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.
Barbara
Do you have weights for these measurements? I'm never certain how to measure the starter. Thank you!
Jeannie
Hi, I have to say that I totally screwed up the process of this recipe!!...but it still turned out great!! Wow!!
I forgot, because I had read through the recipe, but when I went back to it a day later I just looked at the ingredients and threw them all in the bowl and then went back to look at the directions and realized that I wasn’t supposed to start with everything, but anyway I I went ahead and turned on the mixer, knowing I couldn’t go backwards, and got it all mixed up and let it rise a for four hours, then I put it in the loaf pans and did the second rise, it still turned out perfect! The next time I did it according to the directions and got the same results. Who knew?!! Thanks for a great recipe!!
MJ Callahan
Can you refrigerate overnight and then bake it in the morning?
Jill
I put it in the fridge overnight after step 1 and let it warm up on the counter for an hour. Came out good
Liz
I did and it was perfect
Jill
I was wondering can you proof this bread overnight?
E
Awesome recipe but I find I need a couple extra cups of flour to get it to turn into the dough needed. I wonder why such a big difference for me...
Janice Murray
I’m wondering the same thing we had to continue to add flour to get it to come together and it was very dense-I would love to make this recipe work I did make another sourdough sandwich bread that have one cup of milk 2 tablespoons of butter and a tablespoon of sugar and it was very light and fluffy so I’m not sure I’m so new to this I really want to understand are usually try to be very specific in the amounts of water and flour are you so this recipe kind of confuses me please help
Pat Andrews
Hi. I have been basking breads for only a few months-- something I took up during this time of the coronavirus. I have learned there is no exactness; the amount of water and flour vary depend on the humidity of the air. In Florida, it is usually damp, and it has been unusually damp and soggy this summer, with storms nearly every day. The air in the house is humid, despite the air conditioner's valiant efforts to dehumidify the air. The result is that my flour has already absorbed moisture and can't absorb as much from the water I mix into the recipe. I have to use less water/more flour. I used 1/3 less water than the recipe called for, and still used a good bit of flour. We'll see what it's like in the winter, with drier air. I hope this helps. This recipe is great.
Anonymous
Hi! What happens if I add all the all purpose flour at once by accident? Will it still turn out alright? (So I guess I’m also asking, what’s the purpose of adding only one cup of flour at the beginning?)
Mark
I am enjoying this recipe, however I find that I would like more of the sour taste. Any hints for how to do this? I was thinking maybe I could use less water and flour? Or just more starter?
Vaishali
Hi Mark, the maturity of your sourdough--and how hot it is where you are--will make a difference to how sour the recipe ends up. With a very new sourdough you might not get a very tangy bread, but be patient. 🙂 Or you could place your starter in a warm spot to help it mature quickly and become sour.
Mark
Thanks! The 2nd time I made it was perfect, but then I started refridgerating my starter in between batches, so that must be why. Though I do take it out of the fridge a couple days before making it - guess I'll just leave it out or take it out even sooner.
stephanie
Can you use discard for this or must it be fed starter?
Sherry Davis-Ellis
You can use your discard I do.
Tiffany
Hello! I’m eager to try your recipe as I am a newish sourdough junkie: at least a year of regular baking. I’ve got a good thing going with my artisan loaves. I see you have a 75% hydration starter. Mine is a 100% hydration. It’s been quite humid here lately (60-70% humidity) and my bread doughs have definitely noticed. I feel like I should decrease the water amount, and was looking for some direction/suggestion. Thank you!
Christyl
Not the author of the recipe, but my starter is 100% hydration and I reduce the water by 1/4 cup.
Linda MacDonald
I had great success for about 3 months with this recipe but since summer hit I can’t make a loaf to save my life. Takes 4 hours for first rise no issue, but 2 bf rise takes minimum 4 hours and 3rd rise never really happens. I end up with dense small loaves every time. I’ve tried additional food (thinking the starter is hungry) and same issue. Starter is as strong as ever, but epic bread fails every time lately. Please help!
Kathie
I would shorten the first rise time by half
Jay
Can you freeze half of the dough? I only have one loaf pan and would not be able to finish two loaves before they go bad!
Sandy
I hope it’s ok to answer, I’m not the author but It should freeze fine or you could leave in the refrigerator overnight, or halve the recipe which is what I did. Good bread breaking.
Jo Malsom
Actually if you freeze dough that has not fully proofed, it won’t proof again. As I once heard it explained the science behind it is that if you freeze most doughs or sourdough starter once the yeast molecules reach their freezing temp they actually have a tendency to burst and (much like an over filled water bottle or soda can that has been put in the freezer) and then upon thawing they no longer have the ability to rise or proof properly. So if the dough is too much I would suggest either halving the recipe and using only 170gm of starter instead of 340 with half the amounts of flour and everything else or making the whole amount and then freeze one of the two baked loaves. I hope this helped!
Sruthi Muralidharan
I subbed half the water for aquafaba and the bread came out super soft! I have made the original recipe multiple times too.
Martha
Can I just cut the recipe in half if I don’t want to make 2 loaves? Cheers.
Ryan Price
I made this bread a few weeks ago and it's AMAZING. Super easy and just perfect. I have made SD sandwich bread a few times and this is by far the best! Thank you!!!
If I skip the whole wheat and just use white bread flour do I need to change any of the measurements or timing?
Donna
My pans are 9x5. Will these work or too big?
Lea
That is the standard size, and the same size as I just made my loaves in, using this recipe. Should be perfect.
Lauren
Any thoughts on adding seeds to this recipes? Thinking sesame seeds, chai seed or linseeds!
Thank you!
Krithika
I plan to feed my starter today and use a 3/4 cup from the fridge tomorrow. Will that work?