Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread Recipe
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Bake this beautiful soft white sourdough sandwich bread recipe for your favorite sandwiches.
Soft Sourdough Sandwich bread is an easy sourdough bread recipe to make. This sourdough recipe is formed into soft and fluffy loaves that are perfect for sliced bread. Make this sourdough sandwich bread once a week to always have yummy sandwich bread on hand.
This dough has delicious sweet flavor and a soft and fluffy texture. We have a few tips and tricks in this post for making the best sourdough sandwich bread ever!
Sourdough artisan breads are famous for their crusty crusts and soft holy crumb. Perfect for dipping in soups and making paninis or crostinis. Who doesn’t love that shattery crust with a steak or plate of lasagna?
However, When you want a soft squishable sandwich with Mayo or a piece of buttery toast? Eat THIS sourdough sandwich bread.
More Sourdough Bread Recipes:
See our complete sourdough bread recipe tutorial and step by step guide for Beginners in our Artisan Sourdough Bread Recipe. Find all of our sourdough Bread Recipes here.
How long does Homemade Sourdough Bread Last?
This bread will last about a week when stored in a proper airtight container. Homemade sandwich bread will mold quicker than store-bought bread. This is because homemade bread does not contain the preservatives that you will find in store-bought bread. Keep that in mind when making homemade sourdough bread. Store it properly to avoid a moldy and stale loaf of bread. This recipe makes two 1000 gram loaves of soft sandwich bread.
Is Sourdough Bread good for Sandwiches?
Regular Sourdough bread is great for sandwiches. Many restaurants use sourdough bread to make grilled cheese sandwiches, turkey, toasted sandwiches etc. A regular loaf of sourdough bread has a different shape than sandwich bread. It usually produces long and narrow pieces of bread. A sourdough sandwich bread will be shaped into a traditional bread loaf shape. This makes it easier to toast the sourdough bread in a toaster.
Soft sourdough sandwich bread is great for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, turkey, or traditionally shaped sandwiches. The great thing about this bread is it is really easy to work with and store.
Why is my Sourdough Sandwich Bread not Rising?
Sourdough Sandwich Bread not rising is usually due to a weak or inactive starter. Always ensure that your starter can pass the float test before using it to bake. It can be tempting to make the bread early before the starter is ready. Always wait until your starter can float in a cup of water before baking. There is no way to save a loaf of bread that turns out flat. It is worth it to properly prepare the starter for the best loaf of bread.
Do I need to score Sourdough Sandwich Bread?
There is no need to score a loaf of sourdough sandwich bread. This bread will rise and ferment without scoring it on top. If you wish to score the sourdough sandwich bread, you can do a gentle slice down the center of the loaf prior to baking. However, there is no need to score this type of sourdough bread. It will bake and rise just fine without going through the scoring process.
Watch our video tutorial to see all the techniques I use to make this bread recipe.
Sasha’s Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread Recipe:
Sasha, our master baker contributor, created this sourdough recipe for her hubby. He wanted a soft white squishable bread with a soft crust. We all agree this bread makes great sandwiches.
Sasha’s family is incredibly lucky. And so are we. She is sharing her soft sandwich bread recipe with us so we all can benefit from her expertise.
Sasha also shared her Sourdough Milk and Honey Sandwich bread with us in case you missed it. Thank you Sasha!
Tips on making the Sourdough Sandwich Loaf:
This is a white bread recipe. However, you can mix whole wheat flour up to 50-50 with your white bread flour and still get good results.
- Begin with an active fed sourdough starter for best results. You do NOT need active dry yeast for this recipe.
- WATCH our video tutorial for ALL the techniques used in this bread dough making process. If you don’t know a term or technique the video will teach you.
- Good Flour is critical to the outcome of any homemade bread recipe. Use a fresh high protein bread flour (at least 5% protein).
How to Make a Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread Loaf:
Here is a quick visual walkthrough of this recipe. The complete recipe is in our Printable Recipe Card. But here are the main points.
Sometimes a picture really helps. AND don’t miss our video tutorial (playing in the sidebar) if you need further examples of the techniques.
Cinnamon Swirl Bread Variation and Soft Cinnamon Sourdough Rolls:
Look at the bread baking in the oven (pictured above). The one closest to the front sideways is This soft sourdough bread made as Cinnamon Raisin Bread.
You will find This Complete recipe post for Sourdough Cinnamon Raisin bread has LOTS of tips. A complete walkthrough and guide for incorporating the plumped raisins, layering the cinnamon filling and forming the loaves.
Soft sourdough made as cinnamon raisin swirl bread is pretty darn amazing breakfast food. Give it a try.
Also make these Soft Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls from this bread dough recipe. They are absolutely scrumptious!
How to Shape A loaf of Bread:
You can bake this recipe in boules. However it is much easier to eat as sandwiches and toast when baked in pans.
Here’s how to shape the dough for baking in bread pans. I use two 9 x 5 inch bread loaf pans for this recipe.
Prepare the dough for Shaping:
- Remove Dough From Fridge and allow to come to room temperature. This will take about 2 hours.
- Divide and shape the dough into two 1000 gram balls of dough.
- Bench Rest the balls loosely covered about 60 minutes until very elastic.
Shaping:
- Choose one dough ball. Set the other aside to be next.
- Flatten the ball on a floured board with your rolling pin to degass. This may take several passes. (You will notice my bread does still have a few small holes. It needed more degassing)
- Shape the degassed dough into a rectangle and spritz with water.
- Bring the long edges into the center and form a closed seam.
- Fold the two front corners to the middle seam as shown below.
- Roll the dough tightly. tucking it as you roll to avoid air pockets.
- Pinch the ends of the loaf and flatten the seam.
- Place the dough loaf into your OILED loaf pan.
- REPEAT with second dough ball. Continue with the recipe.
For more tips on shaping your bread read our sourdough shaping guide.
The final rise is done in the plastic bags as shown. Allow the dough to rise to the pan top or slightly above.
Now when the oven is thoroughly preheated, remove one loaf from the fridge, score it deeply and bake as directed with a water bath.
Your Printable Recipe Card:
Read the complete recipe and instructions below. If you print this recipe the pictures will not print. This is to save you ink and paper.
NEW! We now have a complete video recipe demonstration of this bread in the sidebar and the bottom of the printable recipe card.
Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread Recipe
Soft Sourdough Sandwich bread is the perfect soft squishy bread for toast and peanut butter sandwiches. You can also grill this bread for amazing grilled cheese sandwiches. The flavor is outstanding.
Ingredients
- 300 grams starter-freshly fed and active
- 650 grams warm water
- 50 grams honey
- 40 grams avocado oil
- 1000 grams White bread flour (high protein)
- 20 grams Salt
Instructions
MIXING:
- Begin with a very active recently fed starter. It should pass the float test.
- Set a large bowl on a digital food scale set to grams and press the tare button. The scale should read zero.
- Pour in the water to weight of 650 g. Press tare.
- Pour in 300 grams of starter. Press tare. The starter should form a floating mass on the water.
- Add the oil. Press tare
- Add the honey. Press tare.
- Whisk together the starter, oil, honey and water until they are mixed.
- Add the 1000 grams of flour.
- Mix the flour into the water/starter with a dough hook, spatula and your wet hands until you have a shaggy ball of dough.
AUTOLYSE: Technically our process is a fermentalyse, since we add the starter in with the flour and water initially.
- Rest dough 1 hour.
- Sprinkle salt across dough.
- spritz with water bottle and work in the salt with wet hands.
- Rest 30 mins
STRETCH AND FOLDS:
- Begin Stretch and Folds. You need 4 rounds of stretch and folds 30 mins apart. See video for technique.
LONG COLD RISE:
- Refrigerate overnight or up to 24 hours.
BENCH REST DOUGH:
- Remove from fridge and warm to room temperature. (ABOUT TWO HOURS)
- Divide the dough into two 1000 grams dough balls by weight.
- Bench rest 30 to 45 minutes until dough is elastic.
SHAPE AND FINAL RISE:
- Choose one dough ball. Set the other aside to be next.
- Flatten the ball on a floured board with your rolling pin to degass. This may take several passes. (You will notice my bread does still have a few small holes. It needed more degassing)
- Shape the degassed dough into a rectangle and spritz with water.
- Bring the long edges into the center and form a closed seam.
- Fold the two front corners to the middle seam as shown below.
- Roll the dough tightly. tucking it as you roll to avoid air pockets.
- Pinch the ends of the loaf and flatten the seam.
- Place the dough loaf into your OILED loaf pan.
REPEAT for second loaf.
- Let sit on counter 2 to 4 hours until the dough reaches to the top of the bread pans. For best oven spring chill two hours in the fridge covered.
BAKING PREP AND INSTRUCTIONS:
- Preheat oven and water bath(any pan half full of water. Set it on the shelf UNDER THE BREAD) to 400° F.
- Remove the loaves from the fridge and score them deeply. (I do three slashes diagonally accross the top).
- OPTIONAL: For a shiny loaf of baked bread, brush the dough with a beaten egg.
- Set the loaf pans in the middle of oven.
- Bake the loaves 15 minutes.
- Reduce the oven temp to 375 degrees F.
- Bake an additional 25 to 30 minutes.
- Using a digital thermometer check internal Temp of loaf. It is done at 200°. If you don't have a thermometer pop loaves out to test for hollow on bottom. Or thump the loaf. Does is have a hollow sound?
- Remove from oven and cool on racks to room temperature before cutting the bread.
Notes
- Measure the ingredients CAREFULLY for best results.
- THE SALT: I use Himalayan salt. All salt works. However, they have different volumes by weight. So you need to be careful. Weighing helps get it right.
- THE OIL: Avocado oil is recommended for best health. Use any neutral flavor oil you prefer.
- THE FLOUR: Use any high protein (On the label 12 % protein or 5 grams protein) organic white bread flour. You can make this loaf with 50/50 white and WHITE whole wheat.
- The loaf will stay soft and have a great nutty flavor. Using 100 percent whole wheat or Hard red whole wheat will give you a different result. The recipe may need some adjusting. I suggest you stick with 100 percent white or 50/50.
- 2 2/3 Cups -300 grams starter-freshly fed and active
- 2 3/4 Cups 650 grams warm water
- 2 3/8 Tablespoons -50 grams honey
- 3 Tablespoons- 40 grams avocado oil
- 8 Cups- 1000 grams White bread flour (high protein)
- 1 Tablespoon-20 grams Salt
Conversion CUPS to GRAMS:
I do NOT recommend volume measurements for best results with sourdough baking. There are differences in the starter and flours that make weighing by Scale a MUCH more reliable method. But if your not using a scale here are the approximate volume measurements of the ingredients.
Final NOTE:
The video in this post is for those unfamiliar with the techniques I use. It is actually demonstrating our Beginner Sourdough Artisan Bread Recipe. This soft sourdough sandwich bread process uses many of the same techniques.
Recommended Products
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Pyrex Glass Mixing Bowl Set (3-Piece) -
USA Pan Bakeware Aluminized Steel Loaf Pan 1140LF 8.5 x 4.5 x 3 Inch, Small, Silver
Nutrition Information
Yield
24Serving Size
1 sliceAmount Per Serving Calories 171Total Fat 2gSaturated Fat 0gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 2gCholesterol 0mgSodium 325mgCarbohydrates 32gFiber 1gSugar 2gProtein 5g
Sourdough Troubleshooting:
If your bread doesn’t turn out the way you expect, start with our comprehensive Sourdough Troubleshooting Guide
Or jump to the specific issue you’re seeing: Find all of our Sourdough Baking guides here.
- Bread turns out dense – Why Is My Sourdough Bread Dense?
- Dough spreads instead of rising – How to Shape Sourdough Bread
- Score won’t open – How to Score Sourdough Bread
- Crust is soft or pale – How Steam Baking Sourdough Affects Oven Spring and Crust
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Contact Sasha over on Etsy if you want to buy sourdough starter. She has a well established starter just for you. She sells all over the US.
I am loving this recipe!! My one question…I am doing the egg wash and water bath..and following the recipe. But my loaves are getting pretty dark, am I doing something wrong or how can I help this?
Hi Megan, We are happy you’re enjoying this sourdough sandwich bread. If you want to lighten the crust color, I have two suggestions. Lower your oven rack if the bottom won’t over brown. This depends on the size and configuration of your oven. Another idea is once the bread attains the perfect brown, cover the loaf lightly with foil to prevent over browning. I hope this helps! Happy Baking!
Great recipe!! My only note is that the video instructs you to egg wash the loaf before scoring and baking, yet this isn’t mentioned in the written recipe as far as a saw! Glad I took the time to watch the video 🙂 thank you!
Hi Becca, Thanks for pointing this out. I have revised the recipe card to include this optional step. We are so happy you enjoyed the bread. Happy Baking!
I have made this incredible bread a few times now… I actually have some dough going right now about to stretch and fold… I am wanting to bake this bread Saturday morning (Its Thursday evening right now). My question is, after I warm up, shape loaves and do 2nd rise tomorrow, can I pop the loaf pans into the fridge and chill over night and bake Saturday morning? Or can I only “chill the loaves 2 hrs before baking” as the recipe states? Can I chill longer than 2 hrs after the final rise? Hope this makes sense! Thank you!
You should be able to do the long chill vin the fridge with no trouble. You might shorten the long cold rise to 12 hours. This will allow the dough to develop well after it’s in the bread pans but not over proof. Happy Baking!
I make sourdough boules all the time for a year now. I was so excited for this recipe. I let it go in the fridge 36 hours. Everything was looking great and temp said 200. But the bottom was super soft and undercooked. I put it back in for 20 mins more and the bottom just would not cook. What happened?? Was it the water under it? I’ve never had this happen with any load, sourdough or non. Everything else tastes and looks amazing. Help!!
Hi Deb, I’m so sorry to hear your loaf turned out like this. I agree the dough got too moist. This can happen for two reasons. Your dough may have been moist enough without spraying the dough before baking. This can cause the spray to run down the sides of the pan and get trapped underneath instead of steaming off as it should. The same can also happen with a well hydrated loaf when you bake with the water bath for the full duration of the baking time.
The solution is to take the water bath out when you reduce the temperature. And also spray your dough LIGHTLY before baking or eliminate that step if you still feel the bread is turning out too wet on the bottom. Hopefully your next batch will turn out perfectly.
@Diane, thank you!! Everything else tasted so good. I cut the bottom off hahaha I’ll def try again!
Let us know how it goes and Happy Baking!
This is the best sourdough sandwich bread recipe I have made and I’ve made many. I just happen to stumble upon this on Reddit and decided to give it a try. It is the absolute softest bread I’ve made yet and is so good for sandwiches. It will definitely be my go to for sandwich bread. Thank you so much!
Hi Sue, We are so happy to hear you love this recipe. Thank you so much for letting us know and the great review. Happy Baking!
I love this recipe and have made it many times. I substitute up to 20% whole wheat. I feel the flour needs to be increased slightly. These proportion with a 100% proportioned starter make the dough a bit too wet.
I have the USA large pullman, Baking Surface Dimensions: 13 x 4 x 4 inches Outer Dimensions: 14.5 x 4.75 x 4.062 inches. Should I put all the dough from this recipe in there and make 1 large loaf or would that be too much dough? Not sure if this pan is double the size you used.
I Would split the dough into two pans and see how that works for you. This dough has a really good rise so you’re probably going to fill your pans but I will say I have never tried this recipe in pans this large. Please let us know how it turns out for you. Happy Baking!
I tried this recipe and it turned out sooo good. I didn’t flow it to a “t” because I started it late out night, but the recipe is very forgiving and the dough is so easy to work with. It came out very nice and soft.
After trying 4 other sandwich loaf recipes over the past few weeks, this is the clear winner ! Most like a soft store bought but without all the additives This is my new weekly bake. Thank you
Your Very Welcome Mary Ellen. Welcome to Homemade Food Junkie. We’re so glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Wow! Not sure how i came upon this recipe but it is amazing! Smells and tastes like restaurant quality bread. Never realized sourdough could be this soft. Probably wont go back to the traditional loaf for a while!
Hi Patti, Thanks for letting us know you love this bread recipe and the great review. We are delighted to hear you love this bread. Happy Baking!
I started sourdough baking back in December with regular boule loafs then sandwich loaves. I have made several different sandwich loaves but never loved them all that much. The first day they were great! After that they quickly became dry and unmanageable no matter how well wrapped and stored and were terrible as toast and just did not even work well for sandwiches after 2nd day.
I found this recipe on a Reddit post last week when searching for a new loaf recipe and gave it a try. WOW!!!! Absolute game changer! This is a true sandwich loaf that stays soft, fluffy, squishy for daaaayyyssss! It toasts wonderfully too! The closest thing to store bought bread but 100x better with texture, sourdough flavor, and softness and clean ingredients (I use organic bread flour and a touch of whole wheat). I thought I was going to have to give up on the attributes that I loved about store bought bread in exchange for clean and healthy bread that was not going to perform as well. That is just not the case anymore thanks to this recipe. I am about to make my 2nd batch today.
Hi T Smith, We are so glad this recipe gave you the solution you’re looking for. I will tell you we have other sourdough breads that also perform very well and stay fresh. Be sure to look around and have a wonderful day. Happy Baking!
This recipe is amazing! Do
You think cinnamon and raisins could be swirled inside?
Hi Michelle, Yes! This bread is the same dough as our sourdough cinnamon raisin bread. Here’s the complete tutorial for this method. So glad you’re enjoying this bread! Happy Baking!
I’ve been baking yeast bread for many years but started my sourdough baking last June. I made this recipe yesterday and this bread is the best tasting sourdough bread I’ve made yet. I used 8.5×4.5 bread pans and found that my bread rose very high and then leaned over to the side a bit. The loaves were scored and a little difficult to get out of the pans. Should I have used the 9×5 size of bread pan, skipped scoring, or do you think something else was going on? I followed your instructions to the letter.
Thank you,
Cindy
Hi Cindy, Yes I think using 9 x 5 pans would solve this problem for you. this dough does have a good rise so the large pans will help keep it more proportional for you. Happy Baking!
Hello! I am trying to make this in a Korean oven which is a combo microwave and convection oven. I only have one rack, so any suggestions on how to do the water bath? I was thinking of preheating with water bath and/or putting a small bowl with water next to my bread pan. Any suggestions?
Hi Maggie, I like your idea of preheating the oven with the water bath in and baking the bread with it next to the bread pan. Remember, you only need steam for the first 15 minutes or so. That should work fine. Happy Baking!
I adore this recipe!
I’m about a year into my “baking journey” and started sourdough 3 months ago. I made a few embarrassingly unsuccessful crusty boules and realized crusty bread is not my everyday bread. I found this recipe and am in the process of my 4th time making it. Hasn’t failed me yet. Hardest part is degassing the loaf before shaping for me. Those pesky bubble can get giant in the oven.
Thank you for sharing!!
Hi Lynne, How wonderful to hear your having great success with this recipe. Yes, degassing is for most of us the biggest challenge and forming the loaves. So I’ll share that this recipe also works well as a boule, unless you want a tight crumb for sandwiches. but it’s much easier to make. All the best!
I’m new ro sourdough and have not had a lot of success. We like sandwich bread, but a soft bread like when I make my yeast bread. This recipe has given me a nice dough. It’s bench resting now, but the rest of the instructions are confusing. One says rise in pans at room temp, then says when oven is at temp, remove from fridge. Not sure which to do. Is it put in the fridge after it gets to the top of the pans? Thanks for any help.
Hi Linda, Welcome to Homemade food Junkie and sourdough baking! We are sorry for any confusion. Yes you put the bread pans into the fridge after the dough is raised to the tops of the baking pans. Then preheat the oven with your water bath in it and remove the pans from the fridge and bake them on the rack above your water bath. You can leave the water bath in the oven to provide steam for the bread at least 20 minutes. Hope this helps. We are always here if you have more questions. Happy Baking!
@Diane, Thank you so much for getting back to me. I left them in the pans on the counter for 3.5 hours, they got to the top, just barely. I put them in the fridge. It’s been an hour. I’m reheating the oven. I’m very excited. I hope this works foragain. Want to check out your other recipes.Thanks again.
You’re doing great Linda! Please let us know how the recipe turns out for you. It’s a well tested reliable bread so we are sure you’ll love it. The only FYI I can give you is that some people spray the dough too much before baking (after scoring) and the bread can get somewhat mushy on the bottom if that happens. Moderation is the key there. We’d love you to try our other sourdough recipes. We have a lot of them and they are well loved by our bakers. Have a wonderful day and best luck with this bread!
I am new to bread baking and so this is maybe my 4th recipe and it is amazing and will definitely be my go-to for sandwich bread. I made one loaf plain and one cinnamon raisin. I decided to cold proof the plain and skipped that for the cin raisin and it still turned out beyond perfect. I think my raisins were a bit too wet but it just caramelized on the bottom and was tasty. 10/10 the best cinnamon raisin bread ever and the step by step pictures were fantastic. Such an easy recipe!
Hi Amanda, We are so happy to hear this. Thanks so much for letting us know and Have a wonderful day. Happy Baking!
How would you recommend adjusting this if I wanted to try making it in a Pullman loaf pan with the cover on?
We absolutely love this (I’ve made four loaves in the last week and a half and we are down to 1.5 loaves left)! I’m just looking into buying new loaf pans and thought the shape of the Pullman loaf pan might be nice.
Hi Althea, I don’t think you have to adjust it much. Just be sure you have enough head room to grow and bake the loaf. There are other bakers in this comment thread further down that have used this recipe for pullman loaves. You may get some better ideas from reading what they did. Happy Baking!
Diane, Thank you for sharing! I will definitely try both! My husband likes to help me with keeping up the starter and baking new recipes. We are definitely having fun with it, and we are all enjoying the results! Happy New Year!
This was the first sourdough recipe that I I tried after being gifted with some starter last week! I’m totally new to making sourdough bread, and I have now made 3 batches this week. It is so easy and delicious! I used a scale for my measurements and it’s been perfect every time! I am wondering if I can add shredded cheddar cheese and crushed garlic in a little butter rolled up in the dough loaf before baking?
Hi Donna, Your amazing! We are so glad you’re having fun with this recipe. This is a very versatile dough. As for layering in ingredients, you absolutely can. Follow the instructions for our cinnamon raison bread or our crusty Jalapeño bread recipes if you feel more comfortable with detailed instructions. Otherwise enjoy creating your own. Happy New Years!