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.
Shannon
So I have made sour dough bread three different times from the recipe following it exactly and it turns out the same way every time. It is really good but my loaves do not get tall enough to use the bread as a sandwich. I am not sure what I am doing. I do notice that I have to use some additional flour to handle the mixture because mine seems to be rather moist and very sticky. I also can't really form the bread into ovals because it is still on the very soft and pliable side. It is hard to make two loaves because it doesn't want to separate. I am assuming that I am doing something wrong I am just not sure what. Any advice? But still very happy with the taste and overall results.
Anonymous
I just want to thank you for sharing this sandwich sourdough recipe. I tried it last night and the breads came out beautiful. It was chewy, crusty on the outside and moist on the inside.
LL
I just want to thank you for sharing this sandwich sourdough recipe. I tried last night and the breads came out beautiful. It was chewy, crusty on the outside and moist on the inside.
Anonymous
I have a Herman the German , a reliable old School Charlie and a Fred (Fred is a bit self conscious about it, I bake bread every week and I bake all our bread's, cakes, etc, etc. . . I make 2 loaves of sweet White bread, 2 loaves of Sourdough bread, dinner rolls, bagels, cinnamon roll bread, 2 Norwegian Honey Oat Sourdough Bread ( This is one of my recipes) and a English Muffin Bread. I had to name them so my Husband knew when I am speaking of these what I was referring to.
Debra Friedenberger
Just wondering can I substitute milk for water? I make these loafs all the time hubby loves them, but going to try milk instead of water.
Vaishali
Yes, I think that would be fine.
Sharon
Hi there, Is the oven temp fan forced or conventional? Cheers, Sharon.
Vaishali
Conventional.
Cindy
Made this today...I preface this by saying I bake bread weekly, this recipe is great! ... it required MUCH more flour, but the results were EXCELLENT!!!! I did use some bread flour, but this makes quite a lovely loaf that holds up well to sandwiches.
Thank you for making my low salt cooking SO much easier with this lovely bread recipe!!!
Cindy
Forgot to rate....
PC
Update: It worked!! It's tinier that hoped but that's because I was afraid to let it rise to high above pan before baking. But I'll be damned, tastes fine. I'm sure something went wrong with the dough though, really was impossible to handle or shape.
PC
What did I do wrong? Used a starter I already had going. The initial mixture was very liquid but I figured I could make it up in the next step with the addition of more flour but nope. It bubbled really nicely. Dough rises well upon sitting but endlessly sticky and floppy - imposible to knead or shape. I just plopped it in the pans to see if anything edible comes out of it. Haven't baked it yet.
Tyshima
What sourdough starter did you use? All the ones I see have yeast in them.
Pete Seymour
Just tried this recipe and it makes an awesome loaf of sandwich bread. I've been searching for a way to make sandwich bread from my sourdough starter (free of commercial yeast) and this has been the best recipe that I've tried. I did change out the AP flour some some dedicated bread flour. I also decreased the cooking time a bit, but that might be a result of fluctuations from one oven to the next.
Eileen Reed
Do you feed your starter before using?
Vaishali
No, okay to use unfed starter.
Colleen
If using fed starter, do you need the first four hour rise? I've made this a couple times (was amazing) but wondering about possibly cutting down on time spent at home waiting for bread! I've always used fed starter (I wouldn't have 1.5 c of starter if it wasn't fed) and now wondering if I need that initial rise.
Kristi F
I can not thank you enough for this recipe!!! I have tried so many Sourdough recipes without commercial yeast with no success. This bread is amazing! Oven spring was immediate and huge! Taste is just wonderful! And I love that it is 5 ingredients and no commercial yeast. My bread did split at the top crust. Maybe I'll score it next time or maybe it rose too long. Either way, it will now be my go to recipe! Thank you!
Andrea
I feel like something must have been left out, the bread is delish but sooo pale, there's no way it is even close to the picture. I even turned the oven up and did an extra 10 minutes. Did you brush something on before baking?
Vaishali
Hi Andrea, Sourdough should give the bread a good color, but if it had a good texture and taste, I wouldn't worry about the color so much. I use dark metal or glass pans which make a difference to the color. You could also try spraying on some cooking spray or brushing on some oil the next time for a darker color.
Pete Seymour
The color the the bread crust takes on can also be a product of how long is has risen. If it rises too long then the crust will become pale. Still will test great. Maybe try a little shorted second rise and see if that gives you the darker crust you are looking for.
Marie-Eve MacPherson
Do you proof your starter before mixing the first step in your bread recipe?
Denise
Made my starter (not yet named) and on day seven made the bread. It rose to the ceiling! Great loaf with a sharp tang on first bite. I will try the whole wheat recipe next weekend. I'd be okay with a lesser rising loaf! And I prefer the density of ww bread. I hope over time the starter will take on more complexity of flavor, and my husband is looking forward to weekly sourdough waffles. Thank you!
Sue
I love making this bread. It's so good. Thank you for sharing. I was wondering if there was a way to let one of the rise times to be overnight? Maybe the first rise...instead of 4 hrs...could it wait for overnight? I ask because it makes a long day for me...with the 3 rises plus baking time is about 9 hrs.
Vaishali
Hi Sue, you could try leaving the dough overnight in the refrigerator. That way it should still rise, but at a slower rate, and you'll also likely get more flavor. Let me know how it goes!
Francie Colby
isn't sourdough chaned and good for people who can't do wheat?