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.
I typically leave my mother cold, and then just pull a third of whatever the starter amount is, and fees to active and get the amount of started needed.
Unfortunately this takes time.
And adding that time to this recipe seems daunting.
Can I cold ferment this at any time to split the fermentation time totals?
Yes! You can cold ferment at any time and then start again in the process.
Love this recipe! Turns out excellent EXCEPT I am getting a gummy line at the bottom of the bread. This happened the first time I made it, so I proofed a little longer and left to bake 10-15 minutes longer the second time. Still a gummy line. Any tips on how to remedy this?
Sometimes a gummy loaf is a sign that your dough has actually not fermented long enough! It’s under proofed. No matter how long you bake it, you’ll still get some gumminess. I would try fermenting it a bit longer.
I’ve made this several times. Never disappoints
Hi, just curious if you’ve ever used a heating pad to help speed up the rising process? I’ve done this with other bread recipes and it works well but not sourdough yet. Just curious if you’ve tried. Thanks!
You can! My oven is older and it actually has a warming spot on it. That is what I used to speed things up.
Love your recipes! Question: my dough was in the stand mixer for over 10 minutes and did not achieve window pane, didn’t pull away from bowl, I think it’s because I used warm water (to help soften the butter). Did I mess it up? It’s on the bulk ferment now…any tips on how to save it?
I make your sandwhich bread all the time but this is my first time making it with my kitchen aid stand mixer I got for Christmas. After mixing for a few min on speed 1 it was pulling away from the sides of the bowl and pretty much perfectly mixed but very dense and dry. Did not pass the window pane test. I tried to mix it longer but my mixer didn’t like that very much so I tried hand kneeding and it didn’t get any better so I put it in a bowl and covered to bulk rise. It’s been a few hours and has only risen a little bit. Usually at this point it’d be close to being done. I did do the full amount of flour cause I thought the artisan mixer was handling it well as I got closer to the full amount. I’m not sure if I messed it up or what to do but even when I touch it now it’s not soft and fluffy it’s hard. Any tips?
I ended up hand kneading because I couldn’t find my mixer. I’m afraid I may not have kneaded the dough long enough by hand. Should I do stretch and fold trying to help combat this? How can I tell if it’s kneaded enough. Do I put it in my mixer now?
Yes. I would let it rest and do a few rounds of stretch and folds.
We are about to get hit with an ice storm and stores are sold out of bread. I’m using this recipe to make some sandwich bread for my family since my kids go through bread like crazy! My dough is on the second rise – if I did it right, hopefully I can stop buying bread all together!
I’m new to sourdough and have just gotten my starter to rise enough for baking. My issue is, I keep it in the fridge in a quart jar (it’s about half full). To use it for this recipe, how much do I pull out and how much do I feed it to get it active?
I seem to always have an issue with the dough being wet, even with adding more flour. Do you happen to know what might cause this? Do I keep adding flour until the dough holds together better? Any suggestions are appreciated.😁
Is this before the first rise? Sometimes the dough will become less sticky after it has rested for a minute from the kneading process.
The amount of times I’ve used this recipe the past year is beyond me. People have been begging me to sell my bread because of how good it is! Thank you for teaching me all things sourdough Lisa!