Making a Sponge

A sponge is a mixture of flour (or in the case of this book, Bread & Pizza blend), yeast, water, and sometimes eggs and spices. The ingredients are mixed together and set aside to ferment for a period of time. After that initial fermentation, the remaining bread ingredients are then sprinkled on top of the sponge and are either left to rest for a second time, in which the sponge then bubbles up through the added ingredients, or are immediately mixed in to form the final dough.

A gluten-free sponge performs the same functions as sponges in traditional bread baking. It helps build a robust bread flavor, and in my humble opinion, it makes for a better cell structure (meaning the size of the holes in the finished bread). Many of the breads in this book require a sponge. The pumpernickel wouldn’t be the same without it, and your sourdough would be anything but sour if you didn’t begin with a sponge.