In making yeast bread always have the liquid lukewarm, and in cold weather it facilitates matters to warm the flour.
Never let sponge or dough get chilled until it has risen once; after that it can be put in the ice box to check fermentation till it is needed to make into rolls or coffee bread.
Thick stoneware is the best material for a mixing-bowl for yeast bread, but it is heavy to handle. If the sponge or dough is set to rise in a tin dish it should be well wrapped in a thick cloth to keep the dough at an even temperature. Both sponge and dough will stand a good deal of hard treatment, but the bread-making will be slow and the result poor.
A bread-mixer is a great labor-saver, but there should be a thick cloth cover to be used with it.
The rising of dough may be hastened by setting the dish in a pan of warm water and adding more from time to time to keep up the temperature.
SPONGES
All foreign bakers use the sponge method for their best breads and rolls and refer to that made from the straight dough as “off-hand bread.”
They reasonably claim that it has many advantages; that the bread made from a sponge has a better flavor, requires less shortening and less yeast, keeps moist longer, and is more velvety in texture.