Starting the Sponge the Evening Before

On November 12, in the evening, at 7:30 PM, I put about 1/3 cup starter into a mixture of about
2 and 1/2 cups water
2 and 1/2 Tbs. raw apple cider vinegar
3 cups (pressed into) whole wheat flour
At 5:00 AM the next day, the sponge looked great. I made the dough, adding a toppy Tbs of olive oil, a toppy teas. of honey, and a toppy 1/2 teas of salt and the rest whole wheat flour. I kneeded as usual with butter knife and then by hand. I let that rise for almost 4 hours. It had definitely doubled by then! I made the loaves at 9:00 AM and took this photo (below) at 9:20. Click on any imagae for larger view.


Below is how they looked at 11:30.


Baking: Left-at first. Right after 20 minutes. (They grew in the oven.)
-

Results:




CONCLUSIONS: It works nicely to start the process the evening before. Fresh bread for lunch is nice!