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Everyday Sourdough Sandwich Bread
I haven’t bought sandwich bread in over 7 years because of this sourdough bread recipe! It’s such a staple in my house because even though I make sourdough bread (artisan loaves) everyday, my kids really prefer sourdough sandwich bread. They love it so much, they even eat the crust!
- Prep Time: 4-6 hrs for your Sourdough Starter to come to peak
- Fermentation Time: 4hr Bulk Proof + 8hr Cold Proof + 4hr Final Proof
- Cook Time: 45 min at 375F
- Total Time: 16-20hrs
- Yield: 1 Sourdough Sandwich Bread 1x
- Category: Sourdough Bread Baking
Ingredients
Scale
- 265 water
- 100g active sourdough starter (sourdough starter at its peak)
- 1 Tbsp sweetener (you can use honey, sugar or syrup)
- 500g AP flour
- 7 g salt
- ½ stick butter (I use salted, I like it better that way)
Instructions
Step 1 – Feed your sourdough starter
- Feed your sourdough starter and use when it’s at peak (when it can no longer rise and starter to crater a little)
- You can use your normal sourdough starter or
- You can use a sweet stiff sourdough starter to make sure the sandwich bread isn’t sour
Step 2 – Mixing your ingredients together
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To a stand mixer, mix all of the ingredients in the order you see me listing it above
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Mix until the sourdough dough is stretchy and smooth
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You want it to pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl and be smooth and elastic
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Takes around 10 minutes on level 4 (mixer might be dancing)
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IF it’s been a while and the dough is not coming off the the sides or bottom,
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stop the mixer and scrape the sides and bottom with your plastic bench scraper, continue mixing
- You can also pause and give the mixer a rest if needed
- Continue mixing until you have a windowpane
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Don’t stress if not completely coming off the sides –it’s okay!
Step 3 – Bulk Fermentation/Room temp proof/1st Rise
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Take the dough out with your plastic bench scraper
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Shape the dough into a taut ball
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Put it in a bowl, cover
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Room temp proof for 2 hrs
Step 4 – Cold proof/2nd Rise
- Cold proof in your fridge overnight (roughly 8-10hrs at 36F)
Step 5 – Shaping
Option 1 – normal 1 log
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Shape the sourdough dough by rolling the dough flat into a rectangle
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Then simply roll it up into a log
- Pinch the seam a little
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Place the log into a parchment lined or buttered loaf pan
- Cover lightly so it doesn’t dry out
Option 2 – cute 3 logs
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Divide the sourdough dough into 3 equal parts
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Roll the dough flat into a rectangle, they should be the width of the pan
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Roll each dough into a short logs
- Pinch the seam a little
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Place the short logs into a parchment lined or buttered loaf pan
- Cover lightly so it doesn’t dry out
Step 6 – Room temp proof/Final Proofing
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Final proof at room temp for 2-4 hours, or until *almost* doubled
Step 7 – Baking
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Bake at 375F for 45 min, or until golden on top
- Wait at least 30 min before slicing
Notes
Swapping ingredients:
- 1 stick of butter = 113g
- You can also swap butter with coconut oil if you can’t have dairy
Crust too dull or pale?
- Egg wash the dough before baking
Crust too hard and looks burnt?
- Brush the top of the bread with milk to soften the top
Sourdough Sandwich Bread too sour?
- use a sweet stiff sourdough starter instead
Is your butter melted or room temp?
Took temp
The proportions so accurate and instructions detailed. Gave absolutely great results even the first time. Definitely give it a go.
Thank you so much!
Thank you Rosellerie.
Hi again
What size bread loaf pan do I need for this recipe. Thank you. Colin
I use 9×5 or bigger
265 gm of water seems very low hydration. I usually use 375gm in my normal Sourdough.
You use 75% hydration for sandwich bread?
Sandwich bread is different than artisan loaves in that sandwich bread needs to have soft, tight crumb –as opposed to a chewy, open crumb that sourdough artisan loaves have.
When you look at the recipe, water is not the only thing that’s hydrating this dough, it’s the butter too.
So if you are just thinking of the water, then yes, it’s low hydration –which in and of itself isn’t bad because it’s sandwich bread AND we are using AP flour as opposed to bread flour (AP flour has less protein, which requires less water)
But we are also using fats to hydrate the dough too
Thank you.
Hi,
Liked your recipe. Definitely a try. I am just confused on one thing. When to use starter and when to use sweet stuff starter? And if using the later do I just replace 100 gm starter with whole of sweet stiff starter which would be 220g.
Thanks
You would need 100g of sweet stiff starter.
Thanks so much.
Also I tried making today with starter. My dough was much soft as compared to yours. I hv though kept it for proofing now. Can u suggest what do I do if such is the case or is it ok.
Secondly, this step is not very clear to me.
Do I proof for 2 hours then keep it in fridge for cold proofing ?
Thanks
Thank you so much!
You’re very welcome!