Hi Alex! You sure can use the tangzhong technique with whole wheat bread, check out our Tangzhong beyond white bread article. We haven't tried using an autolyse with dough that includes a tangzhong but we don't see why it wouldn't work out! If the bread recipe that uses a sponge makes for a crusty bread, we wouldn't recommend adding a tangzhong starter as it will kind of defeat the purpose of making a crusty a loaf. We hope this helps and happy baking! 

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