Sourdough sandwich bread is made with everyday ingredients, using discard or active sourdough starter. It’s got a soft crust and fluffy inside. Perfect for sandwiches, grilled cheese, French toast or paninis.
This sourdough bread recipe is easy to make with either your stand mixer or by hand in a mixing bowl. It’s got the tangy taste of authentic sourdough without the slow fermentation process. Makes two loaves and one of our most popular bread recipes!
One of the things I’m most fond of is the many heirloom recipes in my collection. This particular recipe was created from simple white bread recipe which I turned into a sourdough bread recipe. It comes from the kitchen of a dairy farm in Kansas.
Be sure and try my Beginners Sourdough Bread and Cinnamon Raisin Sourdough Bread and Sourdough Croissants.
Why this recipe works
- Uses simple ingredients – Readily available at most grocery stores.
- No artificial flavors or preservatives
- Quick Sourdough – Authentic tasting sourdough bread in a fraction of the time of traditional sourdough.
- Ease – Made with either a stand mixer or by hand in a mixing bowl. No stretching and folding required.
What you’ll need
- All-purpose or bread flour– Use whatever brand of flour you love. We typically look for all-purpose and bread flour that is unbleached. This gives this bread recipe more nutrients and helps ferment sourdough better.
- Sourdough Starter– Use any sourdough starter recipe you prefer. Scroll down to find the one we use.
- Active dry yeast – Helps leaven bread. Be sure not to use too hot of water or it will kill the yeast. For storage, we keep yeast in a glass jar in the fridge to extend its shelf-life.
- Whole milk – Gives this bread recipe a wonderful flavor. While we prefer to use whole milk, you can also use 2% if you prefer.
- Butter – We prefer to use unsalted butter so we can control the amount of salt in our recipes. Adds a beautiful flavor and texture to this sourdough bread recipe.
Get the sourdough starter going four to six days before you plan to bake the bread. You can keep the sourdough starter in the refrigerator and keep it fed for later use.
If you’ve never experienced homemade bread, this is one recipe you need to try. My mom had a wedding cake and bread baking business on the farm when we were little kids.
Making bread from scratch is something I love to do- it reminds me very much of her. And if you are a beginner to homemade bread, don’t worry! This bread recipe is perfect for any level baker.
She would bake Banana Bread, Coffee Cake, Apple Pie, and Oatmeal Bread to sell to our neighbors and my dad’s co-workers. Be sure and try Strawberry Shortcake, Hot Cross Buns, and Cast Iron Dinner Rolls.
These cast iron bread pans are amazing! They help crisp up the bottom and sides of the sourdough bread! Order them here!
How to make Sourdough Sandwich Bread
- Make the sourdough starter. In a quart Mason jar or another jar with enough room for sourdough starter to expand, combine equal parts of unbleached all-purpose flour & water. Use a rubber spatula or bottle whisk to combine well. Cover with fabric square and rubber band so the jar can breathe. Each day, remove half of starter, discard and feed the starter with equal parts flour and water.
- Scald the milk in a small saucepan. Stir in the sugar to dissolve. Let cool to lukewarm. Pour the warm water into the bowl of a stand mixer or a large bowl; sprinkle with yeast and stir until dissolved.
- Combine remaining ingredients. Add the milk mixture, sourdough starter, salt, and 3 cups of the flour. Mix with the dough hook until smooth. Add butter & incorporate. Add enough of the remaining flour to make a smooth dough.
- Knead dough Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. Form into a ball and place into a greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled.
- Shape dough Punch down dough and let rest for about 15 minutes. Grease two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans. Divide the dough in half and shape into loaves.
- Bake Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from the bread pans and let cool completely.
How to make sourdough starter
This is the sourdough starter I use in my kitchen. It’s made with simple ingredients and has wonderful sourdough flavor. Sourdough starter will be like a muffin batter consistency.
- 100 grams unbleached all-purpose flour
- 100 grams lukewarm water
Use a kitchen scale to measure the ingredients into a Mason jar or another jar. Use a wooden spurtle or small spatula to mix ingredients well. Cover loosely and let sit on the counter in a warm area. (I use simple fabric squares and a rubber band to cover the jar. This covers it so no debris gets in, while still letting it breathe.)
Each day, remove half of starter and discard. Add 50 grams unbleached all-purpose flour and 50 grams room temperature water. It will take about 2-3 weeks to achieve an active starter. If you don’t want to wait that long, speed up the process by buying dried sourdough culture.
For a very active starter, try adding a tablespoon of potato flakes (additional to your flour & water mixture.) You’ll need to add an additional 2-3 tablespoons of water, as potato flakes absorb quite a bit of moisture.
Use the discard for sourdough discard recipes or simply throw out.
Recipe FAQs
Any flour containing starch is suitable for a sourdough starter, since it is the sugar that the microbes feed on. We prefer a combination of unbleached all-purpose and bread flour.
No, it is possible to make great sourdough without a Dutch oven. By using a baking stone and adding moisture to the oven, you can make bread that is just as good as those baked in Dutch ovens. Adding moisture will give the sourdough a beautiful exterior crust.
You can roll the dough into small rounds to make homemade bread bowls! Try my Beef Chili Recipe, Loaded Potato Soup, Beef Stew Recipe served in sourdough bread bowls.
More Cast Iron Recipes
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Sourdough Bread
Ingredients
Sourdough Starter
- 100 grams all-purpose flour (unbleached)
- 100 grams lukewarm water
Sourdough Bread
- ½ cup whole milk
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 cup water lukewarm
- 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast (.25-ounce packet)
- 1 cup sourdough starter (active or discard)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 to 4 ½ cups bread or all-purpose flour (unbleached)
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
Instructions
Sourdough Starter
- Use a kitchen scale to measure the ingredients into a Mason jar or another jar. Use a wooden spurtle or small spatula to mix ingredients well. Cover loosely and let sit on the counter in a warm area.
- Each day, remove half of starter and discard. Add 50 grams unbleached all-purpose flour and 50 grams room temperature water. It will take roughly 3-4 weeks to create an active starter.
- If feeding the starter daily, just keep on the counter. Keep refrigerated otherwise and feed weekly.
Sourdough Bread
- Scald the milk in a small saucepan. Stir in the sugar to dissolve. Let cool to lukewarm. Pour the warm water into the bowl of a stand mixer or a large bowl; sprinkle with yeast and stir until dissolved.
- Add the milk mixture, sourdough starter, salt, and 3 cups of the flour. Mix with the dough hook until smooth. Cut the butter into pieces and incorporate. Add an additional 1 cup flour to make a smooth dough. (This dough will be STICKY!!)
- Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, 2-3 minutes. Form into a ball and place into a greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap or disposable plastic shower cap and let rise in a warm place until doubled, 1 – ¼ hours.
- Punch down dough and let rest for about 15 minutes. Grease two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans. Divide the dough in half and shape into loaves.
- Transfer the dough to the loaf pans. Spray some plastic wrap with cooking spray, so that it doesn't stick, and loosely cover the loaves. Let rise in a warm area until doubled, about 1 – 1 ¼ hours.
- Make a cut on the top, lengthwise of each loaf with a sharp serrated knife or a bread lame.
- Use a pastry brush to brush the tops gently with an egg wash.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes. Remove from the bread pans and let cool completely.
Recipe Notes
Baking bread in cast iron
Lodge brand cast iron bread pans are great for making bread! Place a pan of water on the rack below the bread in the oven. The steam created will make a crunchy crust. Generously coat the cast iron loaf pans with either cooking spray, canola oil or lard. Use a clean dry paper towel to spread canola oil or lard evenly in cast iron.Nutrition
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Peg says
Two more loaves in the oven now! Best ever sourdough bread we’ve done….we cheat and cut it while it’s warm too! I posted it for you on FB Jessica because so many of the folks I know love it! Bless your heart♥️
Jessica Robinson says
Oh so glad to hear that you love the bread!!! This is one of our favorites too. PS: My husband cuts a loaf right away too. He cannot wait!
Catherine Patterson says
This bread is 5 ⭐️ plus!!! I recently started a sourdough starter and was looking for a great bread recipe. After throwing some tries in the trash, I decided to give this one a try. EXCELLENT!!! Excellent! I won’t be looking any further. This is my keeper. I’m trying the sourdough cinnamon roll recipe from this site next. Thank you SO much for a great, easy recipe!! I’m a new follower!
Jessica Robinson says
Hi Catherine,
Absolutely thrilled to see that you loved this bread recipe!! Thank you for letting me know!
Jill says
I am a first time bread maker (without a bread machine) and this was a great recipe. Easy enough for me to be successful. Thanks
Jessica Robinson says
So glad to hear that Jill!! You’ll probably love my basic white sandwich bread recipe too! So glad to hear you are successfully making homemade bread!
Hilary says
Do you use bleached or unbleached flour? Can’t wait to try this recipe out!
Jessica Robinson says
Hilary,
You can use either bleached or unbleached all-purpose flour. But, generally with bread recipes I like to use unbleached and if you have it, mix half and half with bread flour. (If you don’t have bread flour- no need to worry!)
Debbie McCabe says
This is the best recipe I have found! It comes out perfect. Everyone loves it. I have a question about the butter. Can you replace it with olive oil?
Jessica Robinson says
Hi Debbie!!
SO happy to hear that you love this bread recipe! Do you not have butter available? I’m not sure honestly, if olive oil would work. You might be able to add a butter type spread…. if you cannot find butter.
Debbie McCabe says
Thanks. Yes I do have butter but try to watch how much fat we eat. I think I’ll try it with olive oil and see what happens.
Jessica Robinson says
Hi Debbie,
The only two things with using Olive oil vs. butter…. is that it will change the consistency of the dough. AND olive oil is going to have an extremely STRONG flavor. It will not taste as this bread is intended. However, if you want to use oil, I would suggest corn oil, vegetable oil, or canola oil. NOT Olive oil. For that reason. Butter is best in this particular recipe. But, I understand your reasoning (I use Olive oil in my pizza dough recipe)
Shelby says
Followed this recipe to a T, and the bread is lacking sourdough flavor. Doesn’t even taste fresh baked. Won’t make again.
Jessica Robinson says
Shelby,
Thanks for writing. Sorry to hear you didn’t like my bread recipe! This is a well-tested and well-loved bread recipe! If you have a sourdough starter you prefer, that might have more sourdough flavor, feel free to use that! That might be the answer to your problem of “lacking sourdough flavor.”
Dena G says
I’m new to this bread thing but I’ve never heard the phrase “a scant 1 cup”. What does that mean?
Thank you!!
Jessica Robinson says
Just means a little less than a cup! Thanks for checking in!
Jill says
Hello. First time trying to make sour dough bread. My starter is on day 5, I have not fed it at all but have been whisking it multiple times a day. It is a very thick consistency and has gotten a lot smaller in the amount from the beginning. Is this normal or should I start over and feed it every day? Thanks!
Jessica Robinson says
Hello Jill,
Yes, you can feed your starter! No need to start over! Whisk together.. because it separates and sinks. Then discard about 1 cup of starter. Add 1/2 cup water and 1 cup all-purpose flour. Whisk together. Leave at room temperature overnight. You’ll see it bubble and grow.
Hailee says
Can I use my already made starter or does it have to be the one on the recipe?
Jessica Robinson says
Hi Hailee!
Of course, you are welcome to use your own starter. Just follow the instructions and add the suggested amount of starter. Thanks for reaching out!
Angie Miller says
I made this bread & the flavor is great! The crust however is very hard. What might cause this, as I prefer a softer crust.
Jessica Robinson says
Hi Angie,
This bread does have an exterior crust that is harder. You may try adding a dough conditioner to the dough (available on Amazon). Commercially produced bread has all sorts of preservatives to make it soft and chewy.
Jacqueline says
You are looking for a southern sour dough bread.
Natasha says
Looks easy and delicious.
Do you feed the starter everyday? Or just stir 4-5 times a day?
Jessica Robinson says
Natasha,
My starter recipe does not require you feed it everyday. However, there are many recipes that have you remove about 1/2 cup of the starter each day (for about 7 days) and discard. Add 1 cup all-purpose flour and 1/2 cup room temperature water. Whisk together well, cover loosely and you’ll see it start to bubble.
Lisa Powell says
My question is: Why do you add yeast to your recipe along with the starter? Shouldn’t the starter be enough if it is an active starter? I’ve made a number of different starters, along with sourdough bread, but I’m curious as to why lots of recipes call for starter AND yeast.
Jessica Robinson says
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for writing! You want to use both the sourdough starter (to give it that deep sourdough tang and chewiness) and yeast. Without the additional yeast, the bread would take considerably longer to rise.
aim says
My starter was fine for the first 24 hours, being whisked several times a day. The second day in, we woke up and found it had died. It was just brown-ish water with sticky residue at the bottom. Any ideas for why it died or how to prevent it from happening in the future? Thanks!
Jessica Robinson says
Hi Aim,
I’m not sure how your starter died. It needs to be at room temperature for 6-7 days or so. King Arhtur Flour’s sourdough starter is another great recipe. A little different than how I make mine. You can also try theirs. https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/sourdough-starter-recipe
Jackie says
Hi! I am a first time bread maker. I need help! I made the starter yesterday, today it’s foamy with a yellow liquid on the top. Do I need to separate/drain that off? Does it need to be fed everyday it’s out on my counter?
Jessica Robinson says
Hi Jackie!
That’s completely normal. Just WHISK it a few times a day. Keep it on the counter for about 5-7 days. It doesn’t need to be “fed” until after you use some for bread.
You’ll feed it – replenish with some flour and water. Whisk again, cover and put in the fridge until you need it again. Let me know if you have any questions!! Here to help you!
Jackie says
Thank you!! I am on day 3. The starter is now more liquidity. Still smells amazing! I have been whisking 3 times a day. Is it being thin normal?
Jessica Robinson says
Hi Jackie,
You can also “feed” the starter. It should be fine the way it is. But, some other sourdough starter recipes instruct you to feed the starter. Which basically, you remove about 1/2 cup of the starter (I would whisk it together first) then you add scant 1 cup whole wheat or all-purpose flour along with 1/2 cup of cool/room temperature (not cold) water. Whisk and cover loosely. You’ll see it bubble more.
Cheer Kosak says
Sharing this bread to my neighborhood, we have been on some sort of homemade bread kick while staying in place at home, appreciate your recipe! Love that kitchen towel, too!
Jessica Robinson says
Oh thank you SO much! This is a simple bread to make. Sharing homemade bread during this difficult time is a great thought!