Simple Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread Recipe
A simple, soft sourdough sandwich bread recipe made with white or whole grain flour. An easy, healthy option for an old-fashioned overnight loaf.
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Nothing, in my opinion, beats the smell of fresh baked bread in the kitchen. The aroma captivates more than just our taste buds. It can bring back childhood memories and invokes a cozy loving environment. Plus who doesn’t love butter on a hot slice?
What is the secret to soft sourdough sandwich bread recipe?
Soft sourdough sandwich loaves are the goal of all bakers. Bread recipes that yield a soft loaf typically use an enriched dough.
WHAT IS AN ENRICHED DOUGH?
An enriched dough is a dough that calls for more than just flour, water, salt and yeast. Recipes that have eggs, milk, butter or oil create a softer slightly sweeter loaf. By adding fat to the dough you create a tender crumb (holes in the loaf) that is soft and fluffy. Too much fat though can make your gluten strands lose all structure and you’re left with a flat dense loaf.
Another tip for a soft sandwich bread is to not over bake it. If its in the oven for more than 40 minutes, its probably over-done and crunchy…I find 30-35minutes lends to a soft loaf with a perfectly browned crust.
Is Homemade bread healthier?
The short answer? YES!
Commercially made bread has a whole host of ingredients. Most are fillers, added for shelf life preservation or to create universally consistent loaves of bread. Real bread should have 4-10 ingredients. The starters of all loaves are flour, salt, water and yeast (sourdough or commercial) and then you can add dough enrichers such as eggs, butter, oil, sugar or milk and sometimes herbs for flavor. See how every ingredient can be easily pronounced?
Bread is life (and Jesus is the bread of life) and is the core staple for almost every culture in the world. The rise and fall of governments have happened due to the cost of flour. Only in our modern western world have we concluded that bread is the evil villain of our time. Sourdough bread free of pesticides and made at home, especially if you are milling the flour fresh for each loaf, is packed full of nutrition and easily digestible grains. Commercially available white flour has most of the bio-available nutrients removed for shelf stability. Freshly milled whole grains contain 40 of the 44 essential nutrients our bodies require and the nutrition of a sourdough loaf increases as the wild yeast breakdown the grains. This provides our bodies with nutrition devoid in our every day western diet.
If you’re interested in learning more about whole grains and their dietary impact, check out Bread Beckers. They are an excellent resource.
KNOW THIS! If you don’t have a mill. If you aren’t able to buy the “best” flour and you are making bread at home with basic all-purpose, you are still creating a healthier bread for your family.
How to make Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread
Equipment you will need:
- Large Mixing Bowl
- 2 Cast Iron Loaf Pans – Cast iron pans retain heat well and lend to excellent oven spring.
- Parchment paper – This one is my favorite, I’m able to bake with each piece multiple times.
Mixing and First Bulk Ferment
To a large mixing bowl place warm water (around 100ºF) sugar and starter. Add oil and salt to the mixing bowl and combine. Finally add 6 cups of flour to your wet ingredients and mix well until all ingredients are well incorporated and a rough dough forms. I keep a cup of flour to the side in case the dough is still sticky and needs any additional flour.
Allow dough to rest for 10 minutes. Then add an additional 1/4 cup of water. This will let your dough hydrate and create a barrier for you to do stretch and folds. Rest again for 10 minutes.
Stretch and fold your sourdough twice within an hour. After second stretch and fold, shape your dough into a rough round and coat with 1 tablespoon of oil. This will allow your sourdough bread to rise without drying, cover with a tea towel and allow sandwich bread loaf to rise on the counter overnight, approximately 12 hours. I rise all my sourdough recipes overnight and this simple soft bread loaf is no exception.
Second Sourdough Fermentation
After 12 hours, your sourdough sandwich dough should be doubled. Prep 2 cast iron (or glass) loaf pans by lining with parchment paper. This will prevent your loaves from adhering to the pans, making them seamless to remove. Remove dough from bowl and cut in half. Shape each half of dough into a loaf and place in parchment lined bread pans. Allow dough to rise in loaf pans until they begin to mound – 1-2 hours. Preheat your oven to 350ºF while loaves are finishing their second rise.
Bake loaves for 30 minutes until crust is browning. Remove and let cool fully before slicing.
Between this and my sourdough boule recipe our bread cravings are fully satisfied!
If you want a quicker version of this bread, try my Traditional Yeast Sandwich Bread Recipe.
Tips For Fresh Sourdough Bread
Also, my husband created the best tip I have for you! We all love warm slices of fresh baked bread and he found a way to recreate it….the broil function in the oven.
Cut a slice of bread and place it either onto a cookie sheet or straight onto the baking rack and broil on low for 3 minutes per side. You’ll end up with a soft warm slice of bread, reminiscent of fresh baked. Slather on some butter and enjoy!
– Making Sandwiches? Check out my Quick and Easy Traditional Homemade Mayonnaise.
Simple Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread
Ingredients
- 2.5 (500) Cups (g) Warm Water 100º
- 1/3 (80) Cup (g) Sugar
- 150 g Sourdough Starter
- 4 (30) Tablespoons (g) Olive Oil
- 1 (15) Tablespoon (g) Salt
- 6-7 (900-1050) Cups (g) Flour
Instructions
- Place warm water, sugar and starter in a large mixing bowl.
- Add oil and salt to mixing bowl and combine.
- Add 6 cups of flour and mix well until all ingredients are well incorporated and rough dough forms.
- Allow dough to rest for 10 minutes. Then add an additional 1/4 cup of water. This will let your dough hydrate and create a barrier for you to do stretch and folds. Rest again for 10 minutes.
- Stretch and fold dough twice within 1 hour.
- Shape dough into a round and allow to rise in mixing bowl overnight (12 hours) or until dough has doubled.
- Once doubled, remove dough from bowl and cut in half.
- Shape each half of dough into a loaf and place in parchment lined bread pans.
- Allow dough to rise in loaf pans until they begin to mound (1-2 Hours)
- Preheat oven to 350ºF
- Bake loaves for 30 minutes until crust is browning. Remove and let cool fully before slicing.
Need recipe for the Sour Dough Starter
Hi Laurie, So a sourdough starter does not have a recipe. It is a unique combination of household bacteria that feed off yeast. You can create a sourdough starter by combining water and flour over multiple days until the yeast begin to colonize. However, it is much easier to have a starter given to you especially if you’re on the start of your sourdough journey. I would recommend reading my Lazy Girl Sourdough Boule recipe as there is more information on sourdough starter there.