Sponge for Herb Bread

What a long day! I worked all morning and long into the afternoon on my Huckleberry Finn paper. It's quite an interesting topic. I learned that Mark Twain's (aka Samuel Clemens) views toward black Americans changed as he matured. Having grown up in a household in which slaves were a mark of refinement, Clemens used to find it acceptable. As he grew older, however, he came to view slavery, as well as bigotry against black Americans as reprehensible and unacceptable in himself as well as in others.
After getting to page nine on my paper, my study group decided it was time to call it a day, partly because it was getting awfully loud at the coffee shop, partly because we'd been there for several hours. I went to do my recycling, and work out. An evening bout with Latin had me so tired, I decided it was time for some bread baking... something really delicious, so I started one of my favorite breads: Herb Bread from Mom's old Better Homes & Gardens Encyclopedia of Cooking. As usual, I changed the recipe considerably, but the herbs are still the same, so I give them credit for this delicious bread.
Sponge:
1/2 teaspoon yeast
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup water
Enough whole wheat flour to make a sponge the thickness of pea soup
After dissolving the yeast in the liquids, stir in whole wheat flour with a wire whisk until you have a not-too-thick batter, about the thickness of pea soup. Stir thoroughly, and cover with a plate or plastic wrap. To give the yeast time to work, leave it on the counter for an hour before putting it in the fridge overnight.
Overnight, the liquids soften the whole wheat, so that the dough rises better, and so that you get a finer crumb. Bread made from a sponge makes a really nice, fine-textured loaf.