Easy Sourdough Sandwich Bread
A simple and easy recipe for homemade sourdough sandwich bread. Made with all purpose flour and just a touch of butter. I like to make the dough at night so we can have fresh bread in the morning. This loaf freezes well (whole or sliced). I recommend this loaf pan. Notes For best results, please weigh your ingredients with a scale instead of using measuring cups. Here's why: weight and volume measurements are not equal, only approximate! This is especially important regarding the sourdough starter. If your starter is very bubbly, 1/4 cup might only weigh 30 g which is too little for this recipe (you need 50 g). The dough will take forever to rise! Same goes for the flour... 4 cups might end up weighing way over 500 g depending on how tight the flour was packed into the cup. You'll end up with dry dough. I used Whole Foods 365 Everyday all purpose flour for this recipe. King Arthur and Trader Joe's ap flour will work as well. If using another brand with a lower protein content (i.e. Gold Medal, Pillsbury, Heckers) consider reducing the total water amount by 15 g.
Ingredients
- 500 g (4 cups) all purpose flour
- 60 g (4 tbsp.) unsalted butter, softened, cut into cubes
- 12 g (1 tbsp.) sugar
- 9 g fine sea salt
- 50 g (1/4 cup) bubbly, active sourdough starter (100% hydration)**
- 270 g (1 cup + 2 tbsp) warm water
- 100 g starter + 255 g water
- 150 g starter + 250 g water
Directions
- 1
Baking Schedule: this is an overnight dough which takes approximately 10-12 hrs to rise @ 68 F. Start the night before, in the evening, and plan to bake the following day. If it’s warmer than 68 F the dough will take less time to rise. Alternatively, start in the morning and bake in the afternoon or evening.
- 2
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the flour, butter, sugar and salt. Mix on low speed until combined; the butter should look like crumbs.
- 3
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise overnight at room temperature (68 F) until double in size, about 10-12 hrs. Please refer to the Baking Schedule above for additional rise time options.
- 4
In the morning, coat an 8.5×4 inch loaf pan with butter.
- 5
Cover the dough with lightly oiled or buttered plastic wrap. Let rest at room temperature until it has risen to about 1-inch above the rim of the pan (check the height by looking at the domed center portion of the dough). You are not looking for it to double in size. For timing, this can take anywhere from 1 1/2-2 hours (or more!) depending on temperature and the amount of sourdough starter used. Remember, the warmer it is, the faster the dough will rise. Refer to the “helpful tips” at the top of this post.
- 6
Bake the dough on the center rack for about 45-50 minutes, or until golden brown.