, we suggest following one of our sponge recipes here, with the sponge procedure fully explained so that you can get a feel for the process before you do your own adaptions.    Yogurt Sponge Bread

Making Sponge Doughs Suit Your Timing

Flour:  Don't use low-gluten flour in a sponge (no rye, or multigrain)

Yeast:  Use active dry yeast only in long sponges (8 hrs. or longer) Dissolve in 1/4 cup warm water in the usual way.

Sweetener:  Do not use raw honey or raw fruit in long sponges (8 hrs, or longer)

We will give you the exact technique and instructions in our next blog.