Sourdough Sandwich Bread - Super Simple Sandwich Bread with a Soft Crust

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One of the recipes I get asked for the most is a super simple sourdough sandwich bread made in a loaf tin.

After trialling many inclusions and getting my family to vote on the best one, this easy recipe has become our family's go to sandwich loaf.

Easy to bake and freeze, I'm sure you will love it too!

The softest sourdough sandwich bread ever.

What Makes A Good Sourdough Sandwich Bread?

A good sourdough sandwich bread needs to have a closed crumb (so the fillings don't fall out) and a light airy texture.

I personally like a softer crust on my sandwich bread, but you can certainly make a sandwich loaf with a crustier crust.

What's In A Good Sandwich Bread?

To give this sourdough sandwich bread it's light, airy crumb I've added some butter and sugar.

You can add milk powder if you wish. It will give the bread a richer texture and more caramelised crust. After testing it a few times, my family and I prefer it without the milk powder.

The softest sourdough sandwich bread ever.
This sandwich bread is truly delicious - soft and squishy, but still strong enough to stand up to some big fillings! And it couldn't be simpler to make!

The butter and sugar help to give the bread a softer crust, perfect for a sandwich loaf.

Buttering the bread tin before you put the dough in helps to yield a softer golden crust.

Choosing Your Amount of Starter

I generally use 100g of starter in this loaf and don't have any issues bulk fermenting overnight, so long as the temperature isn't above 21C.

If you want to leave your sandwich loaf to bulk ferment overnight (and it's a bit warmer where you live), I recommend using just 50g of starter.

You don't have to adjust anything else in the recipe. You can read about the effect of the starter amount on your sourdough here.

Hand Kneading vs Using A Mixer

This recipe is written for using a stand mixer (or Thermomix). I like to use a mixer because it saves me loads of time (I have 3 kids so time is not my friend).

However, you can totally knead this sourdough sandwich loaf by hand with no issues. You'll need to knead the dough quite vigorously to incorporate all the butter and sugar but it's certainly possible!

Make sure that your dough is silky and elastic when you've finished kneading. Being an enriched dough it will not be sticky.

Bulk Fermentation & Letting Your Sandwich Loaf Rise

Sourdough sandwich bread differs from a traditional sourdough loaf in many ways. Not only is the crumb a lot tighter and the crust a lot thinner, it also does not need a "cold ferment" in the way that traditional sourdough does.

A sandwich loaf has a bulk ferment and then a "second rise" where it is left at room temperature after shaping to fill the tin. Once the loaf has filled the tin, you could place it in the fridge to bake at a later time (I wouldn't leave it more than 24 hours though). But generally it's better if you bake it straight away.

Sourdough sandwich bread after second rise.
This delicious sandwich bread is a favorite in my house! The boys love helping with this one!

Which Loaf Tin Should You Choose?

Sandwich bread needs to be baked in a tin. You can use an open tin or a tin with a lid or "Pullman Bread Tin".

If you use an open tin, you'll achieve a rounded top to your sandwich loaf. This is what I prefer to bake in.

You can however also use a Pullman Tin. This has a lid that slides on top and will yield you a square sandwich loaf, more like the bread you would buy in the supermarket.

No matter what type of tin you use, this loaf is best in a tin around 4 x 8 x 4 inches. This is the one I use (I just leave the lid off as I think it is nicer with the rounded top).

Shaping Sandwich Bread

Shaping sandwich bread is so so easy. Of course, like anything, there are a million ways to complicate it, however I like to stick to this simple method - it's so easy my kids can do it!

Enriched dough to make sourdough sandwich bread.
This beautiful enriched dough is silky smooth and a pleasure to work with. You shouldn't need any flour when shaping it, it's just so lovely!

You need to pop your fermented dough out onto the kitchen counter so that the smooth side is underneath and the sticky side is on the top. Gently ease the dough out into a rough rectangle, with the short edge closest to you.

h sandwich bread.
Gently ease your rectangle of dough out into a larger rectangle, using your fingertips to de gas the dough as you go. You don't want the large bubbles in sandwich bread as you're looking for a tighter crumb.

Pop any large bubbles and gently flatten the dough with your fingertips.

Then roll the dough up into a log and tuck the ends under.

Leave the dough to sit and relax for around 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, tighten up the log by pulling the dough a little, using the sticky underside to create tension.

Then simply plop the log into your buttered tin.

Shaping instructions for sourdough sandwich loaf.
Shaping a sourdough sandwich loaf is much more forgiving than a batard or boule.

Unlike shaping a boule or batard, you really don't need to stress too much when it comes to shaping a sourdough sandwich loaf.

If you can get the top nice a tight, that's great. If you can't, it won't matter too much. The loaf will still puff up and be delicious!

Flavor Variations for Simple Sourdough Sandwich Bread

While this recipe will never do you wrong, you can always add a few variations to make it a little more exciting! Try some of these:

  • Replace the water with pineapple juice for a delicious variation.
  • Honey & Oat Sandwich Loaf – Add 20g of honey and 50g of oats to the mixture when you add the butter, sugar and salt. If you’d like to add oats to the top you should do so when you put the dough into the tin – spray the loaf lightly with water so the oats stick to the top.
  • Multigrain Sandwich Loaf – Add 50 to 100g of your favorite seeds to the mixture when you add the butter, sugar and salt. Seeds like sesame, sunflower, pumpkin and flax work really well.

Freezing A Sourdough Sandwich Loaf

You can easily double or even triple this recipe (when you look at the recipe below, you can easily click the button and it will automatically calculate the measurements for you).

Doubling the recipe means you can use one loaf and freeze the other. I like to make 3-4 loaves on a Sunday and freeze them for the rest of the week.

These plastic bread bags are perfect for freezing your sandwich bread in.

If you're a mama and you're making school lunches, this bread works so well! I even make a big batch of sandwiches and freeze them, making school mornings so much easier!

Things like ham and cheese, plain ham, peanut butter and jelly, honey or jam work the best when freezing. They defrost easily and you wouldn't even know they were frozen!

To store frozen sandwiches, you can place each sandwich in a plastic ziploc bag. This makes them easy to place in lunchboxes in the morning.

You could also wrap them in parchment paper and store in an airtight plastic container in the freezer if you don't want to use ziploc bags.

Slicing Sourdough Sandwich Loaf

Slicing a sandwich loaf can be tricky, especially if you want perfect slices. However, you can purchase a bread slicing guide which makes things much easier. You could even use an electric knife or electric food slicer.

Equipment for Making Sourdough Sandwich Bread

Sandwich Loaf Tins - you'll need a selection of sandwich loaf tins to bake your bread. Having 2 or even 4 is a great idea if you want to bake several loaves at once.
Plastic Bread Bags - these are a great way to store and freeze your bread and fantastic if you're making multiple loaves at once.

Bread Slicing Guide - these are super handy if you're wanting perfectly sliced sandwich bread.

Sourdough Sandwich Bread Recipe

Easy sourdough sandwich bread perfect for the whole family - a light airy crumb with a soft crust, perfect for your favorite sandwich fillings.
4.45 from 107 votes
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 13 hours 40 minutes
Servings 1 Loaf
Calories 2652 kcal

Equipment

  • Stand Mixer
  • Bread Tin

Ingredients  

  • 500 g Bread Flour
  • 100 g Sourdough Starter fed and bubbly
  • 280 g Water
  • 60 g Butter Cubed
  • 50 g Milk Powder optional
  • 15 g Salt
  • 20 g Sugar

Instructions 

  • Premix & Autolyse:
    Add your sourdough starter, flour and water into your stand mixer or Thermomix.
    Mix the ingredients for around 30 seconds until they are just combined into a shaggy dough.
    Leave to autolyse for around 30 minutes.
    Thermomix - dough mode 30 seconds.
  • Now add the rest of your ingredients - salt, butter, sugar, (and milk powder if you're using it).
    Mix the ingredients for around 1 minute or until they are combined together. Now leave to rest for around 30 minutes.
    Thermomix - dough mode for 1 minute.
  • Kneading Your Sandwich Dough:
    Using your stand mixer or Thermomix, knead the dough for around 3 minutes.
    If you are using a stand mixer, you'll need to use your dough hook.
    The dough should become very elastic. You won't be able to see the butter as it will be well combined into the dough. If the dough is getting a little warm from being mixed in the mixer, give it a 10 minute rest. If it seems ok, knead for the full 3 minutes.
    Now give your dough a 30 minute rest.
    Thermomix - dough mode for 3 minutes.
  • Knead your dough in the mixer for another 2-3 minutes.
    You'll know it's ready when it is slapping the sides of the bowl of your Thermomix or Stand Mixer.
    The dough will be very elastic and quite silky and smooth. It shouldn't be sticking to the sides of the bowl at all. If it's not quite there, it's ok to knead for a few more minutes to develop the gluten and get it to where it needs to be.
  • Bulk Ferment:
    Once your dough is kneaded sufficiently, you need to bulk ferment it. If you're using a stand mixer, it's fine to leave it in the mixing bowl. If you're using a Thermomix you'll need to tip your dough into a glass or ceramic bowl to finish its bulk ferment.
    At this point, you can just leave the dough as it is, covering it with some plastic wrap to stop it drying out. If you prefer your dough to be a bit neater, you can wet your hands and fold it into a neat ball.
    As with any sourdough bread, the bulk ferment time will depend on the temperature in your kitchen and of course the strength of your starter.
    You're looking for your dough to be just UNDER double.
  • Shaping:
    Once your dough has finished its bulk ferment you can shape your dough.
    Before you start shaping, lightly butter your loaf tin.
    Ease your dough out of the bowl using a silicone dough scraper, remembering to have the smooth side on the counter and the sticky side facing up. You shouldn't need any flour for this as your dough shouldn't stick (it's such a beautiful silky, enriched dough).
    Gently ease your dough out into a rough rectangle, with the shortest side in front of you.
    Pop any large bubbles and gently flatten the dough using your fingertips.
    Then roll the dough up into a log (using the short side) and tuck the ends under. Leave the dough to sit and relax for around 30 minutes.
    After 30 minutes, tighten up the log by pulling the dough a little, using the sticky underside to create tension. Then simply plop the log into your buttered tin.
  • Second Rise:
    Once your bread has been shaped and is in the tin, you'll need to let it rise again so that it fills up the shape of the tin.
    This should only take a few hours, but like the bulk ferment, this will depend on the strength of your starter and the temperature of your kitchen.
    You'll know it's done when it's risen above the lip of the tin (if you're using an open tin). It will be rounded on the top. When you poke it it will leave a slight indent but spring back nice and slowly.
    If you shaped it quite tight, you'll see some tension on the top of the dough as it's risen.
  • Baking Your Sandwich Bread:
    Preheat your oven to around 180C/350F.
    Let your oven warm for around 10 minutes and then place your sandwich loaf in the oven and bake for approximately 40 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
    It may take a little longer depending on your oven. Once the loaf is baked, carefully place it on a rack to cool. Try to leave it at least one hour before you slice into it. If you have used milk powder in your dough, just watch the top of your loaf - if it's starting to burn, cover it in foil for the remainder of the bake.
  • Once your dough is baked, remove it from the tin and leave to cool on a wire rack. Ideally, leave it for at least 90 minutes before you cut into it. Enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 2652kcal Carbohydrates: 421g Protein: 76g Fat: 71g Saturated Fat: 40g Trans Fat: 2g Cholesterol: 178mg Sodium: 6453mg Potassium: 1181mg Fiber: 13g Sugar: 41g Vitamin A: 1976IU Vitamin C: 4mg Calcium: 558mg Iron: 5mg
Tried this recipe?Share your creation with us @ThePantryMama or tag #thepantrymama!
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4.45 from 107 votes (94 ratings without comment)

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45 Comments

    1. 5 stars
      I resisted metric measurements for many years, but, with sourdough, I became a convert. Measuring in grams is SO much easier than US customary, and more accurate, too. Instead of asking Google to convert every gram to cups and Tbs, I simply pull out my new, $10 scale, and I'm good to go. (I still have no idea what "7 grams" is in "my measurements" but, it works so well.) This recipe is excellent.

  1. 5 stars
    I am not an expert bread baker and don't have the things needed to make a beautifully artisan-looking sourdough loaf. So I was looking for a recipe that I could make in sandwich loaf style. As it turns out, my bread did look beautiful anyway! I added some everything bagel seasoning, which tasted and look great, plus it was the best rise I have ever had in a loaf 🙂 What a great recipe! I am definitely printing it to add to our collection.

  2. 5 stars
    A good recipe because I was using thermomix and also not reading the recipe properly like didn't autolyse, so put everything in and knead and then left it aside for 1 hour instead. Use 2 loaf pan as I am used to putting only 500g of bread mixture per loaf pan. Reduced salt to 10g and sugar to 20g. Still turned out soft! I baked them for 20 mins in combi oven as I made it into 2 loafs and consider them ready when they were hollow to the knocks. Despite all that, came out soft and nice texture! A bit tangy may be due to my lesser sugar etc but great for a first try. Thanks!

  3. 5 stars
    You are my Sourdough Sherpa! I've been making gorgeous sourdough loaves for a year now using your recipes and techniques.

    I live on a sailboat, currently cruising in Mexico, so I have some unique challenges. One is that I'm running out of high-protein bread flour, and won't be able to get anymore for a few months. The only flour I can find right now is AP, and in one of your articles you mentioned that your sandwich loaf recipe works well with AP. So I gave this one a try.

    I don't have a stand mixer, so I have to knead this by hand. I found the dough to be VERY sticky! So much so that I couldn't knead it by hand at all. I ended up using a metal scraper. Which did work well, and kept all the dough together instead of stuck to the surface or my hands. But I'm wondering if it's the AP flour that caused it to be sticky? Should I alter the recipe at all for AP flour? Or could the stickiness have been due to the temps? It's pretty warm here and we don't have AC on our boat, so my galley temp was about 81 when I was doing this.

    Also, since I wasn't doing it in a mixer, I wasn't sure how long to knead it for. Any suggestions?

    By the way, the loaf came out FANTASTIC! So even with my kneading issues, this is clearly a very forgiving recipe.

    1. How do you store your leftover loaves? I'm assuming you put them in the freezer, but do you find it's better to slice them first or just put them in whole? And how do you wrap them? Thank you for a great recipe! 🤗

  4. Hi, if I don’t want to use milk powder, I don’t have to substitute with anything do I? I would just simply not use it correct?

  5. 5 stars
    I made this for the 3rd time today and it's wonderfully incredible! I favor whole wheat bread and used about 1/2 and 1/2 white to whole wheat flour the first 2 times. Today I had only 154 g bread flour left in the canister and so I used 346 g whole wheat flour (King Arthur in the US), plus added 2 tablespoons Azure vital wheat gluten to the mix. I also used an extra 20g starter and reduced water by the same amount. Man alive, is this bread amazingly good!!!!!! I believe I'll keep the bread/whole wheat flour at today's ratio plus add another tablespoon of gluten flour to the mix next time.

    What I want is a fine-textured whole wheat bread that will fit into the toaster if I want it to, with a crumb that's fine enough not to let mayo or mustard squish through "holes." I also want a soft crust. This recipe delivers it ALL! THANK YOU for this great & wonderful recipe!

      1. If I use 400g bread flour, and 100g whole wheat flour (both king arthur variety), how should I increase the water? And would it still be soft?

        1. I would just leave the water as is and see how it goes. You can wet your hands a little, just to moisten it a little if needed. Yes, it will still be soft.

  6. Oh my God... oh my dear Kate... This loaf made my day... At first I thought I wouldn't make it, that this was one of those days when it's best to stay in bed. But not. When I took the loaf out of the oven, it was the moment when my heart skipped a beat. I didn't wait 90 minutes for it to cool down. I admit that I didn't even wait 9 minutes, and I already cut it and spread strawberry jam on it.
    After autolyzing, I transferred the dough to a bread maker with commercial yeast, turned on the program: knead only and kneaded for 30 minutes. Then everything continued as you said. And boom, after the first minutes of baking, an intoxicating smell spread through the house.
    Thank you so much for the knowledge, skills and recipes you share with us. Warm greetings from Dragana from Serbia. 🌷🌷🌷

  7. 5 stars
    I love this bread recipe! My mom has to remake it quite quickly given me and my siblings eat the loafs so quickly!

  8. 5 stars
    This recipe is perfect for sandwich bread and when it gets a bit old, it is perfect for French toast. Thank you for sharing this beginner friendly recipe!

  9. Hi 🙂 Made this bread yesterday and it came out great. However my kids are not liking the sour taste to their sandwiches. I saw your guide on how to make your sourdough less tangy, and it mentions you could double the amount of starter.
    I was thinking of giving this a go next time, but just wondering would you keep everything else the same?

    Thanks ❤️

  10. Hi 🙂 Made this bread yesterday and it came out great. However my kids are not liking the sour taste to their sandwiches. I saw your guide on how to make your sourdough less tangy, and it mentions you could double the amount of starter. I was thinking of giving this a go next time, but just wondering would you keep everything else the same? Thanks ❤️
    Sorry I put a typo in email before