Soft and fluffy sourdough sandwich bread is the perfect bread to have on hand. Made with all purpose flour, sourdough starter, butter and a little honey, this fermented bread has a lighter texture and tangy flavor.
One of the main complaints I hear about making crusty sourdough from readers is that they miss the soft sandwich loaf style of bread.
Not only is this recipe absolutely delicious (making it really hard to ever go back to store-bought bread), but it is also super simple. No strange ingredients, no stretching and folding every 30 minutes… Just mix, rise, shape, rise again, and bake.
Let it cool, slice and slather it with butter. It’s so yummy and it reminds me of a bread you would get on a breadboard from a restaurant.
Let’s be honest, though, it’s way better since it’s made from scratch and has that wonderful sourdough tang.
Make sure to save this sourdough loaf bread recipe for the future. It will be a go to for sure.
Tips:
- Use really soft butter and cube it up so it blends easier.
- Don’t over ferment the dough. It will turn into a wet sloppy disaster that won’t rise well. Still edible. Maybe. It could also be turned into sourdough croutons.
- When making the dough, using a stand mixer makes the process much easier and hands off. You can also do this with your hands.
- If you are new to sourdough, you can check out how to make a sourdough starter here, find my sourdough conversion chart, and baking glossary of terms.
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Tools you may need:
Measuring cups and spoons. You could also use a kitchen scale
FAQ:
Does sourdough bread make good sandwiches?
Yes. The delightful tanginess adds to the flavor profile of the sandwich, making it a wonderful addition. You can use crusty sourdough bread or this soft sourdough sandwich loaf.
Why is my sourdough sandwich bread not rising?
There could be a few reasons for this. The most likely one is that your sourdough starter may not be active enough or is weak.
Another contributor could be the temperature of the room where you are placing your dough to rise. The cooler the temperature the longer it will take for bread to rise.
Lastly, the water you use in your dough mixture could be a factor. If the water used was too hot, it may have killed the starter. Additionally, if you are using city water the chlorine could potentially kill the yeasts in the starter.
Are sourdough sandwiches healthy?
Sourdough is one of the healthiest breads since the grains are fermented, which makes it more digestible and the nutrients more available for your body to absorb.
Top with your favorite healthy toppings and you can have a wholesome and filling meal in one sandwich.
Ingredients:
Butter (softened) or coconut oil – I prefer using butter for that savory buttery flavor. If you are wanting to make a vegan version, you can use softened (not melted) coconut oil.
Honey or sugar – I like to use honey since it is a natural sweetener.
Salt – This gives the bread so much flavor and skipping it will leave you with a tasteless loaf.
Sourdough starter – You want a nice active and bubbly starter to make bread. Starter that isn’t ripe won’t produce nice fluffy bread.
Water – Room temperature.
All-purpose flour – The best part of this recipe is that it uses good ol’ plain all-purpose flour. Nothing fancy.
How To Make Sourdough Sandwich Bread
To a stand mixer, add all of the ingredients. I like to add the flour last, so I can add a bit less or more depending on my starter’s hydration.
Knead until dough is stretchy and smooth. You want it to pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl and be smooth and elastic – about 10 minutes. It should pass the windowpane test. Grab a small ball of the dough and stretch it into a square. It should stretch thin enough to see through without breaking.
Tip: This isn’t a super hydrated dough and won’t be very wet like other doughs.
Allow to bulk rise for 10-12 hours in a warm place like on top of a stove or refrigerator. You can go longer if you want the benefit of the fermentation, but if it gets over-proofed the dough will turn into a sloppy mess!
In the summer, I ferment mine more like 8 hours but can get away with longer in the colder months.
Shape The Loaves And Rise
Grease two loaf pans or add parchment paper.
Divide in two equal parts.
Shape by rolling the dough flat into a rectangle and rolling it up.
Add to parchment lined or buttered loaf pans.
Second rise for 2-4 hours at room temperature, or until doubled. Again this depends on the temp! It could be as little as 1 hour if the house is warm and the starter active. Do not skip this step.It adds volume and strength to the dough.
Bake
You can add an optional egg wash for more browning.
Bake at 375 for 45 minutes, or until golden on top.
Allow to cool completely before slicing.
Storage:
Store in an air-tight container for up to five days for best results.
You can also freeze loaves in freezer safe plastic bags for 3-6 months.
Find More Of My Sourdough Recipes:
- Sourdough Zucchini Bread
- Easy Homemade Sourdough Pasta Recipe
- Sourdough Coffee Cake
- The Best Soft Sourdough Pretzels
- Sourdough Brioche
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love if you could come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone .
Sourdough Sandwich Bread
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, softened or coconut oil (113 g)
- 2 tablespoons honey or sugar, 42 g for honey or 24 g for sugar
- 1 tablespoon salt, 17 g
- 1 cup starter, active and bubbly (227 g)
- 2 1/2 cups water, 590 g
- 8 cups all purpose flour, 1120 g*
Instructions
- To a stand mixer, add all of the ingredients. I like to add the flour last, so I can add a bit less or more depending on my starter's hydration.
- Knead until dough is stretchy and smooth. You want it to pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl and be smooth and elastic – about 10 minutes. It should pass the windowpane test.
- Allow to bulk rise for 10-12 hours in a warm place like on top of a stove or refrigerator.
- Divide in two equal parts.
- Shape by rolling the dough flat into a rectangle and rolling it up.
- Add to parchment lined or buttered loaf pans.
- Second rise for 2-4 hours at room temperature, or until doubled.
- Bake at 375 for 45 minutes, or until golden on top. You can add an optional egg wash for more browning.
- Allow to cool completely before slicing.
Notes
- *Some people have said making two loaves is too much for their stand mixer to handle. This depends on the type of stand mixer you have. If you have a standard KitchenAid mixer, you may want to halve the recipe and make one loaf.
- Use really soft butter and cube it up so it blends easier.
- Don’t over ferment the dough. It will turn into a wet sloppy disaster that won’t rise well. Still edible. Maybe. It could also be turned into sourdough croutons.
- When making the dough, using a stand mixer makes the process much easier and hands off. You can also do this with your hands.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can you do the bulk fermentation in the fridge overnight?
No, it needs to be on the counter because the refrigerator slows the fermentation process.
I make this recipe once a week for my family and we absolutely LOVE it! Thank you so much for sharing! If I were to bake the loaves one at a time would I still bake each loaf for around 45 min?
Watch them closely. Some ovens require just 45 minutes and other require a little longer to bake since it’s baking multiple loaves.
Am I able to freeze one loaf for the following week? If so, do you recommend preslicing and freezing or wrapping whole and freezing?
Yes! I freeze loaves all the time. Check out this post: https://www.farmhouseonboone.com/how-to-freeze-sourdough-bread
This is the perfect sandwich bread that I’ve been searching for since starting to bake sourdough. We love crusty, chewy sourdoughs but it’s not so practical for sandwiches and for my 3 year old. I own a 5 qt kitchen aid pro stand mixer, and it was full but my mixer handled the amount of dough for two loaves just fine.
That is wonderful to hear! Glad you enjoyed the recipe.
My dough has been doing it bulk fermentation for 8 hours and it still hasn’t risen a bit. The dough feels dense to the touch. It seemed totally fine after mixing it in my mixer. Does that mean my starter discard wasn’t active enough? Does it just need more time?
This recipe called for active starter, so that could be the problem (if you used discard it may take a reallllly long time to rise or just not rise at all). I do also have a recipe for discard sandwich bread that includes conventional yeast. But also, if your house is cool it can take a lot longer for it to rise.
I’m struggling with rolling/shaping the dough. There always seems to be a crack in my pieces of bread, resulting in the slices breaking into 2 pieces. Any suggestions?
Thank you for making my sourdough journey simple and enjoyable. Love all of your recipes!
On this sandwich loaf, usually you bake it in loaf pans. It shouldn’t crack.
It could be too much flour in the surface when you are shaping your loaf.
Love all of your recipes! The taste of this was amazing but my bread is really dense and heavy. What did I do wrong?
Usually this loaf isn’t as dense as my artisan loaf. You might have over fermented it. That will cause a dense and heavy bread crumb.
Can I use bread flour for this recipe?
That should work just fine. You may need to adjust the amount of water a little bit.
I followed recipe to exact measurements and the dough formed a nice firm ball, but did not pass window pane test. Did I use too much flour or knead too long in stand mixer?
My guess is that you did not knead long enough (it could also be too much flour as well). It can sometimes take a long time to pass the windowpane test.
How long are the loaves shelf stable if they are in a bread box OR in a bread bag (like ones in grocery stores?)
They are best eaten within 3-5 days.