Sourdough Sandwich Bread with a Soft Crust
Sourdough Sandwich Bread is made with milk, butter & active sourdough starter. This soft crust sourdough bread has a tender crumb and awesome flavor. It makes a perfect sandwich.
Table of contents
Why this is the best Sourdough Sandwich Bread
White Sandwich Bread doesn’t have to have the lackluster taste and squishy texture of a certain “wonderous” bread that many of us ate growing up. This sourdough sandwich bread has deep flavor, a beautiful texture and a soft crust.
Milk, butter and a whisper of sugar create a perfectly soft white bread that is ideal for making a great PB&J or BLT.
Although this recipe takes a good 8-12 hours from start to finish, the vast majority of the time is hands off.
To make this recipe even more convenient, you can let the dough rise over night. A long rise in the refrigerator does only good things for the bread.
If you don’t already have one, I can show you how to make a sourdough starter and how to feed a sourdough starter.
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
- Sourdough Starter – This recipe was developed using 100% hydration starter. You will need to adjust the liquid or flour in the recipe if you’re starter isn’t at 100% hydration.
- All Purpose Flour – Medium protein AP flour makes a bread with a soft crumb yet develops enough gluten so the bread rises high in the oven.
- Milk – Scalding denatures (breaks down) proteins in the milk which can interfere with gluten development.
- Butter – A little fat softens the crumb of the bread.
- Salt – For flavor.
- Sugar – Enhances browning and make the crumb soft and slightly sweet.
How to make Sourdough Sandwich Bread with a soft crust
- Mix the dough and set it aside for the initial fermentation.
- With each hour of fermentation the dough will rise higher, become more active and more elastic.
- After the initial fermentation you can continue on to shape and bake the loaf, or you can refrigerate the dough overnight and continue the next day. A long, cool rest in the refrigerator enhances the flavor and texture of the dough.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.
- Without kneading out the air, gently form the dough into a rectangle.
- Roll the rectangle into a log and set into a lightly greased loaf pan.
- Cover the pan and set the loaf aside to rise.
- The dough will expand to almost fill the pan.
- Slash the top of the loaf to promote even rising in the oven.
- Brush the loaf with egg wash and bake until the interior temperature is 200F.
- Cool the loaf completely before cutting.
A timeline for making Sourdough Sandwich Bread:
- If your starter needs feeding, do that the night before or early in the morning of the day you want to make the dough.
- Mix the dough in the afternoon, allow it to ferment for 3-4 hours then refrigerate the dough before going to bed.
- Take the dough out of the refrigerator first thing in the morning, shape the loaf and set it into the pan.
- To warm up the dough, turn on the oven just until it’s barely warm. Turn off the oven and set the pan with the cool dough in the oven. Remove the pan once the dough is back to room temperature. You can skip this step, but it does speed up the rising time.
- Leave the loaf to rise for 1 1/2- 2 hours, or as long as is needed to almost double in size.
- To make and bake the dough in the same day, feed your starter the evening before so it’s active by morning. Start the dough early in the morning and it should be ready to bake by late afternoon or early evening.
Storage
Sourdough Sandwich bread will keep at room temperature for 2-3 days. The bread (sliced or whole) can be frozen for up to a month.
I know you hate to throw away that sourdough discard. Check out these recipes that use sourdough discard.
More great sourdough breads
- Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread
- Sourdough Hoagie Rolls
- Sourdough Multigrain Bread
- Sourdough Semolina Bread
- Sourdough Rye Bread
- Crusty Sourdough Bread
If you love this recipe as much as I do, I’d really appreciate a star rating and a quick comment. Ratings and comments help my recipes show in search results. Thanks!
Sourdough Sandwich Bread Recipe
This white bread has a soft crust, tender crumb and awesome flavor. It makes a perfect sandwich. This recipe makes 1 large loaf. The exact number of servings will vary based on how the loaf is sliced.
servings
Ingredients
- 8 oz whole milk (1 cup)
- 1 oz unsalted butter
- 8 oz active sourdough starter (1 cup, 100% hydration)
- ½ oz granulated sugar (1 tablespoon)
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 12 ½ oz all purpose flour (2 ½ cups, see note)
- 1 large egg (for egg wash)
Instructions
- Warm 8 oz whole milk in the microwave to until scalding hot (just before it comes to a boil.) Stir 1 oz unsalted butter into the warm milk to melt. Set the milk aside to cool until it's slightly warmer than body temp.
- In a mixer bowl, combine the warm milk with 8 oz active sourdough starter, ½ oz granulated sugar and 1 ½ teaspoons salt and stir to combine. Add 1 ½ cups of the flour and stir until the batter looks like thick pancake batter. If using a stand mixer, change to the dough hook.
- With the mixer running, slowly add the remaining flour until the dough gathers on the hook and clears the sides of the bowl. Knead for 5 minutes. If mixing by hand, stir in as much flour as you can then turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead in the remaining flour.
- Remove the dough from the bowl onto a lightly floured surface. The dough should be soft and slightly sticky. Knead to form a smooth ball. If the dough is very sticky sprinkle a little more flour as you knead.
- Place the dough in an oiled bowl, turning once to coat the dough. Cover the bowl and set it aside at room temperature.
- After 60 minutes uncover the bowl, lift one side of the dough and fold it into the middle of the dough. Repeat with the other three sides of the dough then flip the dough over. You're basically turning the dough inside-out to redistribute the yeast and strengthen the gluten. Cover the bowl and after 60 minutes repeat the procedure.
- Cover the bowl and after 60 minutes fold the dough one more time. By now the dough should be lively, elastic and airy. If the dough is still sluggish give it another hour or two at room temperature. If you want to finish making the bread in the morning return the dough to the bowl, cover tightly and refrigerate overnight. The next morning continue with shaping. Otherwise continue shaping the loaf on the same day.
- Grease a 9"x 5" loaf pan with a very light film of vegetable oil.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and without kneading out the air, gently push the dough to a 9" rectangle. Tightly roll the dough to form a log.
- Set the dough into the pan and cover with a damp kitchen towel or oiled plastic wrap. Set in a warm place and rise until the dough is doubled in size, about 1-1½hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Use a sharp knife or razor to cut a 1/2" deep slash down the center of the loaf. Brush the loaf with egg wash.
- Bake about 30-35 minutes until golden brown and and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The interior temp should be 200 °F.
- Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack. Finish cooling to room temperature before slicing,
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Notes
If measuring the flour by volume use the “dip & sweep” method. That is, dip the measuring cup into the flour bin, overfill it, then sweep away the excess.
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This is a great recipe!! Easy to follow instructions and the end result was delicious! My family gobbled it up! I’m a newbie with sourdough and this was an easy recipe! Thank you!
Guessing this is a no, but wondering if a bread machine could be used for this.
I honestly can’t say since I have no experience with a bread machine. But I have had a number of readers comment that they’ve made other sourdough recipe in their bread machine. If you try it, let us know how it works out.
Definitely possible, personally I use the bread dough setting two times then remove from the machine and finish by hand. I find eyes on is important with sourdough as the season and strength of your yeast strain can change
Hello! I’m very excited to try this recipe because I love your sourdough hamburger buns, and the process and ingredients seem very similar. I am curious as to why the bun recipe calls for bread flour and the sandwich bread requires all-purpose. Are the two interchangeable at all? I have both on hand but less use for the bread flour, so I wouldn’t mind using it instead if it will work.
Thank you so much!
Because the buns are not baked in a pan the bread flour gives them a tighter crumb. The Sandwich bread is baked in a loaf pan so a softer dough is ok. But you can certainly use bread flour if you want to use it up. Just hold back a little, maybe a 1/4 cup, since bread flour will absorb more moisture than ap flour. If you find the dough is still sticky you can sprinkle in the last bit of flour until you get a good dough.
Update to my prior post. I baked to internal temp of 200, not 210.
Hi Cas. I can’t reply directly to reviews so I’m responding here. If you found the center of the dough a bit under baked it could be that it wasn’t quite proofed enough so the center of the dough was more dense than the outside. If the dough was cold from the fridge the center might take longer to bake. Cutting the bread while it’s still warm could also make the center gummy since the warm starches will collapse and stick together when the bread is sliced.
My first attempt at a soft sourdough loaf was a success! My husband wants to enter it into a baking contest! Haha
I ran out of eggs for the egg wash so I brushed on butter instead.
It worked great. Such a soft and fluffy loaf. I easily cut into thin slices, put them into large Ziplocs and froze them so we can have fresh tasting bread for weeks! Recipe is simple to follow with fantastic results. Thank you!
Lisa