How to adapt a recipe for using a sponge

hi,

I can't help you with the cups, and this is developed for a savoury dough, but you could have a look at the formula, see if it's any use.    It does show how to use a pre-ferment with brioche....and, it works.

Low Sugar Brioche, using a Poolish

Oven profile: depends on product being made; oven temperature would be 200 to 210˚C

Method:

• Make the "Poolish" 16 hours in advance, DDT 20˚C.   Cover, and leave ambient overnight to ferment slowly.
• Combine the dough ingredients [not the butter!] with the "Poolish" in a mixing bowl and attach a hook to the mixer.   Mix for 2 minutes on first speed, and 8 minutes on 3rd speed.   Cover the dough and refrigerate for 20 minutes.   Meanwhile cut the butter into 2cm cubes.   Put the dough back in the mixer, attach the hook and add the butter cubes, combining to form a satin smooth soft dough.
• Rest the dough in the chiller for up to 1 hour.

Scale, divide and process according to product needs.   Expect a large amount of oven spring in the baking phase.

Few balancing problems, which should all be ironed out now!

BW

Andy

Thanks for pointing that out:

Water is 360g and fresh yeast is 1g

Andy

An alternative to get more flavor with a slower rise without modifying the recipe hardly at all, is to "retard" (or "delay") the first rise by putting the dough in a really cool place. Julia Child even gives very rough estimates of times for doing this: to make first rise take 5-6 hours, do it at 65F; to make first rise take 7-8 hours, do it at 55F; to make first rise take 9-10 hours, put the dough in your refrigerator.

(Instructions about _covering_ the dough during first rise are even more important with a retarded rise, which gives plenty of time for the dough to dry out badly if you goof up.)

-----

Anyway, here's my understanding of how to naively adapt any all-at-once recipe to the "sponge" method:

 o use the existing list of ingredients exactly as is

 o mix half the flour, all the water, and all the yeast (dissolved in the water if "active" rather than "instant") - this is the "sponge" - let it sit until it's very bubbly (a couple hours? four hours if your kitchen's cool? overnight in your refrigerator?)

 o mix in all the rest of the ingredients (other half of flour, salt, etc. etc.) as though you were just starting - mix them in a bit at a time (~0.5-1.5 cup), as if you add the flour all at once it might make a mess that's too hard to stir

 o for the first rise, do what the recipe says (for example "double it"?), except expect this to take a lot less time since you really started with a sponge rather than from ground zero, so start checking after only half as much time as the recipe says

 o continue with recipe as is

...as with any bread making, if it doesn't turn out quite the way you wanted, write down your ideas of what to do a little differently next time...

You might like to check out the Osmotolerant yeast from King Arthur flours.  It's a specially formulated yeast for recipes much like yours.  The reason there's so much yeast in your recipe 'probably' is because there is a hugh amount of sugar in the can of condensed milk.  Added -'Sweetned condensed milk' is one I believe you are refering to in your recipe...not evaporated milk.

Sylvia

Gail Sher's "From a Baker's Kitchen", 1984, takes a recipe from Delores Cassella's " A World of Bread", 1966, and adapts the recipe to the sponge method. The bread is called Country Fair Egg Bread and it is very similar to your recipe. Ms. Sher's recipe uses 9 C. of flour, eggs, and butter but only one packet of active dry yeast.

I have a similar recipe attributed to my Polish grandmother and have found that a single packet of instant dry yeast worked well when I used a sponge.

Try to find Ms. Sher's book at your local library, or pick up a new or used copy- you can never have too many cookbooks, to get a good explanation of the sponge method. ckollars has given an excellent set of quick instructions that can get you on your way.

If you're interested in seeing my notes on my bread, contact me through the message feature and I can send a PDF or ODF file.

Hi PanDulce,

Now i've corrected the formula, does it make sense to you?

For Osmotolerant yeast in the UK, you will more than likely need access to a commercial supplier.   Where are you based?

If you use fresh yeast, and you have an active sponge, then 4% yeast in the final dough should work.   You may need to go higher, but there should be no need to go above 8%.

BW

Andy