Bread with Sponge Recipe

From Great-Grandmother Florence Purdy Cornell's 1917 Gold Medal Flour Recipe book:

Bread with Sponge

 Ingredients:

1 pint water

1/2 cake of compressed yeast or 1 dry yeast cake or 1 small cup of homemade yeast

1 quart sifted Gold Metal flour, or enough too make a sufficient medium batter.

Set  the sponge late in the evening by dissolving the yeast in the water then add the flour and mix until the sponge is smooth. The sponge when mixed should have a temperate of 80 to 82 degrees.

In the morning add to the sponge the following ingredients:

1 pint water

2 teaspooons salt

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons lard

2 quarts Gold Medal flour or suffiencent to make a medium dough

Break up the sponge until the ingredients are dissolved and the batter smooth. add flour and knead until smoot. The temperature should be 82 to 84 degrees. Allow the dough to rise until light then knead down gently and allow to rise until nearly light and make until loaves. Place in pans and allow to rise to the top of the pan, then bake in a medium warm oven.