Soft Honey Wheat Sourdough Sandwich Bread

This whole wheat sourdough sandwich bread is soft enough for sandwiches, sturdy enough for toast, and gets rave reviews from my kids at lunch. A mix of all-purpose and whole wheat flour for the best texture and rise. With an overnight bulk fermentation, it fits into your day easily: start in the evening, shape in the morning, and bake before lunch.

I’ve tried using all whole-wheat flour and I don’t personally love it. But if you do, give it try. The method is still the same, you’ll just have a slightly denser loaf.

What You’ll Need

This uses an active starter, so feed it the night before to make sure yours is bubbly. For metric measurements, check the recipe card below.

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If you’d like to double or triple this recipe, or use metric measurements, you can make adjustments in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Equipment

• Stand mixer with whisk and dough hook attachments (This makes the process much easier, but is not strictly required.)
• Baking spray
• Loaf pans (standard 9×5-inch pans work best)
• Parchment paper
• Wire cooling rack
• Bread knife
• Pastry brush (optional)

Ingredients

Bread

• ⅓ cup honey
• ½ cup active sourdough starter
• ½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled (one stick)
• 1 ¼ cups milk warmed to 90℉
• 1 ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten (adds necessary protein for structure; find it with specialty flours)
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour

Egg Wash (Optional)

• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon water

How to Make Sourdough Wheat Bread

Long rising times do all the work here. So don’t rush.

Step One: Activate Starter The Night Before

Mix together 20 grams of starter, 40 grams of both all-purpose flour and filtered water. Stir to combine and allow it to sit at room temperature for 8 hours or until it’s doubled in size. This will give you 100 grams of sourdough starter.

Step Two: Mix

Add the honey, sourdough starter, warm milk, and salt to the bowl of your stand mixer with the whisk attachment added. Stir to combine.

Step Three: Add Flour And Wheat Gluten

Next, add the whole wheat flour and vital wheat gluten. Stir to combine.

Step Four: Add Butter

Add the melted and cooled butter. Stir to combine.

Step Five: Add Half The Flour

Add 2 cups of the all-purpose flour and continue to stir. This dough will be very wet.

Step Six: Add Rest Of Flour

Switch out the whisk attachment for the dough hook. Start to mix the rest of the all-purpose flour into the dough by adding about ⅓ cup of flour to the dough at a time, stirring in between each addition to incorporate the flour. You’ll know that enough flour has been added when the dough is tacky and comes away from the sides of the bowl when it is being mixed.

Step Seven: Knead

Set your stand mixer to medium speed and knead the dough for 3 minutes. You can also do this by hand by turning the dough out onto a clean, dry surface and kneading the dough by hand for 5-8 minutes. You may need some additional flour to keep the dough from sticking to the counter.

Step Eight: Grease Bowl

Turn out the dough onto a clean surface, clean out your mixing bowl, and lightly grease it with baking spray.

Step Nine: Long Rise

Transfer the dough to the greased bowl, cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap, and place in a warm place for about 8-12 hours or until the dough has doubled in size. The best is overnight.

Step Ten: Prep Pans

Prepare two bread pans by lightly greasing the pans and adding a sheet of parchment paper, leaving a slight overhang on both sides.

Step Eleven: Divide And Shape

Once the dough has doubled in size, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and cut the dough in half. Shape one of the pieces of dough into a rectangle about double the size of the bread pan. Then roll the dough up, tucking in the edges as you go to shape the dough into a loaf form. Place the dough into one of the prepared bread pans. Repeat this process with the other dough ball.

Step Twelve: Rise

Place the loaves in a warm place for about an hour, covered, so they can rise.

Step Thirteen: Egg Wash (Optional)

Prepare the egg wash by adding one egg and one tablespoon of water to a small bowl. Stir or whisk to mix the egg and the water completely. Using a pastry brush, brush the tops of the loaves with the egg wash.

Step Fourteen: Preheat Oven

About 45 minutes into the second rise, preheat the oven to 375°F.

Step Fifteen: Bake

Once the oven is preheated, bake the loaves for 40 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

Step Sixteen: Cool

Keep the bread in the loaf pans and cool on a wire cooling rack for 15 minutes. Remove the bread from the pans and cool on a cooling rack for another 15 minutes before cutting into the bread.

Serving & Storing Ideas

Great for sandwiches, toast with homemade butter, or grilled cheese with tomato soup.

• Keep the bread whole until you’re ready to use it – this prevents it from drying out.
• Store in a bread bag or box at room temperature for up to 3 days.
• For longer storage, slice the whole loaf once it’s completely cool and freeze with parchment between slices.

More Wheat Bread Recipes

• These honey wheat rolls are soft and perfect for a special dinner.
• Or make a honey wheat sandwich bread instead.
• If you want something quicker than sourdough, make this bread machine honey wheat bread that needs just 5 minutes of prep!
• This whole wheat sandwich bread is the same, but with yeast instead of sourdough starter.

Printable Recipe