When you think of sourdough bread, you often think of those beautiful, round, crispy loaves that are airy inside and get very crunchy when toasted.

Although that style of sourdough is delicious, we’ve found that it’s not the best bread to use for everyday meals.

Our sourdough sandwich bread is. It’s easy to make, soft, and toasts up very well!

This recipe yields two loaves.

The best part is that it freezes well. Just wrap a cooled loaf in freezer paper and freeze until you need it!

Making sourdough Sandwich Bread

Start by mixing the flour, salt, and butter with a stand mixer using the paddle attachment on low until crumbly.

I like to add a few pats of butter in at a time to allow it to blend well and not clump into an uneven mess.

When the butter is mixed in and the flour is crumbly, add water, honey, and sourdough starter. Continue mixing on low with the paddle attachment until sticky.

At this point your mixer might be having trouble mixing the dough, that’s okay, continue to mix by hand, until all the flour is incorporated.

Cover the bowl with a towel and let it rest for 30 minutes.

After first rest

Using a dough hook, mix on low for 7 minutes. The dough will be soft and easy for the machine to knead.

Cover the bowl with a damp towel and bulk rise for 10 – 12 hours. Keep temp around 68°F.

Placing the bowl in the oven with the oven light on creates a warm environment for the dough to bulk rise.

After the Bulk Rise

De-gas the dough, place it on a lightly floured surface, divide and shape into loaves.

Place the loaves in buttered loaf pans, cover with beeswax wraps and rise for 1.5 – 2 hours.

We’ve baked in cast iron loaf pans and glass ones. Both work very well!

After the last rise

Preheat oven to 500°F

Place loaves into oven and immediately lower temp. to 375°F. Bake for 50 minutes.

When the bread is done, leave them in the loaf pans for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe notes

It’s best to let the loaves cool completely before cutting to allow the dough to set. If you cut it too early the loaf will be gummy. It will still taste good, but allowing it to cool completely will give you a ‘store bought’ quality, being very light and soft.

We use this bread for everything! Toast, French toast, sandwiches, burgers, as a side for pasta or soups. You can’t go wrong with this bread.

Store in a beeswax wrap or a paper bag.

Freeze in freezer paper and thaw completely before use.

Toast in a toaster or in a cast iron pan! Sourdough takes heat better than regular bread so we love to heat it up in a cast iron pan with a little bit of butter.