Every 2 days, I make this loaf. Sometimes, every day. Why? Because it is the perfect bread for a classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich OR a grilled ham and cheese OR french toast OR basically anything you can do with a loaf of bread! This soft sourdough sandwich loaf is made with wholesome ingredients, fermented for gut health and tastes marvellous. If we don’t have this loaf constantly on hand, our world falls apart. Just ask my kids.
If you are looking for a gut friendly alternative to store bought white bread, this will serve you well. It is made the day before you are going to enjoy it and we use bubbly active sourdough starter to help ferment the grains, benefiting your body in many ways!
Using an active starter will help with flavour development (giving your white bread some amazing tang and a robust taste!) and also give a helping hand at forming bubbles and air in the dough itself. Just for scientific purposes, I went to the store and got a look at the ingredients in your basic white loaf of bread. I saw bleached flour, glucose, preservatives, blue-2 and some even “boasted” of synthetic oils. And the price was outrageous. This loaf runs me about $1.50 to make from home!
Why Sourdough?
I was gluten free for years after experiencing migraines and headaches anytime I touched gluten. A friend told me that they found they were able to enjoy ALL glutenous goodness as long as it was made with a fermented sourdough starter. This intrigued me because GF bread was just not doing it for me.
Within 24 hours, I got myself a sourdough starter and began to figure this out. Within a week of eating sourdough fermented breads, I boasted of zero migraines/headaches AND even saw my skin clearing up.
Fast forward to now, I bake all our own bread by use of an active sourdough starter or with the discard. Either way, my body (and my family’s body!) loves it!
Here are some sourdough facts for you:
- Sourdough is easy to digest: It contains a natural bacteria and germ in the fermentation process that will break down the starches in the grains before they even hit your stomach. Basically, very gentle on your gut!
- Blood sugar friendly: With sourdough being fermented, it works against any bad starches and ingredients that can cause your blood sugar levels to rise and spike.
- Full of good acid: The acid in sourdough breads can help your body process foods easier and absorb more minerals, yielding a stronger immune system and better health overall.
- Good for GF sensitivities: In the creation of sourdough bread, gluten is broken down overtime and has changed into amino acids before you enjoy it. This aids in easier digestion and gut health.
- Less preservatives: Sourdough preserves itself naturally using acetic acid, nothing fake here!
- The flavour: Sourdough has a tang and flavour like no other bread. It is hearty, satisfying and extremely delicious.
Soft Sourdough Sandwich Loaf Ingredients
- Active Sourdough Starter: This is what will work to ferment our dough, create an amazing flavour and help the dough to form air bubbles and tenderness.
- Water: I prefer using filtered water at room temperature for best results in my rising of the dough.
- Butter: Using a healthy fat, such as butter, will help soften the bread and give it a good chew and tenderness.
- Flour: The flour I use is sourced from an organic mill in my area, but any all purpose flour will do!
- Sugar/Honey: This is used to soften the bread so it stays tender thru the entire process. I use an organic cane sugar.
- Salt: A little bit of salt goes a long way to help bring out the best flavours. I use any sea salt I have on hand for this recipe.
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When handling the bread dough, be sure to wet your hands! This will prevent the dough from sticking and stop you from having to use extra flour in the shaping process. Sometimes extra flour can either prevent an easy dough shaping or create “breakage” thru the bread crust.
How To Make Soft Sourdough Sandwich Loaf From Scratch
First, make sure you start the night before you plan on eating this bread. If I want to enjoy this Tuesday, I will make the dough Monday evening. It needs that overnight rest to properly ferment and rise the dough.
The dough can be mixed by use of a bread machine or a stand mixer using a dough hook attachment. I prefer my bread machine since it kneads and rises my dough overnight while I sleep!
Baker’s Timeline:
This can be started or made at any time. I like to start doughs at night time so they can rise all night. In the morning, they are ready to shape and bake. The time slots are to be looked at as starting that step in between those times. You can easily stretch these times in the day to make it work best for the meal or time you are preparing it for.
Note: I live in a cooler area and do have the ability to make my dough in the evening, let it ferment overnight and then bake the next day. Some people who live in warmer areas may not have this option due to the risk of over fermenting your bread and ruining the batch! Instead, you can make the dough in the morning, let it rise for an hour, shape into a loaf and let it continue to rise until the dome reaches the sides of the loaf pan. At this point simply cover and refrigerate overnight then remove to bake the next day! Extra info in my notes in the recipe card.
STEP 1: MAKE THE DOUGH
Combine your wet and dry ingredients, using either a bread machine or a stand mixer and let the dough sit covered in a warm place overnight. The dough while develop in flavour and texture during this time.
STEP 2: SHAPING THE DOUGH
Remove your dough from the bowl onto a non floured surface and gently press the dough, trying your best to not remove bubbles and air that has formed overnight.
Start to roll and fold the dough over itself to create a log shape.
Place your dough log into a greased or parchment paper lined bread pan.
STEP 3: RISE
Let this rise for at least a few hours or until the top has passed the sides of the bread pan in height. Keeping it in a warm place with help it to rise faster.
STEP 4: BAKE
Brush the top with melted butter before your bake. Bake for 40 minutes or until the top is a rich brown colour. Brush again with butter after removed from the oven and let cool before slicing!
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How To Store
Keep your bread loaf in an airtight container or bread bag at room temperature for 5-7 days or in the refrigerator for 2 weeks. It also freezes well for up to 3 months.
If you enjoyed this recipe, be sure to share and tag me @sarahthereseco on Instagram and come back here to rate and leave a comment!
Soft Sourdough Sandwich Loaf
Ingredients
- 1¼ Cups Water
- 140 Grams Bubbly Sourdough Starter
- ¼ Cup Softened Salted Butter
- 3½ Cups Flour
- 3 Tablespoons Sugar Or Honey
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
Instructions
- In the evening, around 8:00-10:00PM, add all your ingredients in order as listed into your bread machine. Set the machine to a dough cycle which will work to knead and rise the dough a few times during its cycle. I use the KBS bread machine and for me it is cycle 12 titled “Leaven Dough”.
- Go to bed and let the machine do its work overnight!
- If using a stand mixer, add in your wet ingredients, give it a good stir and follow up by adding in your dry ingredients and incorporating them using a dough hook. I personally prefer using a bread machine because of its multi knead and rise cycles, but if you are just using a stand mixer, you may have to let the dough knead for quite awhile to achieve that elastic dough texture. When finished, cover with a wet tea towel and let it sit in a warm place over night.
- In the morning, remove the dough from your bread machine or bowl onto a non floured counter. Wet your hands as you remove the dough since it will be a little too sticky for dry hands to work with. If the dough does so happen to feel extra sticky, go ahead and dust your counter with some flour.
- On the counter, press or roll the dough gently into a rough rectangular shape and then fold the dough over itself to create a log shape. I like taking one end and folding it halfway over the length of the dough and do the same with the other end. Then take your hands and gently pull the dough towards yourself as your pinkie fingers rest on the counter and your palms face you as you pull the dough. This will better the shape.
- I like placing my dough log onto parchment paper when shaped and then placing it into my 5×10 loaf pan. If you want to skip the parchment paper, go ahead but make sure you grease your pan first. Let your bread rise in a warm place for about 3-4 hours. Before placing into the oven, melt a little butter and brush it over the top of the loaf to encourage tenderness and even browning.
- Bake at 375 for 35-40 minutes or until the top is very brown.
- Remove from the oven and quickly remove from the pan as well to reduce warmth condensation to the bread, onto a cooling sheet. Brush the top with a little butter to soften the crust and cover while it is still warm with a tea towel to help soften the crust further. Once cooled, remove the tea towel and slice.
- I store mine in a bag for 5-7 days at room temperature! This loaf also freezes well for 3 months.
Hi! Could I mix dough in the morning, rise all day, shape before bed into the loaf pan and put in the fridge overnight? To bake in the morning, how long would you let it set out before baking?
Thank you!
Yes, you definitely can! I have done this a few times due to time or busy days. Before baking the next day, I like to remove it from the fridge for at least 45 minutes (sometimes a good hour or 2 is best!) before baking. This also depends on how warm your kitchen is and what time of year. In the summer, 45 minutes of rest at room temperature before baking is great. In the winter, I like to give it at least and hour or 2! Cheers Ashley!
love this, I didn’t know making sourdough could be this simple until I found your video. I have 3 kiddos and work full time, but this allows me to make all the bread for my family! thank you! (fyi you have a typo above the bread setting should be 12 for leven dough on the KBS machine)
Hi Yuliya, thank you for that correction! I get confused between my KBS and old bread machine. The KBS Leaven Dough cycle is 12 and my previous one was 14! I am so thankful this recipe has served you well!
would it be possible to get the measurements for the flour in grams? I constantly get distracted by my kids when scooping put cups of flour and then can’t remember how many I added, hahaha, I need to use a scale to help my Mom brain
this bread is a GAME CHANGER. I’d give it 10 stars if i could!
Chelsea, I am so glad! Thank you friend!
The hype is real. Easy sourdough soft sandwich loaf. Baked it up this morning and already making my second loaf tonight, my crew scarfed it down. All your recipes are gold Sarah!!
Christine, thank you SO much! Means the world to me!
Can I skip the sugar? Does it affect the softness? Thank you!
It may affect the softness a bit, but not enough to yield anything but a good loaf of bread. We also do sugar free or sweeten it with a few tablespoons of honey!
This is my go-to recipe! The best sourdough sandwich loaf ever! Thank you Sarah!
I really appreciate it Judy, thank you!
I have tried it in my bread machine and left it overnight. Was soo wet and sticky, unable to handle the dough and not able to shape it. It did rise beautifully in the machine. Used a sourdough dough setting.
Hi Lara! This could come from the dough being over fermented OR using non filtered water OR even an overly warm kitchen temperature overnight. But if you found the dough well risen but quite goopy once starting to form, it sounds like it was overly fermented. This can be from a very hungry starter that “over ate” your dough!
Lara – This happened to me the first time I made it. Now I set the bread maker to start closer to midnight or 1am and in the morning it’s perfect for shaping. Not sure if this will help, but it’s worth a try!
Thanks Toni!
Great loaf!! Wondering if you have ever tried it with some quantities of whole wheat flour?
YES, I have! I will substitute 1/2 cup to 1 cup of the white flour for a whole wheat and add in extra water if necessary to wet the dough more. Since dough that contains whole wheat in it can be drying, that extra water or even a little bit of extra butter is definitely helpful!
You need to make a cook book! I’m obsessed with your recipes!! So encouraged by your faith and family!
Praise God, thank you Amelia!
Hi Sarah! I have been making the loaf recipe you shared on Youtube some time ago. I have loved that recipe and I was comparing the measurements to make sure it was the same. But I notice this one is a bit different. Your recipe was my first success at sourdough. Any difference in the recipes? Thank you for all that you do!
This is the first recipe I made when I got my starter and we’re obsessed! Even my picky toddler can’t get enough. 🙌🏼
So glad Marissa, thanks for sharing!
It’s SO good and so versatile that I make it twice a week for my little family of three. It’s the easiest bread recipe I’ve ever followed (bread machines are a game changer!) and the results exceed every expectation. I even make them as little gifts for friends and family!
Instead of butter I used coconut oil and coconut sugar in place of sugar. There is NO coconut taste whatsoever!
This made my day Kaelea! Thank you very much!
I really appreciate that the recipe is designed with the bread machine in mind. the bread had excellent flavor and a nice balance between sourdough tang and honey. Just wish that the ingredents were also in grams.
Hi Kate! Thanks, I am glad you enjoyed it! I only use grams when I am using sourdough starter or discard, everything else I do love using measuring cups and spoons! Sorry! I am updating recipes in a bit here too include those gram measurements!
This is our go-to sandwich bread recipe. It’s so, so good and gets eaten up quickly! I often sub whole wheat flour for half the all purpose flour and it turns out great.
Thank you Toni! I appreciate it 🙂
I made this recipe without a bread machine , I simply did a few stretch and folds after mixing it all together and then left it covered on my counter overnight. It came out amazingly well, I will definitely be making this again. Top notch recipe
Cheers Jessica!
Absolutely best loaf ever! Thank you so much for sharing your recipes. Totally love your channel and all your recipes. Cannot wait for more to come! 😬❤️🙏🏼 praying many blessings for your beautiful family.
Awh wow thank you Jessie, I truly appreciate it!
I tell EVERYONE about this sandwich loaf recipe. I LOVE it! Finally retiring my old thrifted bread machine and my KBS arrived today. *happy dance*
Thanks so much for sharing your giftings in the kitchen. You’re such an encouragement to this young christian mama❤️
That is so great Kate, woohoo! I so enjoy my KBS bread machine, and the warranty is so great too. 10/10! Thank you so much friend 🙂
I did mine without a bread machine or stand mixer. I just did some stretch and folds every couple hours —- came out beautifully!! Thank you Sarah
Hi Sarah! I tried this recipe and used mostly all purpose flour and replaced one cup of whole wheat flour. the flavor turned out great but the bread turned out very dense and heavy! wondering what I did wrong… maybe using the whole wheat. what flour do you normally use. I have the KBD bread machine and followed the recipe exactly except for adding the whole wheat flour. thanks for sharing all your recipes I am so excited to try more of them out!
I would recommend replacing 1 cup of the white flour with more like 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour. Whole wheat is much more dry and dense of a flour, making your dough quite heavy!
I very much appreciate the detail in your recipes! They are easy to follow and the step by step instructions are so helpful to me! I had to let you know because I have the hardest time following most recipes instructions. They are wonderful recipes too! Thanks for all you do!
Thank you Katie, I am thrilled they are working well for you!
I make this loaf weekly! It’s a family favourite and so versatile to use with everything. ❤️
I am looking for a freshly milled sourdough bread machine recipe so your recipe is almost what I’m looking for except I need measurements for freshly milled flour as it performs very differently than all purpose. Do you have an alternative recipe for this?
Hi! I don’t use freshly milled flour! I use organic flour from my local mill. You may have to experiment and see what will work best for your flour and preference!
easy recipe. so quick. I have made it twice in the past week.
FYI – on my bread maker , I used the pizza dough setting .
I’ve noticed that my Breadman bread machine needs a little longer of a rise cycle, and a bit more like 4 and 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, and honestly this recipe is a go to. Praise God for your obedience Sarah. I’ve been using so many of your recipes and honestly I am grateful to have recipes that I trust will nourish my family. Thank you so much for this website. It is a great work for the glory of God.
Praise God, thank you so much Stephie!
Hello! Sorry for my silly question but should I buy a bread machine in order to make this?!
Not a silly question! I use a bread machine to make this, but some people have used a stand mixer or their hands to do it too! A previous commenter said she combined the wet ingredients, added in the dry, did a few stretch and folds over a few hours in the evening and let it sit on her counter overnight covered with a damp towel on top. Next day it was ready to shape, rise and bake!
Hello question on how you do the overnight setting on the kbs bread machine. I set it to Leven and started it, I left it overnight and woke up to just the dough it wasn’t formed into a ball and was not risen. is there a special setting you do for this?
Hi Autumn! I do exactly that, add all the ingredients to the bin, turn on the leaven dough setting and it goes for 1 hour and 24 minutes in its cycle. When I wake up I find my dough very puffy and bubbly, ready to shape into a loaf! It could be your starter was not active enough or it over fermented overnight leaving the dough limp.
okay I will try it again! how long overnight do you let it set. is 12 hours yoo long?
too**
Just made this for the first time (without a bread machine) so so easy and incredibly delicious will become a regular staple in my household.
So glad Tessa, thanks!
Hi Sarah! I absolutely love your YouTube videos and content.
I am just curious, what the average room temperature is in your home? I am in Western Australia and generally 140g of starter would finish bulk fermentation in roughly 4 hours. So I guess my question is, would the recipe still work if I was to reduce the amount of starter to 50g in order to allow the dough to proof overnight in my bread machine, without over fermenting?
Good question! Average it is about 15-20 degrees Celsius in our kitchen. So not as warm! If you find this is over fermenting overnight, you can either reduce the amount of starter you use OR make this dough in the morning and after a good 4 hours or so, shape and place it in a bread pan and refrigerate until ready to bake!
Thank you so much!
Hello! Just wondering if there’s something I can do to make the bread have make of an even dome on top, both times I’ve made it, it turns out great but with a bit more of an overhang on the edges?
Hey Leanna! If a dome does not form and the dough more just hangs, it may be over fermented OR the dough just needs a little more firm shaping to encourage a tighter dough. If overfermentation is the problem, try making the bread dough in the morning, letting it sit at room temp for an hour or two and then shape, place into the bread pan and let rise. Once a dome has formed, either bake right away OR cover and place in the fridge overnight to then bake the next day!
I’ve made many attempts at loaf bread. Flavor is always superior to store bread but none of them were texturally similar. But THIS recipe.. texturally it’s the closest I’ve ever come to store bread. (It has that signature flaky separating crust) would you believe I did the kneading by hand!? I don’t have a machine or stand mixer, it took about 25 minutes, I know I’m psycho, but it’s possible. I made it mid day and let it rise til the night, shaped and put it in a loaf pan before bed, covered and put it in the fridge. Baked as recommended.
10/10, will be making again, although I’ll buy a dough hook for my hand mixer and try that next time lol.
Amazing Bria, thrilled this worked for you!
SOOO good and simple! Love, love it! Thank you Sarah!
Hi Sarah, I made this recipe with my stand mixer. It turned out great and I loved it. My family loves bread so I decided to buy the same bread maker as you and try the loaf again. This time the dough was incredibly sticky in the morning. It looks like the whole thing was sourdough starter when I pulled it out of the machine. ANy ideas of what I did wrong? I am in TX so everything is rising more quickly during this hot humid May we are having.
Hey Allie! Check out my notes in the recipe for help here! Sounds like overfermented bread which is very common in warm climates!
New favorite sandwich Loaf!
Thank you Abby!
I have been making your sandwich loaf recipe from your YouTube video for a while, and wanted to try this version since I saw it was a little bit different. I ended up letting rise on the counter for 3-4 hours, and it rose a lot, but when I baked it, it fell flat and didn’t dome like it usually does. I’m used to the other recipe where you let it sit and rise for about 30 min to an hour. Did it over ferment on the counter? Is the 3-4 hour rise time okay to skip? Thanks in advance!
These warmer days are really effecting my bread rise too! It is as if it almost bursts the dome during the bake, a sign of overfermentation. Reduce the rising time OR check my notes for a different way to make the dough to stop over fermentation. 🙂
Wonderful loaf! Thank you. I made my second loaf today! I noticed the bread is very soft inside and crispy on the outside – a perfect loaf! Any tips for cutting it without squishing the bread? Thank you!
Awesome, thank you! Use a very sharp serrated knife and wait for the bread to completely cool before slicing!
Hi Sarah! Any tips on keeping the top from tearing? The top of the loaf tore open where it connects to the side of the loaf. Still great bread, but torn!
You and me have the same problem! To combat this recently I have been putting quite a bit of melted butter over the top of the dough before baking and scoring a line down the centre of the dome just before baking. Helps to stop the split AND looks pretty when sliced!
Going to give this a try! I make sourdough artisan loaves and regular Sandwhich bread, but excited to combine the two! Attempting with a stand mixer. My question is, what size loaf pans do you use? And do you have a preferred brand that’s non-toxic?
Way to go! Such a beautiful bread to enjoy on the daily! I use 10×5 pans from USA brand. Looking for a non toxic replacement, but no luck so far.
We have been making this for several weeks now and it has become a staple in our home! So good and so easy! My most recent batch I made with cold starter from my fridge, it had been fed and used the day before but I did not feed it before making this recipe, just added it straight in from the fridge. I let it do a longer bulk ferment (about 14-15 hours – my kitchen is around 72 degrees F), but otherwise followed the rest of the instructions to a T and it still turned out SO good. Incredibly light and fluffy!
Thank you so much for your beautiful bread recipes!! One question – I did buy a KBS bread machine because of your videos. You put the dough on the 12 (leaven dough) setting. It’s automatically set for and hour and a half… do you add time to this setting? Specifically for overnight or do you just leave it at the 1 and 1/2 hour mark the bread machine is set at?
TIA
Thank YOU! I do not add time to this setting. I simply turn on the machine before I go to sleep and let it go thru its 1.5 hour cycle. The remaining time overnight it just sits in my machine. Do check out my notes section if you are experiencing a very warm house (as we do this time of year!). It can cause the dough to over ferment in the machine, so the other method in my notes may be very helpful to counteract that! 🙂
I am new to the world of making my own bread, and I have made successful sourdough round loaves and artisan bread. This was my first time making soft sandwich bread and the recipe was so easy to follow! I am so impressed with the results, and give credit to the well thought out recipe.
Hi! I can’t wait to try this recipe since my kids don’t really enjoy the artisan style loafs. I have a question for you: one of my daughters has a milk allergy. What would you suggest using in replacement of the butter? (We don’t really like the taste of vegan butter.) Thanks!
Coconut oil works well!
I’ve struggled with my sourdough bread loaves for over a year. It never rose properly and I finally gave up on the recipe I was using and decided to try this one. And my bread loaf turned out beautifully. I finally have bread that doesn’t look like a brick 😂
Amazing, I am thrilled this worked for you! It is one of my most used recipes!
We use the same bread machine as you, bought it off your link 😏 thank you btw!! So we always use the Natural Soudough setting and it’s like a 6 hour proceess from mix to baked. Is this recipe, considered a “long ferment”?
Amazing! Thank YOU! Yes, this is a long ferment recipe. We are using natural means to rise the dough from our starter, so cool! I am using setting 12 at the moment which is a 1 hour and 24 minute cycle, but during the warmer season I have been letting it knead and then removing it from the machine since the machine works to heat it up to encourage rising. Through the summer this can yield over fermented bread! So after the 20 or so minute knead in my machine I remove my dough and let it rise at our warm room temp!
Absolutely love this recipe!! And what I may love even more is that Sarah doesn’t have obnoxious ADs on her blog that make it annoying to read recipes. It makes it a very calming experience overall while baking ❤️🤗
Do you have gram measurements for water, flour, honey and salt?
Thanks
Yes! Hit the metric button below the ingredient list to get the recipe in grams!
Sarah, this recipe is awesome! I’ve made other sandwich bread recipes in the past, and my husband wasn’t a fan. this one had beautiful rise, great crumb, and the crust was actually soft! total win! Thank you!
This is the best sandwich loaf ever to make, so easy and forgiving with timing. Thank you so much! Soft and delicious, perfect loaf for a toastie or just a yummy fresh sandwich.