This sourdough sandwich loaf is insanely soft and light – perfect for making sandwiches or toasting.
My first love with sourdough was my homemade artisan sourdough bread – that recipe makes some out-of-this-world-good bread. I truly think that every sourdough baker should make a rustic loaf like that at least once.
That loaf is insanely delicious. BUT…it isn’t always the most practical. All those beautiful little air bubbles don’t always make for the best toast or sandwich. So, when you don’t want to have to tear at a sandwich with your teeth, or when you don’t want the melted butter to run out the bottom of your toast, you make this super fluffy sourdough sandwich bread.
This loaf is soft and beautiful and delicious. The perfect vehicle for any sort of topping you want to throw at it. Let’s dive in and see how it’s made:
First, we need to make the leavain. What is a levain, you ask? It’s basically a sourdough starter that you mix up specifically for your recipe. It’s the leaven that will make your bread rise.
Unlike my artisan sourdough bread recipe, we’re noting using a wet, 100% hydration levain. This one’s more like a stiff dough, and it contains milk! Mix it together and wait for it to ripen and rise.
The first time I made this bread, we scarfed down about half a loaf in one sitting. Reuben devoured slice after slice, even though he isn’t a big bread fan! It’s that good.
NOTES:
I scaled up the original recipe to better fit a standard American loaf pan. The original amount was for a pullman loaf pan, which I don’t own.
I have made this recipe with and without the sugar. Of course it’s absolutely delicious with the sugar, but it’s still really good without it.
If you don’t have any bread flour on hand, you can still totally pull off this loaf. I’ve made it with part bread flour, and also with all AP flour.
Sourdough Sandwich Loaf
- Total Time: 24 hours 40 minutes
- Yield: 1 loaf 1x
Ingredients
For the Levain/Starter:
- 23 grams 100% hydration sourdough starter (see note)
- 38 grams whole milk
- 70 grams bread flour (can also use AP flour)
For the Final Dough:
- all of the levain/starter
- 173 grams all-purpose flour
- 173 grams bread flour (or more AP flour)
- 1 whole egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 168 grams whole milk
- 43 grams sugar (optional)
- 8 grams Himalayan pink salt
- 43 grams butter (softened)
Instructions
For the Levain/Starter:
- Mix together all of the levain ingredients in a jar. Let sit at room temperature to mature and rise, about 8 hours.
For the Final Dough:
- Place all of the dough ingredients (including the levain) except for the salt and butter in the bowl of stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until it comes together in a shaggy dough. Let rest (autolyse) for 30 minutes.
- Switch to the dough hook. Sprinkle in the salt and knead for 3-5 minutes, or until the dough starts to come together.
- Add the butter gradually, mixing well after each addition. It will start out greasy, but the butter will eventually absorb into the dough. Continue kneading until the dough passes the windowpane test, about 10 minutes.
- Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, then turn to grease all sides of the dough. Cover tightly and allow to rise at room temperature for 2 hours. Place in the refrigerator to rise overnight.
- The next day, divide the dough into 3 pieces and form into balls. Place on a lightly floured surface, cover with a damp tea towel, and allow to rest for 1 hour.
- Roll each ball into an elongated oval, then roll each one up jelly-roll-fashion. Allow to rest for 10 minutes. Roll them out into an oval again along the seam, then roll each one up like a jelly roll once more. Transfer the rolls to a buttered 9×5-inch loaf pan. Cover with a damp tea towel and allow to rise at room temperature for about 6 hours. At that point the dough should have puffed up and filled the pan about 2/3-3/4 of the way.
- minutes before the loaf is ready to bake, preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Place the risen loaf into the hot oven and bake for 20 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue to bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the loaf reaches an internal temperature of 195-200 degrees F.
- Transfer to a wire cooling rack and allow to cool completely before slicing (if you can).
Notes
100% hydration starter means a starter that has been fed with equal weights (not volumes) of water and flour and allowed to rise until doubled, about 6-12 hours depending on the temperature of your kitchen.
All of the mixing can be done by hand if desired.
Recipe adapted from Cook Til Delicious
- Prep Time: 24 hours
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Category: Bread
There is no salt mentioned in the recipe!
★★★★
Lovely soft loaf. I used all bread flour and it’s worked out well. Best loaf I’ve made! Well worth the time.
★★★★★
Interested in making this sandwich bread but I just want to clarify that I am feeding my 100% hydrated starter that was in the fridge for days with MILK and flour… I have never seen a starter fed with milk before so I just wanted to check!
Yes, that’s exactly right – it’s a little untraditional, but it turns out really great! :D
Fantastic. It didn’t really rise in the first two rises, but by the time I got it into a leaf pan and waited 10 hours, it finally rose and was delicious.
★★★★★
Huzzah, so happy to hear that!
Wow! Well done on a brilliant recipe. This is by far one of the best breads I have ever baked. I used all baker’s flour as that’s all I had and I also doubled the recipe and made 2 loaves. Will definitely make this more often. The family loved it.
★★★★★
That’s awesome to hear – hooray!