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sponges

when sombody asks me what the best method in breadmaking is, with hardly a wink, i say of course it's the sponge and dough method. this method which for thousand of years has been in use is absolutely magnificent!!! the flavor of the bread is exceptional, it has this yeasty and mouthwatering aroma that you don't need to slather your bread with anything at all to eat it off hand. i devour the bread while it is still hot. aside from the fact that it really smells wonderful while it is still in the oven, the idea that you painstakingly laboured to get this lively lump of dough for hours, excites your senses. whenver i make some for my family, sometimes i keep an extra slice for myself, hey, what if suddenly crave for it and its gone, huh. yeah, i admit, sometimes you get selfish when all this thing cost is roughly around 30 pesos, but the attention it gets is like nursing a weaning toddler so i think there is a reasonable explanation to that.

whenever i make a sponge based bread, i usually do the sponge at night or early in the morning. this way, the weather is cool so my yeast is gently coaxed and brought to life, the way it wants to be. i let the natural flavor develop which if you are not fortunate enough to know, can only happen with fermentation. when you ferment a thing, you need time. to me, there is no secret recipe in a bread. anybody can do whatever recipe they like, fruit, butter, more eggs, etc., these ingedients can make delicious breads. but wait till you incorporate the trade secret which is no longer a secret because i already typed it, TIME. give these marvelous recipes of yours all the time it needs, don't ever rush it, and you'll have an instant hit.Time is what makes a big difference between a bland tasting lump of bread (that is for me, good only to sop up the grease off your plates so you will save on dishwashing liquid) and a chewy crusted aromatic country loaf. if you can eat a plain bread without any jam or spreads at all, then there is a good bread. what you buy offf the shelves are edible cotton. make yourselves your own bread, build your own sponges and nurture it. don't feed it with sugar, just what it needs, the right cool temperature( the coolest one you can get, but not the ref) and what else, time. you will be amazed at how your skillful you once you master this art. next post will be on the kinds of sponges.

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