Learn how to make the most perfect, soft and fluffy sourdough sandwich bread! An active sourdough starter gives this bread a beautiful rise without any need for added yeast.
Sourdough breads, like this amazing no-knead sourdough bread, these crusty sourdough rolls, this bread machine sourdough bread and this sourdough olive and sage loaf, are some of my favorite breads to bake. This reader-favorite sourdough sandwich bread, with more than 320 five-star reviews, is on a par with these excellent breads and one I make most often in my kitchen.
The bread turns out just right each time and the recipe makes two sandwich loaves, which last us all week long. And yes, it's mostly white flour, but I don't feel like the devil about it. Research shows that the healthfulness of white sourdough bread 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 sourdough sandwich loaf 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.
Table of Contents
Why you will love this sourdough sandwich bread
- Buttery and delicious. The sourdough gives the bread a wonderful, buttery flavor in addition to the soft, fluffy texture.
- Healthy bread. Because sourdough starter is fermented, it is full of healthy bacteria that are probiotic and extremely beneficial to the gut microbiome.
- Quick recipe. This bread needs about eight hours of proofing time, total, which is pretty quick for a bread leavened entirely with sourdough and with no added yeast.
- Perfect, fluffy texture. The crust is just lightly chewy and the crumb is soft and fluffy (without any eggs) and just perfect for cradling your favorite sandwich fillings. Stale bread makes great toast.
- Vegan, soy-free, nut-free recipe.
Ingredients
- Sourdough starter: Make sure you use an active, bubbling, recently fed sourdough starter for the best results.
- Unbleached all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour
- Extra virgin olive oil. Or any neutral oil of your choice.
How to make sourdough sandwich bread
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.
After four hours the starter should be fluffy and bubbly.
Add 2 cups of all-purpose flour, olive oil and salt to the bowl and mix.
Add more flour as needed and knead until the dough becomes quite firm but still feels a little sticky to your fingers. You can do this by hand or in a stand mixer on medium-low speed.
Turn out the dough on a flat surface and knead by hand for 4-5 minutes or until the dough feels smooth and springy. 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 with a lid or plastic wrap and let the dough rise for two hours in a warm spot. After two hours it should have doubled.
Punch down the dough and divide into two.
Roll out each half into a rectangle, then roll it like a jelly roll and tuck in the ends to form a loaf. The dough should be very pliable.
Prep two standard loaf pans by spraying lightly with oil and then sprinkling on some cornmeal or semolina. Place the formed loaves in the prepared 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.
Top tip
How much water you need for the bread could vary depending on the hydration of your sourdough starter and the weather where you live. If you find that adding two cups of water results in a very sticky dough, reduce the amount of water next time to 1 cup and trickle in the remaining water while kneading the dough, if needed.
Recipe FAQs and troubleshooting
Yes, just halve the amount of ingredients and you are all set!
The culprit here is your sourdough starter. If it is not active and fed recently (as in eight hours to 24 hours before use) you simply won't have enough natural yeast in the starter for the dough to rise.
For a softer crust, replace half the water with soy milk.
Bread flour will give you a crustier loaf and the crumb won't be as soft. But it will still be a pretty good loaf of bread.
Storage instructions
- Refrigerate: The bread can be stored at room temperature for four days and in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
- Freeze: Freeze the bread for up to three months in a freezer-safe bag, whole or sliced.
- Thaw fully before reheating.
More sourdough bread recipes
Sourdough Sandwich Bread Recipe
Equipment
- Large mixing bowl or stand mixer
- 2 loaf pans
Ingredients
- 1½ cups sourdough starter (bubbling and active)
- 1½ cups lukewarm water
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 4-5 cups unbleached all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (or any neutral oil of your choice)
- 1 teaspoon sea salt (or any salt of your choice)
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. You can do this by hand or in the stand mixer, using the dough hook attachment, on medium-low speed.
- 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 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. Roll out each half into a rectangle, about seven by 10 inches, and roll it up like a jelly roll. With the seam side down, tuck in the ends to form a loaf.
- Prepare two loaf pans by spraying or brushing lightly with oil and then sprinkling on some cornmeal or semolina on the bottom and sides.
- Place the loaves 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 domes 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.
Recipe notes
- You can increase salt by another teaspoon if you want to.
- If your sourdough starter is made using someone else's recipe, you may need more or less water to form the dough. In that case add 1 cup water in step 1 and trickle in more as needed when kneading the dough in step 2.
Sam
Thanks for the recipe, followed your starter recipe and since made this bread twice successfully. I'm no baker so it's pretty remarkable and I'm putting it down to your recipe 🙂
I prefer bread fresh for lunch so have been doing the main mix in the evening and then leaving in the fridge overnight. Doing the knead in the morning when I get up and then 2 rises and it's ready for lunch.
Cheers
Janice
Do you do the four hour rise before refrigerating?
Ella
Thank you for posting your sourdough recipes! Following your guidance, I successfully made my own sourdough starter named Fluffy, and the name definitely fits! This bread was my first official loaf (not counting things I made with the discards). The dough was incredibly light and fluffy, very easy to work with, and the bread has a lovely texture. I started the dough a bit too late in the day, so I let it do the 2nd rise in the refrigerator overnight, and this worked great. I am looking forward to experimenting with this recipe some more, to use a bit more of the whole wheat flour, and possibly add some pureed beans for additional protein. Thanks again for posting! 🙂 Ella
Caroline
Hi do you put any water into the oven to steam ?
Ella
I did add water for steam - not sure if it was necessary, but it certainly didn't hurt!
Laning
Hi .. loaf looks very good. Interesting that this particular sandwich loaf only uses tiny amount of oil and high % SD starter. Interested in giving it a go. May i know whats your loaf pan measurement? Thank you.
Ayumi
Love this recipe!!! Nice and fluffy.
Thank you !
Ashley
Does the starter need to be active and bubbly, or is that the point of letting it sit for four hours?
Susan
Hi. I did not feed my starter before mixing ingredients as I just fed it Sunday and I feed it every week and have been for over 2 years so thought it would be active enough. My dough raised a tiny bit in 4 hours. Any suggestions to salvage it?
Susan
I just re-read the instructions and it doesn’t say it was suppose to rise so I am going to proceed & hope for the best!
Ella
Wait longer, the dough will rise eventually. If it is early in the day, you can put it in a warmer spot to rise more quickly, or if it is getting later and you don't need the bread today, you can let it rise in the refrigerator overnight. Good luck!
Anastasiia
Great recipe but really misleading about timing. Sorry, but Prep time is not nearly like 15 minutes. It’s like 8 hours and so, I don’t know. Hope people like me will read really carefully before begging for the process. I’m gonna throw away my leaven because I don’t have a time now to stretch and fold and then leave again for 4 hours and bake it ( I began my leaven at 19:00 and it was a mistake because I mistakenly simply misread and then began my process). Hm... next time will try this recipe 🙂
Sumaya
Hi there! I cannot speak for the author or this recipe, but often times, if you run out of time, you can leave your dough covered in the fridge and pick up the day after where you left off. Hope that helps!
Dominic Mokgakala
Hi Vaishali,
Could I substitute the flour for Gluten Free flour? I love that it is dairy and yeast free also. I will try to make today.
Vaishali
Here's my recipe for gf sourdough sandwich bread. You can use gf all purpose to replace the different flours here. https://holycowvegan.net/gluten-free-multigrain-sourdough-sandwich-bread/
Kanan
Hi Vaishali,
One more question, can I use 24 Mantra organic Chapati flour in place of whole wheat flour for sourdough sandwich bread? Thanks
Vaishali
I haven't used that specific one, but atta flour should be a fine replacement for whole wheat flour in this bread.
Daphne
Hi Can i use organic rue flour to replace ww flour? Thanks
Daphne
*Rye
Javier Marquez
Can I use the same amount of AP flour in place of wheat flour?
Rae
So pleased with the results of this recipe. The aroma in the house is wonderful and the bread a success. Its a wintry cold day in Cape Town and I simply left the dough through its different proving stages until I was able to attend to it. First mix was 10:00 and baked the loaves at 18:30. Thank you for sharing your recipes and for the clear instructions.
Caren Kelly
What weight in grams is your starter for this recipe. Also my starter is 100% hydration. How do I adjust my starter for this recipe?
Brittany
I make this recipe gluten free all the time. Thanks so much, delicious bread. I just use 3.5 cups brown rice flour, 1/2 cup psyllium husk powder and 1 cup tapioca starch in place of the flour, double the water and mix it all at once and put into bread pans, let rise overnight and then bake as directed with a pan of water on the rack below. Delicious.
Nancy
I am new to sourdough baking so my question may be obvious to the experienced sourdough baker. I am using starter from my fridge. I assume that I need to feed my starter and get it active again before adding in into the first step, correct?
K
HI Vaishali. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I have a starter ready and raring to go. Can this recipe be halved? I have only 1 bread tin than I can use currently. Thanks. K
Vaishali
Yes!
Joy
My 10 yr old is learning how to bake. She knows I usually leave bread to rise overnight so she started this recipe at 8 at night. I don’t want to be up all hours finishing it. Can I leave it in the fridge at any point in the recipe?
Vaishali
You could do the long rise in the refrigerator. So awesome your daughter is interested in baking at 10. I've been trying to get Jay into it but it's not sticking. 🙁