A less than successful bread experiment

[hudebnik]

I've been doing a "long sponge" approach, in which the starter is mixed with all of the water and maybe 2/3 of the flour the night before I plan to bake bread, and that's worked well the last several times. This time I also added the salt the night before, and I think that was a bad idea: when I checked the sponge in the morning, it hadn't risen much, and there was a thin layer of faintly yellowish liquid on top of the sponge, refusing to be incorporated or absorbed. Nonetheless, I added some gluten and some more flour and turned the oven on low (170F) so there would be some warmth for the sponge sitting on top of the oven. Eventually we baked something else in the oven at a more normal temperature, which both accelerated the sponge and dried it out. I shaped it into a loaf and baked it: it didn't rise much and was quite dense when I cut into it. OTOH, it has a decent flavor and a nice chewy crust.

It occurs to me that with this "long sponge" approach I actually can bake on a weeknight (I've generally been doing Sundays): start the sponge the night before or in the morning before leaving for work, and if I get home relatively early I should just have time before bed to turn it into dough, raise it, shape it into a loaf, raise it, and bake it.

Comments

[hlinspjalda]

"Salt retards rising" is the conventional wisdom. On the other hand, if you don't add any liquid later in the process than the sponge stage, it's harder to add the salt at all. Is a puzzlement.

I quite enjoy reading about your process, by the way.

[hudebnik]

Yes, that's why I had been adding the salt later, but I wasn't sure it made a difference when I added the salt. Now (with N=1) I have some direct evidence that it does.

Adding the salt later hasn't been a problem because the sponge is still pretty liquidy. And I've been adding an egg or two after the sponge stage anyway.

[ilaine]

I haven't had problems with adding the salt. You do want the starter to be really active first.
I get best results when I feed in the morning, then scoop off a cup of really bubbly active starter to make the dough with in the evening.