Nothing beats a loaf of warm, sourdough, sandwich bread. This super simple loaf has become a staple in our house. It’s perfect for grilled cheese or toast and jam. Plus it freezes well.
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It’s Gotta Be Easy
That was my requirement when looking for a sourdough sandwich bread. If the loaf was too involved or too difficult, I knew I would not make it on a regular basis. So after much recipe testing, I finally found one that met all the requirements. It makes great toast for breakfast in the morning, especially if you add a little strawberry jam. My husband said that it made a good grilled cheese too. It also freezes well once sliced.
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Why Sourdough?
Sourdough was used by people to leaven bread before they were able to go to the store and by those little yeast packets. Sourdough is the old-fashioned yeast packet.
Grains contain phytic acid, but our bodies don’t really process it well. Phytic acid prevents our bodies from absorbing the nutrients from our food. Fermentation gets rid of most, if not all of the phytic acid, in the grains before we eat them. The fermentation process also helps break down some gluten, so although the bread isn’t gluten free it does have a lower gluten content. This allows people like me, who are sensitive to gluten, to eat sourdough. It also acts like a probiotic, which makes it great for gut health. Sourdough has prebiotic characteristics as well, which simply means that the good bacteria in your gut enjoy eating the fiber.
Sourdough Sandwich Bread Recipe
Ingredients
¼ cup softened butter
1 tablespoon honey
½ cup sourdough starter
1 ¼ cup water
1 ½ teaspoon salt
4 cups flour
Instructions
- First mix together ¼ of softened butter, 1 tablespoon of honey, ½ cup of sourdough starter, and 1 ¼ cups of water. Then add in 1 ½ teaspoons of salt and 4 cups of flour. Knead the dough in your KitchenAid Mixer for about 10 minutes or until it is smooth and elastic.
- Next, cover the bowl and let the dough rise for 10-12 hours. I like to use a disposable shower cap to cover the bowl.
- Then roll the dough out into a rectangle with a rolling pin. Now roll it up into a log that will fit into your loaf pan. Line the pan with parchment paper or butter it really well. Let it rise until it has doubled in size. It takes 2-4 hours depending on the warmth of your kitchen. I cover the loaf pan with the same shower cap as I did the bowl.
- Bake the bread at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Transfer it to a cooling rack as soon as it comes out of the oven. Let it cool completely before slicing it.
Baker’s Schedule for Sourdough Sandwich Bread
3:00pm Feed your sourdough starter so that it’s active and bubbly.
8:00pm Mix the ingredients and knead the dough. Cover it to long ferment.
8:00am Roll the dough out then shape it into a log to go into the loaf pan. Cover it to rise until it doubles.
12:00pm Bake the bread. Then let it cool before slicing.
Sourdough Sandwich Bread
Nothing beats a loaf of warm, sourdough, sandwich bread. This super simple loaf has become a staple in our house. It’s perfect for grilled cheese or toast and jam. Plus it freezes well.
Ingredients
- ¼ cup softened butter
- 1 tablespoon honey
- ½ cup sourdough starter
- 1 ¼ cup water
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
- 4 cups flour
Instructions
- First mix together ¼ of softened butter, 1 tablespoon of honey, ½ cup of sourdough starter, and 1 ¼ cups of water. Then add in 1 ½ teaspoons of salt and 4 cups of flour. Knead the dough in your KitchenAid Mixer for about 10 minutes or until it is smooth and elastic.
- Next, cover the bowl and let the dough rise for 10-12 hours. I like to use a disposable shower cap to cover the bowl.
- Then roll the dough out into a rectangle with a rolling pin. Now roll it up into a log that will fit into your loaf pan. Line the pan with parchment paper or butter it really well. Let it rise until it has doubled in size. It takes 2-4 hours depending on the warmth of your kitchen. I cover the loaf pan with the same shower cap as I did the bowl.
- Bake the bread at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Transfer it to a cooling rack as soon as it comes out of the oven. Let it cool completely before slicing it.
The site may contain links to affiliate websites, and we receive an affiliate commission for any purchases made by you on the affiliate website using such links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. As a Revive EO Affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases.
I have been baking SD since the 1960, but due to diet change for my wife, I threw out my sourdough recipes. She has found that with SD she can eat a limited amount of bread.
I have searched for a bread recipe and didn’t like any of them till I found yours.
My first loaf came out great even though I put in a half cup of butter and 1.5 C. of water. Also, I fluffed up the flour and spooned it in, which meant I had to add more flour.
I have the second loaf in the oven now (followed the recipe LOL) and it looks great so far.
It is a very simple recipe as the one I had before.
what size loaf pan?
I use a standard sized loaf pan. Although you could make mini loaves if you wish.
9x5x3
I had to add more flour (maybe 1/4c). The dough was still pretty sticky after the 10min knead. I ended up mixing in the additional flour with my hands. It’s not humid here. Do think it’s because maybe my starter was wetter than yours? I do a 100% hydration. Are there any other reasons why it might’ve been stickier than “normal” bread dough (I’ve only ever made grandma’s recipe)? I hope I didn’t screw it up and now it’ll be tougher or denser than it should be. My gluten sensitive daughter really wants a soft sandwich loaf (weirdo doesn’t like artisan style bread).
My starter is at 100% hydration too. Sourdough isn’t consistent like yeast. What works in one kitchen may not work exactly the same in another. Heck, there are times it doesn’t work the same way twice in the same kitchen. I always try a couple extra minutes of kneading before adding flour to avoid dense bread. Once you get it the first time, you’ll know how it should feel and then you can better loaves.
Oh no!!! I just realized I screwed up really bad!!! I somehow skipped over the initial rise (10-12HRS!!!) when I was reading the instructions over before starting this recipe. I only saw the 2-3hr rise. Which means my dough, that I just finished kneading, won’t be ready for loaf prepping until midnight or later, and THEN I do another 2-3 hour rise. And then the bake. I’m looking at a 4am bedtime. CRAP!! I am not a night owl! I’ve only been making sourdough for 2 weeks (3 artisan loaves). I should’ve realized it (stupid ADHD!!). Do you have any advice? Last time I put sourdough in the fridge to ferment I over proofed it (granted I left it in there 24 hours, so maybe that’s why I ruined that loaf). Do you think I could put it in the fridge at 10p (if it hasn’t doubled yet) and finish tomorrow morning? Or finish the steps through putting it in the loaf pan and then putting that in the fridge until morning? If I did that, would it double in size again in the fridge so that I just take it out and bake it? I would I put it on the counter until the loaf doubled and then bake it? If it’ll be cold, do I add more bake time? Will this affect the flavor or texture? Do you have all the answers oh baking Guru?
I would pop it in the fridge. It may not turn out perfectly, but it will be edible. Or at least it will make good bread crumbs or croutons.
Well, after a horrendous start to this recipe (I started with a different recipe that was clearly not working and adjusted the quantities to be like this one after the fact), and being impatient so by over-proofing it in the oven with the light on (it tripled before I knew it) and then putting it in the fridge that way, overnight (because it was too darn late to roll it out at midnight), and waking earlier than normal only to find it had caved in and gotten weird feeling (leathery and very stiff), then franticly searching google on how to recover an over-proofed sourdough loaf (you just re-knead it by hand for a few minutes, who knew?)…this sandwich bread turned out pretty darn scrumptious!!! And dare I say, probably lower in gluten from all of my disasters!! LOL! It was probably sourer than it should be, but the taste was still pretty mild. And from what I read the crumb was likely a bit denser, which went unnoticed to my sourdough novice family. My gluten sensitive daughter was thrilled to pieces to have SOFT sourdough bread (SD is a new adventure for us). There is less than half a loaf left because everyone insisted on a slice with cinnamon butter, and then on grilled cheese for dinner! So, this recipe is a keeper for sure and frankly I’m pretty excited to make a loaf that actually gets made the right way.
When ADHD gets the best of me, my dough gets repurposed into tortillas, pizza dough, or croutons. Although nobody would ever guess that any of those things came from a flop.
I made my first loaf using your recipe and it turned out perfectly! I wish I could post a photo but just imagine a perfect loaf!! Thank you for the great details. I followed the schedule and it worked great. Thank you!
I am making my fourth loaf this week. All have turned out good, but I find the dough tacky. This time I weighed the flour. but used measures for everything else.
I keep a SMALL jar of starter in the fridge, I take 25 grams of that, then 100 grams water and flour for my starter for the bread. This gives me the cup of starter for the bread and enough to refill my jar to put back in the fridge.
What are you weight measurements for this recipe if you don’t mind me asking?
Let me get back to you on that. I’ll weigh the ingredients next time I make it.
SORRY!!!! I missed your comment,
Butter, honey, water and salt by measure. My scale doesn’t weigh that little
SD 128 gr. sometimes it a gr or two more
flour 128gr per King Arthur
I still have troubles with it being very tacky.
PS This is Charlie
My fourth loaf turned out great. Still want to get my schedule fine-tuned. Next time i will just follow the recipe and see if it is not so tacky.
I have made the dough and it’s long fermenting now. It seems like a lot of dough for one loaf. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out.
I don’t have a kitchen mixer can I use a hand held blender or what do you recommend?
Your hands or a danish dough whisk will work just fine. It will just take more time.
I make Lots of sourdough bread, but I just Leave it with the shaggy dough consistency. Do I need a kitchen aid mixer? I’d love to make it, but don’t have a stand mixer.
You do not have to use a mixer. Hand mixing works just as well, just takes more time.
I need to make this. I keep just making a rustic loaf.
Do you know if I could make this in a Pullman pan? Or have you tried?
I have never tried before.
Have you made this loaf with add ins? I was thinking of cinnamon raisin. If so when would you add it?
Yes! I’ve got a recipe for cinnamon raisin on the blog too.
Can I do the 2-4 hour rise in the fridge overnight?
In theory, it should work just fine. I tried it once and my bread did not rise well at all. It was still edible though.
My family has enjoyed this bread. I have a current dough rising. I would like to make it into cinnamon raisin bread before rolling it into the loaf pan. Any ideas on their measurements for butter, cinnamon, and raisins ?
Check out my recipe for cinnamon raisin bread!
https://morgansfarmhouse.com/sourdough-cinnamon-raisin-bread/
I have recently jumped on the sour dough band wagon, and am hooked! I was given a 12 year starter, which is well established (thank goodness!), and then started to look for a recipe that was SIMPLE! My goal was to bake like my grandmother and great grandmother did so no weight scales in my kitchen, special bowls, etc.! And the internet is full of that! You even knead which is what I LOVE! Thank you for making this journey for me so simple and enjoyable. I like to think my grandmothers in the past are proud of my attempts at a more simpler way of life.