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The Sponge
This is made from warm water or milk, yeast and flour (some add mashed potatoes) mixed together in the proportion of one pint wetting (water or milk) to two pints of sifted flour. If milk is used it should be new, and must be first scalded, and then cooled to blood heat. The scarding tenas to prevent souring. in using water bring it to blood heat. If the "wetting" is too hot, the bread will be When water is used a tablespoon* of lard or butter makes the bread more tender. Bread made from milk is, of course, more tender and nutritious, but it has not the sweet taste of the wheat, and will not keep as long as that made from water. When mixed with milk it requires less flour and less kneading. In summer, care must be taken not to set sponge too early, at least not before eight or nine o'clock in the evening. (Sponge mixed with bran water , warm in winter and cold in summer, makes sweeter bread. Boil bran in the proportion of one pint to a quart of water and strain.) In very hot weather, sponge may be made with cold water. In winter, mix the batter with water or milk, at blood warmth, testing * Whenever, in this book, the words cupful, coffee-cupful, tea-cupful, table-spoonful, etc. occur, the termination "ful" is dropped, for the sake of brevity it with the finger, and making it as warm as can be borne; stir in the flour, which will cool it sufficiently for the yeast; cover closely and place in a warm and even temperature. A good plan is to fold a clean blanket several times, and cover with it, providing the sponge is set in a very large crock or jar, so that there is no danger of its running over. As a general rule, one small tea-cup of yeast and three pints of "wetting" will make sponge enough for four ordinary loaves. In all sponges add the yeast last, making sure that the sponge is not hot enough to scald it; when placed to rise, always cover closely. In cold weather the temperature runs down very quickly, in many kitchens, after the fire is out, and the bread should be set earlier in the evening, and in a warmer place; a temperature of eighty or ninety degrees is right. When it rises well for the first two hours, it will go on rising unless the temperature falls below the freezing point. It is an improvement to beat the sponge thoroughly, like batter for a cake, for fifteen minutes. Never set sponge in tin, but always in stoneware, because a more steady and uniform heat can be maintained in a stone jar than in tin.
Always be
A sponge is a loose pre-ferment, mixed the night before and left to rise before the dough is finished the next morning. The proportions here are simple; almost everything that matters is temperature.
- The proportionOne pint of liquid to two pints of sifted flour, which gives a thick batter rather than a dough. In modern terms one pint is about 2 cups liquid, and a pint of sifted flour is roughly 8-9 oz, so two pints of flour is about 16-18 oz -- expect a mixture you can beat with a spoon, not knead.
- "Blood heat"Around 98F. The book's own winter test is to try the liquid with a finger and make it "as warm as can be borne," which runs hotter than blood heat. Above about 120F you begin to damage the yeast, which is why the instruction to add the yeast last, into flour-cooled liquid, is the hinge of the whole method.
- The yeast is not modern yeastA "small tea-cup of yeast" means liquid homemade barm or a wet yeast cake, perhaps 4-6 fl oz of active ferment. There is no direct conversion to instant dry yeast; a sponge of this size takes roughly 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of modern instant yeast for an overnight rise, and less in a warm kitchen.
- Scalding milkThe recipe's own reason is that it "tends to prevent souring" in raw milk. It is also commonly said to deal with components of the whey that slacken dough, though that explanation is a modern one. With pasteurised milk most bakers treat scalding as unnecessary, so it can go in at blood heat.
- Bran waterOne pint of bran boiled in a quart of water and strained gives a mildly sweet, mineral-rich liquid. Wheat bran from the baking aisle works; strain it well or the sponge will be gritty.
- Setting time and seasonThe seasonal advice is a proxy for kitchen temperature, not the calendar. Aim for 80-90F for a rise of eight to ten hours overnight; a kitchen at 70F wants a longer rise or slightly more yeast, and in genuine summer heat cold water and a cool room will keep the sponge from going sour and slack.
- Stoneware, not tinThe point is thermal mass; the recipe says a stone jar holds a steadier, more uniform heat than tin through a cooling kitchen. A glass or ceramic bowl does the same job; the folded blanket is still a sound trick. Use a vessel large enough that the sponge cannot run over.
- Beating itFifteen minutes of beating is real advice: the recipe says to beat the sponge like cake batter, which develops gluten and aerates it. A stand mixer on medium will do it in four or five minutes.
- YieldOne small cup of yeast and three pints of liquid is given as enough for four ordinary loaves, so about 1 1/2 cups of liquid in the sponge per loaf.
Overnight sponges were standard American household practice through the nineteenth century because the yeast was standard household yeast: a liquid barm kept going from batch to batch, or a dried hop-and-potato yeast cake, both far less vigorous and far less predictable than a modern packet. A loose batter gave that yeast the easiest possible start, and the long night rise built flavour and let the baker judge, by smell and by how high it stood, whether the ferment was healthy before committing the rest of the flour. The Dixie Cook Book is generally understood to stand in a close compilation relationship to the earlier Buckeye books, and the anxious repetition about temperature here reflects kitchens that dropped toward freezing once the stove went out -- the recipe itself invokes the freezing point. The preference for water over milk on grounds of keeping quality and "the sweet taste of the wheat" is a period judgment worth noting: milk loaves were considered richer but were expected to be eaten sooner.