First let me clarify that when I say this sourdough sandwich bread is yeast-free, I mean it’s free of any added yeast. There is yeast in this loaf, but it’s the wild kind, seduced from the air around your kitchen by the flour and the water and by the potent chemistry they create together.
This is the most perfect sandwich bread I’ve ever baked, and yes, it’s mostly white flour, but I don’t feel like the devil about it. Research shows that the healthiness of white sourdough bread far exceeds that of wholegrain and multigrain breads. That’s because sourdough has a powerful effect on blood sugar: when left to work its fermenting magic, it breaks down the starches in the foods it’s added to, making them easier to digest. Sourdough is also probiotic, which means it is packed with healthy gut bacteria, so you can feel truly holier-than-thou when you smear this bread with some peanut butter or use it to cradle a delicious vegan burger.
Many sourdough breads need to be started a day before, but this one can easily be made in about eight hours from start to finish, including three rise times. So if you start your bread late in the morning, you can easily have some in time for dinner.
I understand that most of you probably aren’t sourdough nuts and don’t have a jar of bubbly starter sitting on your kitchen table or in the refrigerator, but that doesn’t mean I won’t try to convert you. Making sourdough starter is one of the easiest things you can do– all you need to do is stir flour and water with a spoon. Nature takes care of the rest. I used a recipe from the King Arthur Flour website to make my starter and it’s excellent. I did change the hydration — the ratio of water to flour — of the starter. The King Arthur recipe has 50 percent hydration, which means it has 1/2 cup of water for each 1 cup of flour used to make and feed the sourdough. My sourdough has 75 percent hydration, meaning I add 3/4 cup of water for each cup of flour when I feed my sourdough. I find the 50 percent hydration starter just a tad too firm for my baking.
I am in love with my starter. I’ve been using it almost every weekend to make my whole-wheat sourdough waffles and they are such a hit that Jay and Desi demand them every week. This bread is our new favorite way to use it. All I need now is to name my starter– I read somewhere that sourdough aficionados do that, and my friend Margo told me the other day that her mother, who kept hers alive for more than 30 years, called him “Herman.”
Any suggestions?
***
More sourdough recipes:
Sourdough Pretzels
Whole Wheat Sourdough Ciabatta
All Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread
***
Sourdough Sandwich Bread, yeast-free recipe:
The Best Sourdough Sandwich Bread, yeast-free
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups sourdough starter (see recipe notes for link)
- 2 cups lukewarm water
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 4-5 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Place the sourdough starter in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Add to it the wholewheat flour, 1 cup of all-purpose flour, and water. Mix well and set it aside, covered, in a warm place for four hours.
- Add 2 cups of all-purpose flour, olive oil and salt and mix. Add more flour as you knead until the dough becomes quite firm but still feels a little sticky to your fingers.
- Turn out the dough on the kitchen platform or any flat surface and knead by hand for 4-5 minutes or until the dough feels smooth and springy to your fingers and it barely sticks to the platform.
- Shape into a ball and place in an oiled bowl, turning the ball of dough around once to coat the top with oil.
- Cover tightly and place in a warm spot (like an oven with the light turned on) for at least two hours or until the dough has doubled.
- Punch down the dough and divide into two. Prep two standard loaf pans by spraying lightly with oil and then sprinkling on some cornmeal or semolina.
- Shape each portion of the dough into an oval. The dough should be very pliable and should shape easily.
- Place each loaf into the prepared loaf pans. Cover with a kitchen towel and let them stand in a warm place for at least two more hours or until the dough rises above the top of the loaf pans.
- About half an hour before baking, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Place the loaves in the oven and bake 40 minutes.
- Remove the loaves from the oven, turn them out on a rack, and let them cool thoroughly before slicing.
**
I have made my bread. It has a very good taste. However the crust is very tough and chewy. Is there a way to make it softer and more pleasing to the pallet?
Hi, you can use nondairy milk instead of water for a softer crust–replace all or part of the water with soymilk or almond milk.
Hi ,I’m new to this and Soo many questions.
Can this be made with discard?
It’s listed under 5 recipes to use the discard for but doesnt say discard or unfed starter in ingredients like others do.
Also ,can u use discard from day two the same as discard day 6 ?
Can I take the discard and put in fridge a day or two till I use it?
Thank you!
Yes, so long as the starter has been fed about 5-6 days prior to baking and is strong.
Can I use a sourdough starter I already have? It’s not thevsame as your recipe, but similar.
I have made it with my starter which is not the same. Turned out fine.
If I only want to make one loaf at a time, is it possible to refrigerate half of the dough at some point in the process to bake later? At what point in the process would be the best to do this? Thanks!
I just cut the recipe in half and only mix up for one loaf
I am enjoying making of sourdough starter as per your recipe. I had lost my mother starter as i missed feeding her.Thanks
What size loaf pans do you use for this recipe?
If I want to make something with my starter every day or a couple things in one day, should I have doubled my starter to start with? Or will it eventually be a lot of starter? I’m new to all of this, I thought I’d only be using like a couple Tablespoons for each recipe but looks like it’s a cup or more each.
Replace the amount you remove. So if I use a cup of stater I’d feed it a cup of flour and the proportionate amount of water.
I recently created both a rye sourdough starter and a wheat sourdough starter. I named them after my Grandfathers brother and sister Jim and Emma. Jim fought in WW1, then came home to care for his sister who had mental health issues, which I now believe was ADHD. I was recently diagnosed after quitting a lifetime habit of smokeless tobacco. So I figured that since Jim and Emma never got to have any kids of their own to carry on their legacy I would name my starters after them
That is a beautiful tribute! I am named after my Opa’s sister who survived the war, but not without her own wounds, and never had children of her own. But Opa’s eldest sister died just about a month before he was born, a victim of the Soanish Flu. I think I know what my starter’s name is now going to be.
Thank you so much for the inspiration!
That is a beautiful plan, Ken. Thanks for sharing your story.