Whole Wheat Sourdough Sandwich Bread
Whole Wheat Sourdough Sandwich Bread tastes fantastic and will keep fresh for several days. Milk and honey give this loaf a soft crumb and crust. Sourdough starter enhances the hearty whole-grain flavor.
Table of contents
Why you’ll love this recipe
This recipe is a variation of my popular Milk & Honey Whole Wheat Bread recipe. This is a perfectly soft and slightly sweet sandwich bread.
Although this sourdough wheat bread recipe takes a good 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 have one, check out my post to learn How to Make a Sourdough Starter. Then check out my system to Feed and Maintain 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.
- Bread Flour has a high protein content. Higher protein means better gluten development.
- Whole Wheat Flour does not have quite as much of the gluten forming properties of bread flour. Using a combination of whole wheat and bread flour makes a loaf that has great whole grain flavor, yet rises tall in the oven. You can adjust the proportion of wheat vs. bread flour to make a loaf to your liking.
- Milk – Scalding denatures (breaks down) proteins in the milk which can interfere with gluten development.
- Honey – Adds wonderful flavor, enhances browning and makes the crumb soft and slightly sweet.
- Salt – For flavor.
- Sesame Seeds – For crunch and flavor on the crust.
How to make Whole Wheat Sourdough Sandwich Bread
See the recipe card for detailed measurements and instructions.
- Combine the starter, water and 1 cup of the bread flour to form a thick batter. Cover the bowl and set the mixture aside for 30-60 minutes.
- Add the rest of the ingredients.
- The dough will start out quite rough and sticky.
- Continue kneading until the dough begins to gather on the hook and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, turning once to coat the dough. Cover and set aside in a warm spot.
- After 30 minute, 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.
- Fold the dough every hour. After 3 hours the dough should be lively, elastic and airy.
- Cover the bowl tightly and refrigerate overnight. (If you prefer you can skip the refrigeration step and continue shaping the loaf right after the initial fermentation.)
- The next morning continue with shaping.
- Without kneading, use your hands to pat the dough into a rectangle.
- Roll the dough to a log.
- Set it into a lightly greased loaf pan
- Cover the pan and set it aside for 1 1/2 – 2 hours.
- The loaf will rise to fill up the loaf pan.
- Cut a slash down the center of the loaf. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds (optional).
- Bake until the interior is 200F.
A timeline for making this recipe
- 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 3-6 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.
- 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 Whole Wheat Bread stays fresh 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.
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!
Whole Wheat Sourdough Sandwich Bread
With it's soft texture, hint of honey and hearty whole wheat flavor, this Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread tastes fantastic and will keep fresh for several days. This recipe makes one 9"x5" loaf. The exact number of servings will vary based on how the loaf is sliced.
slices
Ingredients
- 8 ounces active sourdough starter (1 cup (100% hydration))
- 4 ounces warm water (½ cup)
- 10 ounces bread flour (2 cups, see note)
- 8 ounces whole milk (1 cup)
- 1 ½ ounces honey (2 tablespoons)
- 1 ½ teaspoons table salt
- 7 ½ ounces whole wheat flour (1 ½ cups)
- 1 egg for egg wash
- Sesame seeds for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large mixing bowl, combine 8 ounces active sourdough starter, 4 ounces warm water and 1 cup (5 oz) of the bread flour to form a thick batter. Cover the bowl and allow the mixture to rise for 30-60 minutes. Warm 8 ounces whole milk until scalding hot then set it aside to cool until it is slightly warmer than body temperature.
- Add the scalded milk, 1 ½ ounces honey and 1 ½ teaspoons table salt to the sponge. Stir to combine. Add 7 ½ ounces whole wheat flourand stir until the batter looks like thick pancake batter. If using a stand mixer, switch to the dough hook.
- With the mixer running, slowly add the remaining bread flour. Continue mixing until the dough begins to gather on the hook and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Knead for 5 minutes. If mixing by hand, add as much of the flour as you can in the bowl then finish kneading in the rest of the flour by hand.
- Dump the dough 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 and set aside in a warm spot.
- After 30 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 again.
- 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 cover tightly and refrigerate overnight. The next morning continue with shaping. Otherwise continue shaping the loaf on the same day.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Without kneading out the air, gently push the dough to a 9"x 12” rectangle. Tightly roll the dough from top to bottom to form a log shape. As you roll pinch the ends of the dough to form a tight roll.
- Grease a 9"x 5" loaf pan with a very light film of vegetable oil or with baking spray. Set the dough into the pan and cover with oiled plastic wrap. Set in a warm place to rise until the dough almost doubles in size, about 1 ½ hours. It will take longer to rise if the dough is cold from a night in the refrigerator. In the meantime, 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 dough with egg wash and sprinkle with seeds.
- Bake about 35-40 minutes until golden brown and and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The interior temp should be about 200 °F.
- Cool in the pan about 5 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack. Cool 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.
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @eileen.bakingsense or tag #bakingsense!
Thank you for this recipe — I love the flavor and texture! I’ve made it three times now, and at the end of Step 4 it’s been sopping wet each time, like soup-consistency. I add between 1/2C and 1C flour to get it to come together and be kneadable, but then the rest of the steps go fine and the flavor is fabulous. Has anyone else encountered this?
I’m also curious about your thoughts of shaping after vs. before putting in the fridge overnight — I’ve been shaping it before and letting it rise in the morning and it works, I wonder if there’s a reason you recommend the other order?
Above all — thank you for this delicious recipe!
Hi Tim. Is your starter a 100% starter? If your starter is wetter you would need to adjust the flour or liquid accordingly. But this is quite a wet dough. I like to shape it in the morning because I find the cold dough easier to handle. But as you’ve obviously discovered, you can shape it the night before.
Hi Eileen,
I’ve been making this bread for quite some time now. It’s always a success for both spelt and wholemeal flour. I can no longer find any spelt or wholemeal in the supermarket. I would like to ask if I can use rye flour as substitute? Thanks.
Yes, you can use rye flour. Obviously the texture will be a bit different. But it will work. If you’re interested, I do have an Overnight Rye Bread recipe as well.
Hi Eileen,
I made this today and I must say that rye flour don’t work for this recipe. It end up really heavy and dense. I just wanted to use my starter atleast once a week by using rye as substitute. Anyway, I will definitely make this again using wholemeal or spelt flour which always end up a success! Thank you!
Then I would recommend the Overnight Rye Bread recipe.
Hi there Eileen. This recipe sounds great. I have some whole wheat bread flour on hand (which I’ve just used with great success in your sourdough bagel recipe by the way!), do you have any thoughts on using it in this recipe as well? I’ve tried subbing it for regular bread flour in other loaves that didn’t turn out so well so I wanted to ask. Thanks!!
Hi Elizabeth, to tell you the truth I’ve never worked with whole wheat bread flour. I would think it should be fine in this recipe. Do you know what the protein content is for that flour? I don’t see any reason it shouldn’t work here. Which type of recipes did it not work in?
Hi Eileen,
Thanks for the reply! It comes from a small local stone-mill I am lucky enough to live near. The protein content is 13%. The other loaf I tried it in was a quinoa and honey loaf, so the flop could have also been due to the type of quinoa I used and how I cooked it as well, but essentially it was very dense.
I think I’ll give your recipe a go this weekend!
if am wanting to mill my own grains what would be a good grain for the “bread flour” part of the recipe?
I would keep the “bread flour” part of the recipe and replace the whole wheat flour with your grain of choice. The bread flour is high protein and gives the dough most of it’s structure and strength. Whole grain does not contribute as well to gluten development. You could break out the 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour to include a total of 1 1/2 cups of 2 or three different grains for a “multi grain” bread. For example you could use 3/4 cup of whole wheat flour and 3/4 cup rye flour. If you want an extra hearty bread you could reduce the white bread flour to 1 cup and use up to 2 cups of the other grains. But the dough will probably be a bit more dense and might not rise quite as high.
Hi Eileen, thanks for this recipe! I made it for the first time today and it came out well. I’ve got a question about the steps in the instructions — it says to preheat the oven to 350 in the step that comes after step 7, which appears mislabeled as step 1. But after that, in step 3 it indicates to let the dough rise for 1 1/2 hours. Is this a mistake, or am I misunderstanding?
Thanks for the heads-up. It was a mistake copied over from another recipe. It’s been fixed.