How to Make The Best Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread

It is back to school season which also means you need that perfect Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread recipe and I’ve got you covered! This bread is insanely soft, easy to make, and will have everyone begging for more.

Whether you have kids going to school, are back to work yourself or just want delicious, soft bread for toast and sandwiches at home, this recipe is all you need. While, Artisan Sourdough bread is delicious, you just can’t beat a soft sandwich bread! It is melt in your mouth soft, has a tender crust and if full of lightly sweet buttery flavor.

There are several things that make this bread different from classic sourdough, however the method is basically the same. This keeps things nice and easy if you have already mastered making a regular sourdough loaf. It starts with mixing the dough, doing a few sets of stretch and folds, then allowing the bread to bulk ferment. Once risen, it gets shaped, then has one last rise before being baked to enjoy.

You can enjoy this bread for sandwiches, as french toast, with jam or warm out of the oven with butter. There is really no way to go wrong with this Sourdough bread!

Tips for Making Perfect Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread

1. Use a nice and active sourdough starter that has reached its peak. There is not much sourdough starter in this bread so you want to make sure the starter you use is strong, healthy and active.
2. Instead of water like traditional sourough use milk. Replacing the water with milk adds amazing tenderness to the bread, gives delicious flavor and some extra nutrients to your bread.
3. Because there is such a small amount of starter in this bread, the dough will take longer to rise. If it has been 10-12 hours of bulk fermentation and the dough still hasn’t at least doubles in size, let it rise longer. You do not want to rush this process or you will end up with gummy, underfermented bread.
4. Once the bread has been shaped, allow it to have anoth full “double in size” rie before baking. This ensures all that air gets back into your dough, keeping it light and fluffy.

Sourdough Sandwich Bread Ingredients

Milk– As mentioned above, I swapped out water for milk in this recipe to aid in that perfect soft texture. It also gives the breads some more nutrients.

Sourdough Starter– Active, fed sourdough starter that has reached its peack is what you want to uce for this recipe.

Flour– Unbleached all purpose flour or bread flour are best for this recipe. Use whichever flour you typically make your sourdough bread with.

Honey– I like honey in place of sugar for added flavor and nutiriton. If yields a slight sweetness to the bread that is heavenly.

Butter– Salted or unsalted butter work. Salted is my first choice always.

Salt– Even if you use salted butter, you still want to add the salt. This enhances all of the flavors in the bread.

The Steps

1.Start by mixing together the milk, sourdough starter and honey in a large bowl.

2. Once creamy and slightly bubbly, add in the flour and salt. Using either you hands or hook attachment of your stand mixer, mix the dough until shaggy and no dry spots remain.

3. Next, add in the softened butter and mix until well combined into the dough. Gently form the dough into a ball and place in the bowl, cover with a tea towel and let rest for 30 minutes.

4. After 30 minutes perform a set of stretch and folds, pulling the edge of the dough into the middle and repeating all the way aorund the dough. Cover the dough again and let rest another 30 minutes. Repeat this step 2 more times.

5. Once you have completed 3 sets of stretch and folds, allow the dough to rise on the counter for 10-14 hours. Because of the butter content in this bread it can take a bit longer to rise. You want to make sure that the dough has at least doubled in size. If it still hasn’t after 14 hours, leave it a bit longer or find a warmer place to let it rise.

6. When your dough has finished its bulk rise, dump the dough out onto the counter. Gently stretch the dough into a rectangle.

7. Then, starting at the side closest to you, roll the dough away from you into a log, then gently tuck the ends under so the log is roughly the same length as your loaf pan.

8. Grease a standard loaf pan, then place the rolled dough into the pan. Cover with a damp tea towel (to prevent it from forming a crust) and let rise in a warm spot for another 2-3 hours.

9. When the dough has doubled back up in size and looks nice a poofy in the pan, preheat your oven to 375F.

10. Bake the bread in the bottom third of the oven for 35-40 minutes or until dark golden on top.

11. Immediatley after the bread comes out of the oven, brush butter over the top to give it a nice buttery shine.

12. Allow the bread to cool for a minimum 45-60 minutes before slicing. Enjoy!

If you make this Sourdough Sandwich Bread, please leave a reiew or comment below and tel us what you think 🙂

Looking for more staple Sourdough recipes to add to your kitchen?

https://cmbarndominium.com/the-best-sourdough-naan-bread/

https://cmbarndominium.com/perfectly-soft-chewy-sourdough-ciabatta-hamburger-buns/

https://cmbarndominium.com/how-to-make-soft-fluffy-sourdough-english-muffins/

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