Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread
Everyone loves Sourdough White Sandwich Bread, a loaf that rises without any extra yeast. It’s an everyday recipe you’ll make repeatedly, and while it takes some time, the results are worth the wait.
You’ll have bread that has a great texture and a tangy flavor. It’s perfect for everything from a classic BLT to your morning toast.
Sourdough White Sandwich Bread
Ingredients
- ¾ cup sourdough starter (active and mature)
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup powdered milk
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons butter
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons water may need a bit more depending on how hydrated your starter is
- 1 egg
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Instructions
- Mix. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir until the texture is slightly sticky and looks "shaggy." Adjust flour or water if needed. Allow to rest for 20 minutes at room temperature.
- Knead. Knead the dough using a bread machine, stand mixer, or hand until smooth and elastic for at least 10 minutes.
- First rise. Allow the dough to rise, covered, in a warm place for 4 hours or until it is very puffy and has doubled in bulk.
- Shape a sandwich loaf. Shape the dough into a loaf by lightly stretching it into a 9 x 18-inch rectangle. Tuck in the corners and then roll down. Remember the saying, “shoulders in, head down.”
- Roll it up. Roll it up like a log with seams on one side. Pinch all seams closed. Then, put it seam-side down into an oiled loaf pan.
- Cover. Cover with heavily greased plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place until the dough rises 1-2 inches above the top of the pan. (If it's getting late, you can place the loaf in the fridge and continue the rising process in the morning.) Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Bake. Dust the dough generously with flour and gently rub it in. Bake for 40 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a rack before slicing.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
More Tips:
Using a kitchen scale to measure ingredients gives more accurate results than using cups and spoons.
To make sure the dough rises optimally, keep the room temperature around 75°F.
To help the dough rise, you can place it in a warm spot like a turned-off oven with the light on or put a bowl of hot water in the oven with your dough to create a warm, humid environment.
Take your time with the rising process. Sourdough bread needs time to develop flavor and texture. If the dough hasn’t doubled in size, give it more time.
Before baking, lightly score the top of your dough with a sharp knife to let steam escape and help the bread expand evenly.
Allow the bread to cool completely on a wire rack before slicing. Cutting into hot bread can make it gummy and less pleasant to eat.
About the Ingredients
Here are some ingredient substitutions you can try:
- Sourdough Starter: Use 2 teaspoons instant yeast + 1 cup warm water and adjust flour as needed.
- All-Purpose Flour: Bread flour is a good alternative for a chewier texture.
- Powdered Milk: Replace with regular milk, and reduce the water by the same amount.
- Butter: Swap with margarine or vegetable oil.
- Egg: Try ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce or 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed mixed with 3 tablespoons water as a substitute.
Remember that these substitutions will alter the texture and flavor of the bread, but feel free to experiment!
Sourdough white sandwich bread is such a delightful treat for any home baker. Its soft texture and rich flavor make it perfect for everyday enjoyment.
Follow these simple steps and tips to create a delicious loaf that your family will love.
By Katie Shaw
Katie shares simple, reliable recipes from her home in Virginia, where she lives with her husband, three daughters, a chocolate lab, and over thirty chickens.
What size bread pan do you use? I use a 9×5 and it seems to take forever to rise 1 inch over the sides of the pan. Could it be the pan size?
i use 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 but it the recipe is just slow going. i typically add 1 tsp of yeast and that speeds it up a lot and i still think it has great flavor
It’s awesome! Just because of the timing of my starter, I formed it into the loaf pan around 7:00pm. Let it rise on the counter for maybe an hour then put it in the refrigerater overnight. Baked up perfectly the next morning. Beautiful oven rise 😍
hi joni! i am so so happy you liked the bread recipe. 🙂
I started experimenting with sourdough last summer, but haven’t made sandwich bread yet. Will definitely try this one!
I really struggled with how to rate this – I’ll give it 5 because it is the first thing I’ve ever gotten to turn out using my sourdough starter.
Critique:
It wasn’t at all sour
It didn’t rise well
It was quite bland
I am going to blame all that on my starter and I’ll give it another go shortly.
Again – I think it’s probably user error, but it did in fact turn out! Yay!
lol! thank you….?! if your starter isn’t mature, it can cause your bread to lack flavor. however, this is als0 intended to be a mild sandwich bread, so if you’re looking for something really tart it might not be a great fit. search my site for artisan sourdough or bread machine sourdough if you want something sour. oh or try adding 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid. good luck 🙂
I was wondering why mix the dough by hand and rise first? Why not use the entire 1.5 hour dough cycle on your bread machine(Zojuroshi)?
that first mix is what is known as as “autolyse” in sourdough, to help the ingredients hydrate and to improve the rise later. BUT to be perfectly honest if you are using the yeast you can probably skip it!
Can this be baked in a Pullman pan?
yes! it works very well in one!
Wonderful bread! I added the yeast and it turned out perfect. This is my new go to sandwich bread. I make a lot of crackers with my sourdough discard- Italian wheat w/parmigiana and sharp cheddar crackers with white flour. I make sourdough bread about every 1 1/2 weeks so I have a lot of discard. I freeze some and dry some. I will make this quite often! Thank you for the recipe!
I have been making this at least once a week since July and it comes out perfectly every time! Great recipe!
Now I need a whole wheat version that works as consistently well 🙂
hi jean! my hubby likes whole wheat too! I’m working on one but I don’t like it yet 🙂
I really like your basic sourdough recipe. I would like to try the sandwich loaf recipe, and am wondering if you have suggestions for adapting it as a vegan recipe.
hi heather! I’ve never personally tried this, but I had a reader who used plant milk and flax eggs (reduce the water by the volume of the plant milk) and said it worked! you could also simply leave those ingredients out. it wouldn’t be as soft as this loaf, but still good!
I have instant yeast, will that work? And should I use the same amount written ?
If I don’t use yeast and only use sourdough starter will that reduce the softness of the bread?
yes I always use instant yeast! I do find that its softer with the yeast. the texture is finer and its more like store bought bread.
Hey just wanted to give you a quick heads up and let you know a few of the images aren’t loading correctly. I’m not sure why but I think its a linking issue. I’ve tried it in two different internet browsers and both show the same results.
thank you Bianca! I’m having so many tech issues this week!
Could I use 1 cup of white wheat flour and 2 cups of all purpose flour? Would I need to adjust anything else?
How can we make this without eggs?
you can try just leaving them out, they shouldn’t make a huge different, just slightly less rise.
Hi Katie, love your site – very inspiring!
I am in the UK but i do have cups. am confused as to what all purpose flour is? My understanding is that it is plain flour over here. However as this is a recipe to make bread is this not strong flour aka bread flour? Am asking because i currently have this loaf in the oven but the mix was about the same consistency as my starter so like a pancake batter…. so much so i have had to add another 1 cup of bread flour – not sure how its going to come out as the finished dough was still very wet and very difficult to handle. Do you have any ideas?
Dawn
hi dawn! all purpose is I believe what you would call “plain” flour. you can definitely use bread flour but I prefer plain in this recipe because i’mg going for a soft texture. now about your dough being too wet…. I am very confused by this! as you can see the recipe calls for 3 cups of flour and only 1/2 cup of water and 3/4 cup starter, so it usually comes out a little dry if anything, which is why the directions say to add a little more water if needed. and bread flour should make it even dryer. so I am not sure what happened with your dough! the consistency you are going for is definitely that of a traditional yeasted bread: smooth and perhaps slightly sticky, but still easy to handle. I am sorry it did not turn out for you. 🙁
Love your site and looking forward to making a lot of your recipes. My first attempt at this bread was not bad but not great. However, this is the recipe that I want to get right. I would have like more rise, but I was impatient and probably did not wait long enough. What is the purpose of flouring the top of the bread? Would an egg wash work instead? Also, for the 2 Tablespoons of butter – is it softened butter? melted butter? This may be obvious to experienced bakers but I will most likely never achieve that rank. I also had some issues that I won’t go into (because they were just my everyday baking mishaps and nothing to do with your recipe…) The flavor was very good and loved the texture!
hi pam! let me try to help! first to address your questions- flouring the top is just for looks and and egg wash would be perfect as well. the butter should be softened.
now about the rise… this recipe relies on both the starter and the yeast to help it. rise, so if your starter is still new that could be the issue. your rising time is very variable with sourdough- sometimes it takes a really long time if your kitchen is cool. I would recommend the next time you pop the dough into a very slightly warmed oven and see if that helps. also if your dough was very dry, it can be dense and that will slow down the rising. it if seemed stiff, add just a tablespoon or so more water which will make the dough a bit lighter and help it rise more. it does take a little experience to know when a bread dough is just right. you will get there, don’t worry! feel free to email me a photo of your next attempt and we will work on it together. 🙂
Awesome! Thanks for your prompt response. I will let you know how it goes
Came out perfect the first try and it was delicious!
This recipe worked very well for me. I used a glass and a stoneware loaf pans. I cut the temperature back to 425 degrees instead of 450. I prefer a little lighter top crust. This bread made great toast, sandwiches and was great in my panini press for nice crispy sandwiches.
Can you use Ground flax, Chopped sunflower seeds, and old-fashioned rolled oats without affecting the outcome of the bread?
Betty, anything you use will affect the outcome of the bread a little. I do add different things to this loaf and it still works (white whole wheat flour, etc.) just substitute 10% of the flour for what you would like to try and experiment! :). if you want to do old fashioned oat, heat up some of the water you are using for the recipe and pour it over the oats. add them to the dough once they’re cooled. I have an oatmeal bread recipe that used this method 🙂
Is there a substitute for the powdered milk at all?
yes you can do 1/2 cup milk instead of the water. it may rise a little slower and won’t be quite as fluffy. for whatever reason, powdered milk always makes bread softer
Hi Katie, thanks for letting me join you 😀 im in the uk and we dont use cups, ive google how many ounces to one cup , i get either just over 8oz or 6oz please could you weigh your cup of flour to check please! ty Tracy
its around 6 for me! 🙂
TY x
Hi, thanks for the recipe! What is the unit of measurement on the powdered milk? ¼ cup?
Yes, 1/4 cup Going to fix that now