Sponge and Dough

The sponge and dough method is a two step breadmaking process in which a portion of the flour, water and yeast is first mixed into a sponge and left to ferment, and is then combined with the remaining ingredients to form the final dough. A sponge in this sense is also called a yeast starter or a yeast pre-ferment, and in French baking the method is known as levain-levure. It resembles the sourdough or levain methods, except that the sponge itself is built from all fresh ingredients rather than from an established starter culture.