This Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread is easy to make and the best part is that it fits almost any budget. With the “good” bread at the grocery store hitting over four dollars a loaf and our family going through at least two loaves a week. This easy recipe became a quick favorite in our house. Soft, fluffy, economical and sourdough? Sign me up!
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Is there anything better than homemade bread? The smell that fills your kitchen as you bake is what happiness is made of. I love Sourdough Boules they are great with soups or toasted as a side. However, it can be a bit tough for little ones to eat through the crusty exterior and they are not the most practical for sandwiches. That’s where this soft and easy sandwich bread comes in. Using a preferment allows you to ensure a proper rise which keeps this sandwich bread soft.
Ingredients
For Preferment
- 1 cup of bubbly starter
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Bread
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp of butter or 1 egg
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 1/2 cups of milk
Kitchen Tools and Products Mentioned
A mild taste
Most people look forward to that tangy sourdough taste in their sourdough. However, it can be hard to get kids to get used to it. This is where this bread comes in. This soft sourdough sandwich bread is not that sour, making it the perfect companion to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches my kids enjoy.
Start Preferment in the Morning
You want to start with a preferment. This is akin to making a yeast sponge with regular yeast. It ensures your bread will be soft and fluffy and will rise enough for a slice of true sandwich bread.
In a large bowl, mix the bubbly or active sourdough starter, all-purpose flour, and water. Leave it until it ferments into a bubbly sponge.
Add the preferment, flour, and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer.
Warm up milk, butter, and honey. Alternatively, in summer I use cold ingredients to help slow down the fermentation process on hot days. This includes swapping the butter for an egg.
Make sure your milk isn’t too hot, this can kill the yeast. You want the milk below the 100F mark.
I use a food thermometer to make sure the milk is at the right temperature.
Once the wet ingredients are ready add them to the mixer and start kneading the dough using the hook attachment.
The dough looks lumpy and if you try to stretch it it will break. I use my Kitchen-Aid stand mixer on setting 2 to knead my dough. This takes about 20 minutes.
The dough is done when it looks smooth and you can stretch it without it breaking.
Next, the dough needs to do its first rise. I put the dough in a floured bowl that has a lid and let it rise overnight or for at least 4 to 6 hours.
The next morning the dough is ready to be rolled out. I divide the dough into two and shape it into two loaves.
Put the loves onto two prepared loaf pans. Prepare the pans by buttering them and then sprinkling them with flour.
Cover and let rise until they double in size, about 2 hours. Preheat oven to 375 F. Bake for about 35 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 90 degrees.
As soon as the bread is done brush it with butter. This is what keeps the crust incredibly soft. Allow bread to cool before slicing.
Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread
I love that I can replace a lot of our staples with homemade goods. The bread was hard to replace at first because I had not found a way to make it that was close to what the store-bought one had to offer. Although I love sourdough bread my kids do not always care for it in their sandwiches. This soft sourdough sandwich bread made all the difference. Making a sourdough starter sponge and adding the melted butter after baking ensures that this bread remains soft while still rising enough for a full-sized sandwich.
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Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread
This is an easy sourdough sandwich bread that is actually soft! This recipe is simple enough you will make it over and over again.
Ingredients
Preferment
- 1 cup of active sourdough starter
- 1 cup water
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Dough
- Preferment
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups of milk
- 2 tbs of butter or 1 egg
- 2 tbs of honey
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- Start by making the preferment by mixing one cup active sourdough starter, one cup of water, and one and a half cups of all-purpose flour in a large bowl and cover with a lid. Ferment for about 4 hours or overnight.
- Warm up milk, butter and honey. Make sure the temperature stays below 100F
- To the bowl of a stand mixer add the preferment, 5 cups of flour, salt, and milk, honey, and butter.
- Using the hook attachment of the stand mixer knead the dough in setting 2 for about 20 minutes.
- Check on dough every 5 minutes to make sure it is getting knead properly.
- The dough is ready when it is smooth and you can stretch it without it breaking.
- Put the dough in a large bowl prepared with flour and let rise for at least 6 hours or overnight.
- Once the dough doubles in size punch it down and roll out into a floured surface.
- Divide the dough into two equal size balls.
- To form loaves flatten the dough and then roll and pinch seams.
- Add the loaves into 2 prepared bread pans.
- Cover and let loves rise again for about 2 hours.
- Preheat oven at 375F
- Once the oven is preheated bake the bread for about 35 minutes.
- You will know the bread is done when the internal temperature reaches 190F or they have risen and sound hollow when you tap it.
- As soon as the bread is done pull out of the oven and butter the tops of the bread with a pastry brush. This will ensure a very soft crust.
- Allow the bread to cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
Notes
- If the weather is really warm I use an egg instead of butter and do not heat up the milk. This helps the dough not ferment too fast.
- There is two ways to time this recipe. I usually start the preferment the night before and wake up to a preferment that is ready to use. I make the dough in the morning and it usually ready to bake by the evening.
- If I start the preferment in the morning it is usually ready to use by around noon and I let my dough bulk rise overnight.
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