The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book_ A Guide to Whole-Grain Breadmaking - Laurel Robertson [158]
A sponge dough is bread dough that is made from a sponge.
A straight dough is one that has been mixed using all the ingredients from the start.
FLEXIBLE TIMINGS
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: suggestions follow.
BIG BATCHES
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 Scottish Sponge Bread if you’re in fairly good shape. The sponge also gives you the option of making different kinds of bread—say, wheat, rye, and raisin-buckwheat at the same time.
STRONG FLOURS CARRY WEAK FLOURS
Low-gluten wheat flour and flours from other grains as well as beans have a lot to offer nutritionally, and they may have outstanding flavor, 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 the 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. Both Scottish Sponge Bread, which is designed to include some pastry flour (or other low-gluten whole wheat flour), and Busy People’s Bread, which uses bean flour, are examples of ways to do this.
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 go ahead and shape without further ado. Consult A Loaf for Learning if you need to review these techniques.
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 recipe’s ingredients similarly. The amount of flour and water, the temperatures of the sponge and dough, any other ingredients that may be included—all these 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 it go much longer and-still have good bread. Longer-fermenting sponges, like longer-fermenting doughs, give you more flavor, nutrition, 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. That is what we recommend. A variation that is popular with home bakers is the so-called wet sponge, made from part of the flour and all of the liquid, but we find it ineffective, messy, and unpleasant to work with—not worth the trouble.
The chart on the next page is intended to give a quick overview of the basic possibilities for making sponges of various timings. What it comes down to is mixing up about half 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, mix a stiffer sponge, include 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 the recipes with the sponge procedure fully explained so that you can get a feel for the process before you