Soft and fluffy sourdough sandwich bread is an easy beginner friendly sourdough recipe that can be made by hand or in a stand mixer. Make it same day start to finish, or long ferment for an easier to digest sourdough bread. Made with just 6 ingredients – water, sourdough starter, olive oil, honey, salt and all purpose flour.
While I love making a crusty, artisan style loaf of sourdough bread with a thick crust, sometimes a soft crust sandwich bread is needed. This sourdough sandwich bread is a beginner friendly recipe that turns out every time.
I typically make this bread by hand and do a series of stretch and folds before rising, however it can also be made in a stand mixer for a more hands off bread recipe that turns out just as well.
Easy Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread
Soft and fluffy sourdough sandwich bread is an easy beginner friendly sourdough recipe that can be made by hand or in a stand mixer. Make it same day start to finish, or long ferment for an easier to digest sourdough bread. Made with just 6 ingredients - water, sourdough starter, olive oil, honey, salt and all purpose flour.
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cup (325g) room temperature water
- 1/3 cup (100g) active sourdough starter
- 1 tbsp + 1 tsp (20g) olive oil
- 2 tbsp (40g) honey
- 2 tsp (10g) salt
- 4 1/4 cup (525g) all purpose flour
Instructions
- If using a stand mixer, add all ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer and knead on speed 2 with a dough hook attachment for 10 minutes. Cover bowl with a damp dish towel or plastic wrap and rise 3-4 hours until doubled in size before shaping.
- If making by hand, stir together water, starter, olive oil, honey and salt in a large bowl. Add flour and mix together until a shaggy dough is formed. Cover with a damp dish towel or platic wrap and rest for 30 minutes.
- Perform 3 sets of stretch and folds spaced 30-45 minutes apart. To perfom a set of stretch and folds I like to slightly wet my hand so the dough doesn't stick. Reach from the side of the bowl down underneath the dough and pull up then fold over. Turn the bowl and repeat 4 times so a stretch and fold has been performed on all sides of the dough. Cover dough between each set.
- After the third set of stretch and folds, cover dough and allow to rise 3-4 hours until doubled in size.
- Flour counter and turn dough out onto it. Press out into a rectangle approximately 11x8 inches. Fold the edges of the long side in by 1-1.5 inches on each side and then roll to form a loaf.
- Transfer to a greased or parchment lined loaf pan. Cover with a damp dish towel or plastic wrap and rise another 2-3 hours until the dough has risen just above the top of the loaf pan.
- Preheat oven to 375 F. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until an internal temperature of 205 F.
- Allow bread to cool in the loaf pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to fully cool before slicing. Wait at least 2 hours before slicing.
