Sourdough Sandwich Bread

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A soft, not-too-tangy sourdough sandwich bread that holds up to lunches, French toast, and grilled cheese. Six pantry ingredients, no Dutch oven, no boule shaping.

Prep Time1 30

Cook Time45

Rising Time10

Total Time12 15

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Calories: 173kcal

Author: Liz Marek

Equipment

1 Thermometer
1 Food Scale

Ingredients

150 grams active sourdough starter
325 grams warm water
20 grams avocado oil
30 grams honey
500 grams bread flour unbleached
20 grams salt

Instructions

Before you begin: Confirm your starter is active and bubbly, it should at least double within 4 to 6 hours of its last feeding. Grease a 9x5 loaf pan. Plan backwards from when you want to bake, this is roughly a 12 hour process from first mix to oven.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the active sourdough starter, warm water, avocado oil, and honey. Whisk until smooth. Add the bread flour and salt and mix until a shaggy dough forms. Cover and rest 1 hour.
Perform 4 sets of stretch-and-folds, 30 minutes apart. With wet hands, grab one edge of the dough, stretch it up, fold over the center, rotate 90 degrees and repeat on all four sides.
Cover and let bulk ferment 4 to 8 hours at room temperature (68 to 80º F), until the dough has roughly doubled and looks bubbly and airy. Warmer room = faster ferment.
Lightly flour your work surface. Shape the dough into a tight log the length of the loaf pan and place seam-side down into the greased pan. The dough should reach halfway up the rim.
Cover loosely and second-rise 2 hours at room temperature, until the dough is puffy and just crests the top of the pan.
Preheat your oven to 400º F. Score the top of the loaf with one long shallow slash down the length.
Bake 30 minutes at 400º F, then reduce to 375º F and bake another 15 minutes, until the crust is deeply golden brown.
Check the internal temperature with a thermometer. Pull at 198 to 205º F. Lower end of that range = softer crumb, upper end = firmer toast.
Remove the loaf from the pan immediately onto a wire rack. Cool completely (at least 1 to 2 hours) before slicing.

Video

Notes

Ingredient notes: Bread flour gives the strongest structure. You can replace up to half with whole wheat for a nuttier flavor, beyond that the crumb gets too dense. Honey can be swapped 1:1 for maple syrup, agave, or granulated sugar. Avocado oil can be swapped 1:1 for olive oil, canola oil, or melted unsalted butter.

Pan options: A 9x5 loaf pan is the default. For a softer crust and bigger oven spring, use the "second pan as a lid" technique: spritz the scored dough with water, invert a matching loaf pan (or greased foil) over the top, and bake covered at 400º F for the first 30 minutes, then uncover and finish at 375º F for the final 15 minutes. The trapped steam mimics a Dutch oven.

Make ahead and storage: After the bulk rise, shape into the pan, cover, and refrigerate up to 24 hours. Let it warm up 1 to 2 hours at room temperature before baking. Baked loaf stores airtight at room temperature up to 3 days. Freeze whole or pre-sliced, wrapped in foil + freezer bag, up to 3 months. Reheat slices straight from frozen in a toaster.

Substitutions: Active starter can be swapped 1:1 for sourdough discard, expect a longer bulk rise (8 to 12 hours).

Tangzhong upgrade (optional, advanced): Whisk 25 g of the bread flour with 125 g of the water in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens into a pudding (about 3 minutes). Cool, then add to the dough with the rest of the water and flour at step 1. The pre-gelatinized starch gives you Japanese-milk-bread softness without changing the ratios.

Critical do-nots:

Don't slice into the loaf while it's still hot, the crumb will go gummy.
Don't skip the second rise, this is where you avoid a dense bottom.
Don't mix cinnamon directly into the dough (it slows yeast and you'll get a flat loaf). Sprinkle it during shaping instead.

Nutrition