Where Do You Use The Sponge For The Maritozzi?

Our answer

Nigella's recipe for Maritozzi is a version of the buns that are widely sold in Rome and around Italy, and are particularly popular at Easter. The dough is easy to make as it requires very little kneading and contains a "sponge", which is a mixture of milk, flour, sugar and yeast.

The sponge is a "pre-ferment", meaning it is mixed up and then left for the yeast to activate before it is used in the bread dough. In France it may be called a "poolish" and in Italy a "biga", and they will all have slightly different ratios of yeast to flour to liquid and also different fermentation times. Using a sponge helps to give the dough a lighter, fluffier texture once it is baked. Pre-ferments can also help to add flavour to the bread, though in this case the time the sponge stands for is quite short, so it won't add that much flavour. Using a sponge also helps to show that the yeast is active. For Nigella's recipe the sponge is left to stand for 20 minutes and is then added to the remaining bread flour and sugar plus salt at step 3, before the egg and oil are added.