[Sca-cooks] Fermentation Sponge Question

[Holly Stockley]

Yes, and you've caught me in mid-experiment.  ;-)

I've been rather methodically comparing sponge methods and ingredients.  I 
haven't noticed any qualitative difference in sponges made with say, 
unbleached bread flour vs. unbleached all purpose.  Bleached or brominated 
flours severely inhibit sponge activity, at least in the starting phases.  
Natural yeast sponges (i.e. desems) work MUCH better with freshly ground 
flour made from organic wheat.  I've noticed flavor differences and texture 
differences in the bread made from red vs white and hard vs. soft,  but it 
doesn't seem to make a lot of difference in the sponge unless the sponge 
forms a very high proportion of your total flour bill for the bread.

Sponges based on ale yeasts give a higher rise and finer grain than desems - 
at first.  They seem to have a tendency to sort of attenuate and peter out 
if you try to maintain them over long periods of time.  Which isn't to say 
they won't RISE, but they certainly don't perform as well as the initial 
culture did.

I haven't played with other grains much, yet.  I don't care for rye bread.  
And barley doesn't bring a lot of gluten to the party, so you have to cut it 
with something or you tend to kind of get a brick.

I suppose I should write everything up methodically when I get done 
playing....  umm...  at some point.

Femke


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>----- Original Message -----
>From: <Aldyth at aol.com>
>To: <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
>Sent: Sunday, April 01, 2007 9:45 AM
>Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Fermentation Sponge Question
>
>
> > Does anyone have experience in whether starting the sponge with certain
> > kinds of flour determine what kind of sponge it will ultimately become?
>For
> > example using a lower gluten flour versus a higher gluten flour.
>
>
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