Perfectly Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread – No Yeast!
The ultimate sourdough sandwich bread recipe! This no-yeast sourdough recipe produces a perfectly fluffy white bread that is perfect for sandwiches. You can make this sandwich loaf with only a few ingredients like flour, water, a starter, milk, and sugar. It has a super soft interior that will blow any other bread recipe away.
This quite frankly is the perfect sandwich bread. It’s tall and fluffy on the inside. The tanginess of the sourdough balances flawlessly with the sweetness of the sugar. However, don’t take my word for it. Try it out yourself and thank me later.
This PERFECT Sourdough Sandwich Bread Is:
- Soft and fluffy texture!!!
- Super impressive rise. Say goodbye to dense bread.
- Simple to make. Most of the time spent is hands-off.
- Delicious sourdough tang that we ALL love!
- Made from only 7 ingredients.
Are you worried about baking sourdough? I’ve got you covered. I am here to walk you through the entire process. It’s pretty basic and most of the time is spent hands-off.
Overview: Sourdough Sandwich Bread Recipe
- Prepare the dough and knead
- First Rise: Cover and let the dough double.
- Shape: Shape the dough into a rectangle then roll it into a loaf.
- Second Rise: Let it rise in the loaf pan for 4-6 hours
- Bake for 30-35 minutes and enjoy.
This sourdough recipe is quite simple. Most of the steps take a few minutes and the majority of the time is spent and letting the dough rise.
Ingredients for Sourdough Sandwich Bread
You need only 7 ingredients. All ingredients are easy to find. The only one that won’t be at the grocery store is the sourdough starter, which you can make at home.
- Active Sourdough Starter: Your starter should be fed and at its peak. Feed it 1:1:1 the night before.
- Warm Water: Don’t use cold water as that will slow down the rise of the dough.
- Milk: Use whole milk. Since it is higher in fat, it’ll produce a better texture.
- All-Purpose Flour or Bread Flour: Use what you have. There isn’t a noticeable difference in the final loaf.
- Granulated Sugar: For slight sweetness. The sugar enhances the overall flavor profile by balancing out the taste of salt and the sourdough tanginess.
- Salt: Bread NEEDS salt! Everything needs salt!
- Butter: That delicious buttery flavor is the cherry on top of this fluffy sourdough sandwich bread (not literally…).
Shaping the Loaf
To shape this into a log, we do the “jelly roll”! Once the dough has finished its first rise, we roll it out on a floured surface. Then, we roll it into a log and place into a loaf pan. This does NOT need to be perfect! Check out the video on the recipe card for how to shape sandwich bread.
Don’t Bake Before this CRUCIAL Step
I’m giving you a warning now, but do NOT bake until your bread looks like the picture below:
The bread should be 1-1.5 inches above the rim of the bread pan before you preheat your oven. It doesn’t rise much (if at all) while it’s baking. So, be patient! If you bake before the bread dough looks like the picture above, you will get a flat, dense loaf.
Don’t worry about overproofing this. It’s difficult to overproof this due to two reasons:
1. Sourdough starter works slower than commercial yeast
2. This is an enriched dough, which rises slower than non-enriched dough.
Baker’s Schedule
Below are two charts for two separate baker’s schedules. There are a one-day and a two-day schedule. Pick whichever fits your schedule. I’ve done both and both work for me. However, what’s important is that your bread doubles during the first rise AND second rise before moving on to the next step.
One Day Baker’s Schedule: Same Day Sourdough Sandwich Bread
| Night Before | 8:00 pm | Feed the sourdough starter with flour and water |
| Day Of | 8:00 am | Prepare the dough and knead |
| 8:30 am | First Rise Starts | |
| 2:30 pm | Shape sandwich bread into a loaf | |
| 2:45 pm | Second Rise Starts | |
| 7:45 pm | Bake for 30-35 minutes |
Two Day Baker’s Schedule
| First Day | 8:00 am | Feed the sourdough starter with flour and water |
| 12:00 pm | Prepare the dough and knead | |
| 12:30 pm | First Rise Starts | |
| 5:30 pm | Shape sandwich bread into a loaf. Loosely cover and place in refrigerator overnight. | |
| Second Day | 8:00 am | Take the shaped dough out of the fridge. Let it finish its second rise. |
| 12:00 pm | Bake for 30-35 minutes |
Ingredients
- 1/2 Cup Active Sourdough Starter (100 grams) Fed the previous night and at its peak
- 3/4 Cup Warm Water (plus one tablespoon) (190 grams)
- 1/4 Cup Milk (60 grams) room temperature
- 3 1/4 Cups All-Purpose Flour or Bread Flour (390 grams)
- 2 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar (25 grams)
- 1 ½ Teaspoon Salt
- ¼ Cup Unsalted Butter (56 grams) room temperature
Instructions
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Knead the dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the sourdough starter, warm water, milk, flour, sugar, and salt. Knead on medium-low speed with the dough hook attachment. Add the butter once the dough comes together and continue to knead for five minutes.
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First rise: Lightly grease a large bowl. Place the dough in the bowl, cover it, and let the dough rise in a warm place. You are ready to move on to the next step when the dough has doubled, which will take roughly 5-7 hours. (See notes section “Rising Times”).
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Lightly grease a 9×5-inch loaf tin.
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Shape the bread dough: Punch the dough down to release air once it has doubled. Lightly flour your work surface, a rolling pin, and your hands. Place the dough onto your work surface. Roll the dough out into a large rectangle, roughly 8×15 inches. Roll it up into an 8-inch log and place it into the 9×5-inch bread pan. This is called the “jelly roll”. (See the video on the post for a visual.)
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Second rise: Spray a piece of plastic wrap with oil (this helps prevent sticking). Loosely cover the shaped bread dough with the plastic wrap. Allow the bread to rise until it’s about 1-1.5 inches above the top of the loaf pan, roughly 4-6 hours.
Overnight: If you’re crunched for time, place the loaf inside the fridge overnight. The next morning, take it out and let it continue to rise until it’s 1-1.5 inches above the rim of the pan. (See picture in blog post for a visual). For best results, do NOT bake until the bread is at this level.
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Once the bread has finished Adjust the oven rack to a lower position. Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C).
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Bake the bread: Remove the plastic wrap. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown on top. If the top of the sandwich loaf is browning too quickly, loosely cover the bread pan with aluminum foil. The bread is ready when the internal temp of the center of the bread is 195°F (90°C).
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Remove from the oven and allow the bread to sit in the pan for five minutes. Then, remove it from the pan and let it cool down on a wire rack before slicing.