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Bread

Bread Sponge

A yeast bread made by raising a flour and water sponge overnight, then kneading it into loaves that are baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Women of the First Congregational Church (Marysville, Ohio) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 28 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and buttermilk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,721 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Bread Sponge

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sponge

  1. Mix five pints of warm water, five quarts of sifted flour and one coffee-cup of yeast in a two-gallon stone jar.

  2. Cover the jar tightly and set it in a large tin pan, so that any sponge rising over the top of the jar drips into the pan.

  3. Set the sponge to rise the evening before baking.

  4. In winter, be careful to set the sponge in a warm place.

Knead and shape

  1. Sift six quarts of flour into a pail.

  2. Pour the sponge into the bread-pan or bowl and add two tablespoons of salt.

  3. Add the flour gradually, mixing and kneading well.

  4. Give the first kneading at least twenty minutes, as nearly all the flour is used in mixing and first kneading.

  5. Make the bread into one large loaf and set it in a warm place to rise, covered with a cloth, for about half an hour.

  6. Knead thoroughly again for ten minutes.

  7. Take enough dough for three good-sized loaves, about a pint bowl of dough to each loaf.

  8. Give each loaf five minutes of kneading and place it to rise in a dripping-pan well greased with lard.

Bake

  1. Bake the loaves in a properly heated oven for half an hour.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

846Calories
27 gProtein
27 gFat
120 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Lard1 tbsp (12.8g)115
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Women of the First Congregational Church (Marysville, Ohio). Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,721 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Buttermilk + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Coffee + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,202 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  4. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  5. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour
Forms the gluten network that gives the dough its structure and chew.
Yeast
Ferments the sugars in the dough, producing gas that makes the loaves rise.
Salt
Controls yeast activity and adds flavor to the bread.
Lard
Greases the pan and adds tenderness and a soft crumb.

The step that matters

Give the first kneading at least twenty minutes. Kneading develops the gluten network that traps the gas from fermentation. Mixing in the flour gradually and kneading long enough keeps the dough elastic so the loaves rise well and hold their shape.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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