This sourdough sandwich bread is an easy beginner sourdough recipe with a light and fluffy texture. It's better than store bought and for roughly $1 a loaf, a much better price.
This was the first sourdough recipe I ever made once my starter was up and running. It's fairly easy and doesn't require a lot of attention from the first mixing of the dough to the final baking.
I found a sourdough sandwich bread recipe from Conley Kipp on TikTok and, like all things sourdough, adapted it to make it my own.
Of course, the big caveat with all things sourdough and baking is that your particulars will vary. Especially when we talk timing and water to flour ratios, so much can be dependent on the environment where you're baking, the ingredients you're using and the personality of your sourdough starter.
I do plan to document the visual step by step of this recipe so you can get a reference for how the dough should look at each stage. But, in the meantime I wanted to get the recipe onto the internet to be able to share.
Specific Ingredients and Equipment
These are a few of the things that I use when baking this recipe. By no means are these things required, but just so you can reference them in case you need one of these things.
- Silcone Bowl Scraper - I love to use this when removing the dough from the bowl to my work surface.
- 1.25lb USA Loaf Pan - This came on recommendation from friend, client and go-to expert for all things baking, Tessa Arias at Handle the Heat. She's all about the USA pans because of how great they do for even heat distribution while baking. Too, I've never had to grease my pan in this recipe when using this specific pan. The loaves come out clean every time.
- MyWeight Kitchen Scale - I love this kitchen scale. It's survived ten years of regular, near-daily use and abuse. I like that it's simple to use, and the height helps in comparison to shorter-scale models that can be hard to read when you have a large bowl on them.
- Thermometer - I check the temperature on my final baked goods because that's a great gauge on if your bread is done baking. For this style of bread, we're aiming for an internal temperature of 195F to 201F.
Sourdough Starters
Once upon a time, I tried to make a starter from scratch but didn't have any luck. Perhaps I'll give it a go again in the future. In the meantime, I purchased dried starters online from two creators who I love to follow. Their starters came with clear instructions and, within a few days, were bubbling and ready to use.
Parker from Basil & Bloom
Does one person need two different starters? No, not at all. I was curious to see how two different starters behaved, tasted and performed. I find they really do have their own unique personalities, though they perform equally well in leavening bread for outstanding results.
This Jess Cooks Sourdough Tips are helpful if you're new to the world of starters.
Feel free to ask questions in the comments below. I'll be happy to point you in the right direction.
And beware, you might catch sourdough fever. I got into this as a fun little experiment and now I have more bread than I know what to do with. Family and friends are happy to intercept little care packages of sourdough treats.
Looking for a way to use up your sourdough discard? Try out my Sourdough Discard Bagels.
Print
Sourdough Sandwich Bread
- Prep Time: 15 min
- Cook Time: 33 min
- Total Time: 12 - 16 hours
- Yield: 16 slices
- Category: bread
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This sandwich sourdough bread is an easy beginner sourdough bread recipe and makes light, fluffy, bread with the perfect texture for sandwiches.
Ingredients
- 75g peaked sourdough starter
- 300g room temperature water (70 - 80F)
- 22g honey
- 500g unbleached all-purpose flour or unbleached bread flour (or mix half and half)
- 8g fine sea salt
- 58g (¼ cup) unsalted butter, softened
Instructions
- Combine 75g starter, 300g water, and 22g honey in the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk until fully incorporated and looks milky
- Then add 500g flour, 8g fine sea salt and ¼ cup unsalted butter to your starter mixture and using the dough hook attachment on a stand mixer, knead for 8 to 10 min. You are looking for a smooth elastic dough that pulls away from the bowl and fairly soft
- Leave the dough in the bowl and cover with a towel, bowl cover, plastic wrap or, my favorite, a plastic shower cap
- Let the dough proof at room temperature until it has doubled in size (9-12 hours depending on the temperature of your space)
- Take the proofed dough and turn out onto a lightly floured work surface
- Press out dough into a rectangle shape, fold the short sides into the center to create a more narrow rectangle and then roll it over itself into a log and pinch the ends to close
- Put seam side down into a loaf pan. If using glass, be sure to grease your pan.
- Cover and proof for 2 - 4 hours at room temperature until doubled in size
- Preheat oven to 500F, then once it is preheated, put your bread in the oven on the middle rack and reduce the heat to 375F and bake for 35 minutes or until the internal temp of the bread is 195 - 201F
- Once the loaf is fully baked, turn it out onto a cooling rack using oven mitts
- And while it is still hot, rub butter over the top of the loaf to help soften it
- Let the loaf completely cool for at least 2 hours before slicing
Notes
I use King Arther Unbleached Bread Flour and Bob's Red Mill Unbleached All-Purpose flour
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 153
- Sugar: 1.2 g
- Sodium: 194.9 mg
- Fat: 3.3 g
- Trans Fat:
- Carbohydrates: 26.9 g
- Fiber: 0.9 g
- Protein: 3.5 g
- Cholesterol: 7.8 mg
Madison says
I’ve tried multiple other sourdough sandwich, bread, recipes, and my kids never like them. When I finally made this one, they absolutely loved it and now we make it once or twice a week love being able to make their bread instead of buying it! Thanks for this recipe Joanie!
Joanie Simon says
Yahoo! So glad to hear it! I did recently test out different quantities for this recipe because I wanted slightly smaller slices for kids' sandwiches. Worked out great!
60 g peaked sourdough starter
240 g room temperature water (70–80°F)
18 g honey
400 g unbleached all-purpose flour or bread flour (or a mix)
6.5 g fine sea salt
46 g unsalted butter, softened (have also subbed in avocado oil and worked just as well)