This sourdough sandwich bread will leave you wondering why you ever bought bread at the store. With only a handful of ingredients and a delicious fluffy and soft texture, your kids will be begging for more!
Where is this recipe originally from? I am a firm believer of giving credit where credit is due and this one goes to Farmhouse on Boone. This is the go-to bread in our household because it is great for everything from toast to grilled cheese, sandwiches, and even that decadent french toast recipe I’ll be posting very soon!
I have done a few versions of this sourdough sandwich bread, not always following everything to a T. This article will give you my best version of the recipe so far that has become a staple in my kitchen, as well as tips for what to avoid when cutting corners here and there.
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Why I love this bread
Regular sourdough bread can be dry and crusty, typically that is the texture you are going for when baking the perfect boule. However, my kids have a hard time chewing it when its the bookend of a ham and cheese sandwich.
This sourdough sandwich bread is the perfect solution to that problem.
-Healthy:
This sandwich bread has only a handful of ingredients, all of which are probably in your pantry right now, minus the sourdough starter. There is no added yeast or preservatives which makes it an extremely healthier option than anything you can buy in the store.
-Efficient:
As a mom of 4, I am always concerned with how many ingredients and how time-consuming the recipe is. I will say it took me a few tries to get this one down. I was willing to take the time though because this one was a big deal to me.
It is sometimes hard to throw bread together at the end of a long day, but I try to time it when I’m already in the kitchen cleaning up dinner or making the kids a snack before bed.
Don’t let the time on the recipe card fool you, it is long because of the ferment and resting times. I would say it takes me 5 minutes to throw the ingredients together, 10 minutes in the mixer and 5 minutes to shape into loaf pans. All in all, there is very little time spent working on this.
A note on the stand mixer. You need the heavy-duty one, as the dough gets very thick and will be too much for the standard Kitchenaid. An alternative is kneading by hand for 5-10 minutes. I did this for a while and it worked just as well!
-Delicious:
It has the perfect texture of soft and fluffy and does not have too much sourdough taste at all.
What Tools You Will Need
–Kitchenaid Stand Mixer: I now have this one. I had the 4.5-quart tilt-head mixer, which I honestly loved until I started doing bread and baking larger batches of stuff. The larger one can handle the dough plus so much more!
These Pyrex ones are my favorite. The bread pops out easily every time, if the pan is greased, and the clean-up is super quick. You will need 2 pans as the recipe makes 2 loaves of sourdough sandwich bread.
This knife is life-changing. If you are cutting your bread with a chopping knife, you NEED to order this one and see how much easier it is and how your bread will look like it was cut at the store!
You could honestly get any scale. However, accuracy is important and you want to make sure you can switch between units. I went without one for many years, and now I probably use mine daily for all sorts of things.
I also recommend getting one that is square as it just has more space to hold whatever you put on it.
Ingredients You Will Need For Sourdough Sandwich Bread
- Flour
I used to get Kirklands Organic All-Purpose flour from Costco, but now I buy from Farm2Flour. They stone mill their flour and do so when you order it, ensuring it’s freshness! You can check them out at Farm2Flour.com.
- Sourdough Starter
If you are this far into reading this, you probably have your own healthy starter going and have been making some type of bread with it. If you do not have a starter, you can get one from a friend or follow this recipe from The Clever Carrot to make your own.
- Butter
Regular salted butter works perfectly. If you choose to use unsalted just remember to add more salt to the original mixture.
- Honey
Raw local honey is best for flavor and health benefits. There are usually smaller local stores that will carry this, so look around, you may be surprised that the price difference isn’t that much and you are supporting local farmers by purchasing from them instead of the big box grocery store.
- Salt
Pink Himalayan sea salt is my go-to and what I always use.
- Water
Reverse osmosis or any type of filtered water will do just fine.
How To Make Sourdough Sandwich Bread
Are you ready to do this? I wrote the steps with the baking schedule in mind, so it will hopefully make sense for you! Timing is everything when something needs to ferment.
PRO TIP 1: Make sure you have enough sourdough starter and that you take your butter out of the fridge the morning of. I keep 2-quart mason jars with starter and use a little of both so neither gets too low.
Step 1: Morning before you want to bake your bread (10 am to 1 pm)-Feed
Feed your starter. Ideally, it needs 4-8 hours to grow, so as long as you feed it with flour and water by 1 pm you should have an active bubbly starter in time to throw it all together.
Step 2: The night before baking your sourdough sandwich bread (Between 6 pm and 9 pm-the -starter needs to have at least doubled in size)
Add all ingredients to a stand mixer and weigh everything on your scale, taring before each additional ingredient.
PRO TIP 2: If your butter isn’t particularly soft you can cut it up into chunks to help it blend easier.
Step 3: Night before baking-Blend
Blend in the stand mixer on the lowest speed for 10 minutes or until the dough passes the window pane test and is pulling away from the sides of the bowl.
Step 4: Night before baking-Shape
Shape the dough into a nice round ball and cover with a bowl cover or tea towel. Store in a warm place such as the stovetop or at least an inside wall of the house. Let the dough ferment and rise for 8-12 hours.
In the summertime, your bulk ferment will be shorter since the house is likely warmer. I would check through the dough at the 8-hour mark otherwise you may be left with a wet, sloppy mess if it over-ferments.
You want the dough to double in size, but not more than that.
PRO TIP 3: Cover the dough with plastic wrap under the bowl cover, especially in the winter. This will prevent it from forming a hard crust on top.
Step 5: Morning of baking (6 am to 9 am)
Grease 2 loaf pans with butter or oil of choice.
Punch the dough down gently and shape it into an oval on a silicone baking mat or lightly floured surface.
Use a large knife or a dough scraper to cut the dough into two equal halves. Then shape each half into an oval and fold over to fit into your loaf pan. Place both pans in a warm spot, cover with a tea towel, and let rise for 2-4 hours.
PRO TIP 4: I typically time this to bake when I want to. The fermenting process has always been forgiving for me, so an extra hour or so shouldn’t ruin your bread. However, once the dough is in the loaf pans, it can rise quickly depending on the strength of your starter. If you let it rise too much, more than double in size, you can still bake and have bread but it may be extra fluffy and popping over the pan.
Step 6: Baking the sourdough sandwich bread
You made it to the best part and what will leave your house smelling delicious! Once the loaves have doubled in size, you can transfer them to your 375-degree preheated oven and bake for 45-50 minutes or until the thermometer says 200 degrees internal temp.
Step 7: Cool the bread then slice
This is important. The bread needs to cool before you cut it. As soon as the pans cool down a bit, I remove the bread and let it cool the rest of the way on a wire rack.
Storage
Sourdough sandwich bread can be kept on the counter for a week as long as the house is not too humid and warm. I usually freeze one loaf and use the other right away.
The 2-gallon plastic Ziploc bags work great for storage. I find that the gallon ones are rarely big enough. I do reuse the 2-gallon ones a few times before tossing and never put the bread in there if it’s warm. The nice thing about the Ziploc bags is that you can freeze the bread right in them.
Sourdough Sandwich Bread
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
- Loaf Pans
- Kitchen Scale
- Spatula
- Bread Knife
Ingredients
- 235 grams Sourdough Starter
- 112 grams Butter
- 45 grams Honey
- 17 grams Salt
- 590 grams Water
- 1120 grams Flour
Instructions
Feed your starter.
- Ideally it needs 4-8 hours to grow so as long as you feed it with flour and water by 1pm you should have active bubbly starter in time to throw it all together.
When starter has at least doubled in size you can add ingredients together.
- Add all ingredients to a stand mixer and weigh everything on your scale, taring before each additional ingredient.
Blend
- Blend in the stand mixer on lowest speed for 10 minutes or until the dough passes the window pane test and is pulling away from the sides of the bowl.
Shape and Rise
- Shape dough into nice round ball and cover with a bowl cover or tea towel. Store in warm place such as the stove top or at least an inside wall of the house. Let the dough ferment and rise for 8-12 hours.
- Next morning after bulk rise, grease 2 loaf pans with butter or oil of choice.
- Punch the dough down gently and shape into an oval on a silicone baking mat or lightly floured surface.
- Use a large knife or a dough scraper to cut the dough in two equal halves. Then shape each half into an oval and fold over to fit into your loaf pan. Place both pans in a warm spot, cover with a tea towel and let rise for 2-4 hours.
Bake the bread
- You made it to the best part and what will leave your house smelling delicious! Once the loaves have doubled in size, you can transfer them to your 375 degree preheated oven and bake for 45-50 minutes or until the thermometer says 200 degrees internal temp.
Cool the bread then slice
- This is important. The bread needs to cool before you slice it or it won't hold up as well or stay fresh as long.
