Sourdough Sandwich Bread — The Loaf That Replaced Store-Bought at Our House
I Have Not Bought Bread From the Store in Months
This sourdough sandwich bread is the loaf that broke our store-bought bread habit clean in half. Soft, airy, just-tangy-enough, with a beautiful crusty exterior from a hot steamed oven — and my kids actually prefer it to anything that comes in a plastic bag. I have been baking it every single week for months now, and the recipe is so forgiving that it has become a part of our family rhythm.
🍞 This recipe is part of The Hearth, my sourdough hub — where I keep all my sourdough recipes, starter guides, and the story of how I learned to bake bread for my crowd.
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Watch me make this sourdough sandwich bread from start to finish — or scroll down for the full printable recipe card.
Featured Tools & Ingredients
- Digital kitchen scale with food-safe, BPA-free plastic components
- Stainless steel platform with wide LCD screen
• The single tool you cannot skip for sourdough. RIP Willy and Nilly — my first two starters did not make it because my old scale was not actually weighing right. This is the one that sits on my counter now.
- PROFESSIONAL BAKING EXPERIENCE - Light and efficient, or premium dutch dough whisk is simply perfect...
- PREMIUM 1 PACK - Always have your whisk to hand! With our exclusive 1-Pack, crafted from oak and...
• The recipe literally calls for a Danish dough whisk — this is the one I bought, and it breaks the starter into the water in seconds without gumming up.
- ✅ Elegant Classic Design – With slightly narrow at neck and wide at opening, Weck tulip jars...
- ✅ Healthy and Easy Living – While world is moving away from plastics, various set of weck jars...
• The jars Pearl lives in. You will see them in every sourdough video — Pearl gets fed in these and goes right back in.
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Sourdough Sandwich Bread
Start CookingIngredients
- 240 g warm water about 80°F
- 110 g sourdough starter
- 20 g extra virgin olive oil
- 20 g honey
- 415 g King Arthur bread flour
- 10 g kosher salt
Don’t Want to Plan? I Got You.Every Saturday I share a full week of dinners, sides, and a dessert — with the grocery list already done. Come grab this week’s Weekly Meal Plans!Method Start Cooking
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the warm water and the sourdough starter. Use your fingers or a Danish dough whisk to dissolve the sourdough starter into the water.
- Add the olive oil and the raw honey to the bowl. Whisk to incorporate.
- Pour in the bread flour and the kosher salt. Use a wooden spoon or your hands to incorporate the flour into the wet ingredients. The dough will be shaggy, but that’s ok. Use your hands to pinch the dough to combine. Knead the dough for a minute in the bowl, then cover with a clean shower cap or plastic wrap. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
- Stretch and fold the dough. This is a gentle form of kneading the dough and developing the gluten. Start by lifting up one corner of the dough as far as it will go without tearing, then fold it over the dough. Rotate the bowl and repeat with the next side of dough, working your way all around the bowl. Cover the dough and let it rest for another 30 minutes.
- Do one more set of stretch and folds. The dough should be much smoother this time.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a shower cap and let it proof at room temperature for 4 to 5 hours until it is relaxed and puffy.
- Spray a 9×4-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray, making sure to spray the sides.
- Lightly flour your work surface and pour the dough out. Pat the dough into a rectangular 9×12-inch shape. Roll the dough up into a log and pinch the seam shut, as well as the ends of the loaf. Place the shaped loaf into the prepared pan, seam side down.
- Cover the loaf pan with the shower cap and let the loaf proof for 10 to 12 hours at cool room temperature, ideally overnight.
- The next morning, preheat the oven to 375°F. Spray the top of the loaf with water. Place 6 to 8 ice cubes in the bottom of the oven to create steam. When the oven is hot, bake the loaf, spraying extra water inside the oven as you place the pan inside to create even more steam.
- Bake the bread for 35 to 45 minutes until the top is deeply golden brown. Allow the loaf to cool completely, then slice and enjoy.
Nutrition
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Notes
Four Weeks of Family-Friendly FoodWhen people gather, I cook. Four weeks of the dinners my crowd asks for — planned, tested, and shopped for. Come see what’s in the cookbook →Why This Sourdough Sandwich Bread Works
The thing I love most about this sourdough sandwich bread is how forgiving it is. The recipe came to me from a sweet friend along with my starter Pearl, and Pearl is the heart of every loaf I bake now. There is olive oil and a touch of raw honey in the dough — not enough to make it sweet, just enough to give the crumb a soft, tender quality and a little extra flavor depth that plain sourdough loaves do not have. The bread is sturdy enough for a sandwich, soft enough for my kids to eat plain with butter, and the tang is mild — nothing aggressive.
What makes this recipe approachable for a sourdough newbie is the timeline. You mix the dough in the morning when your starter is active and peaked, do two sets of stretch and folds thirty minutes apart, let it bulk ferment four to five hours on the counter, shape it into a 9×12 rectangle, roll it into a log, and tuck it into a loaf pan to cold proof overnight. The next morning you wake up to a puffy, ready-to-bake loaf. It is the most low-effort, high-reward sourdough I make, and once you have the rhythm of it, you can fit it around almost any week.
One note on the flour — I use a Danish dough whisk to mix everything together, and I always reach for King Arthur Bread Flour for this loaf because the higher protein gives me a better rise and a chewier crumb. If you want to read more about why flour protein matters for sourdough, King Arthur has a full beginner sourdough guide that is worth bookmarking.
A Few Things That Make This Sourdough Sandwich Bread Even Easier
- Measure everything out at the start. I lay out every ingredient on my kitchen scale before I start mixing — starter, water, oil, honey, salt, flour. It saves me from panicking mid-mix and wondering what I added and what I did not. It is a small habit and it has saved me more than once.
- Get your starter peaked first. The morning I want to bake, I get Pearl out of the fridge and feed her down to 100 grams of starter plus 200 grams of flour and 200 grams of water. Four to five hours later she is risen, bubbly, and at peak — that is the moment to mix the dough. As the kitchen warms up in summer, she peaks faster.
- Do not skip the stretch and folds. Two sets, thirty minutes apart, after the initial rest. That is the gluten development that gives you a soft, structured crumb. The second set, you will feel the dough get smoother under your hands — that is exactly what you want.
- A shower cap is the secret bowl cover. Clean disposable shower caps fit over a mixing bowl perfectly, are reusable, and seal in moisture during proofing without using plastic wrap. They are also what I use to cover the shaped loaf for its overnight cold proof in the pan.
- Ice cubes in the oven are non-negotiable. When I preheat to 375°F, I put 6 to 8 ice cubes in the bottom of the oven and spray a little extra water inside as I slide the pan in. The steam is what gives this loaf that beautiful crusty exterior — do not skip it.
Sourdough Sandwich Bread FAQ — The Questions I Get Every Time
What temperature and how long do I bake sourdough sandwich bread?
Bake at 375°F for 35 to 45 minutes until the top is deeply golden brown. Spray the top of the loaf with water right before it goes in, and put 6 to 8 ice cubes in the bottom of the oven for steam. Spray extra water inside the oven as you place the pan to bump the steam even higher. Pull the loaf when the top is dark golden and the loaf sounds hollow when you tap the bottom — then let it cool completely before slicing.
Do I need a Danish dough whisk for sourdough sandwich bread?
You do not strictly need one — the recipe says you can use your fingers — but a Danish dough whisk is the tool that breaks the starter into the water in seconds and folds in the honey and oil without gumming up the way a wooden spoon does. It is the newest tool in my sourdough kitchen, and once you have one, you will not want to mix dough any other way. It is my favorite under-twenty-dollar baking purchase in years.
Can I make sourdough sandwich bread with all-purpose flour instead of bread flour?
Yes — the recipe will work with unbleached all-purpose flour and is forgiving that way. But I get a noticeably better rise and a chewier crumb with King Arthur Bread Flour. The higher protein percentage gives the dough more gluten development and that classic sandwich bread structure. If all you have is all-purpose, go ahead and bake — you will still have great bread — but bread flour is what I reach for every single time.
Can I make this sourdough sandwich bread without raw honey?
You can substitute regular honey, maple syrup, or even sugar in a pinch, but I love raw honey here — it adds just the right amount of subtle sweetness without making the loaf taste sweet. The honey is doing flavor work, not making this a sweet bread. I have not changed any of the ingredients since the friend who shared the recipe gave it to me, and after months of baking it weekly, I have no plans to.
How do I know when the dough is done bulk fermenting?
After the second set of stretch and folds, the dough rests covered on the counter at room temperature for 4 to 5 hours. You are looking for it to roughly double in size, get visibly puffy, and feel relaxed and smooth when you touch it. The exact timing depends on your kitchen temperature — in summer it will go faster, in winter slower. Once it is doubled and pillowy, it is ready to shape.
Can I bake this sourdough sandwich bread the same day instead of overnight?
The recipe is designed for an overnight cold proof in the loaf pan — 10 to 12 hours at cool room temperature. That long, slow proof develops the flavor and gives you the texture this loaf is known for. You can try a shorter same-day proof of 2 to 3 hours at warm room temperature, but the flavor will be milder and the crumb less developed. I always do the overnight — mix in the morning, bulk ferment through the afternoon, shape and pan in the evening, bake first thing the next morning.
How do I store sourdough sandwich bread once it is baked?
Let the loaf cool completely first — do not slice or wrap it warm, or you will trap moisture and end up with a gummy crumb. Once cool, store it cut-side down on the cutting board, or in a paper bag, or in a bread bag for up to 3 days at room temperature. For longer storage, slice the loaf and freeze it in a zip-top bag — you can pull slices out one at a time and toast them straight from frozen. This bread freezes beautifully.
🛒 Complete Shopping List
Everything you need to make this Sourdough Sandwich Bread — click any item to shop on Amazon.
Ingredients
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A note on the flour: For this loaf I always reach for King Arthur Bread Flour — the higher protein gives me a better rise and a chewier crumb. Shop direct →
More Sourdough Recipes You’ll Love
- Same Day Sourdough Dinner Rolls — soft, buttery, topped with flaky salt, and gone in ten minutes.
- Sourdough Bake Day — Pearls and Free Willy 2 — two loaves, two dozen rolls, and Free Willy 2’s first whole wheat batch.
- Sourdough Starter Maintenance — Feed and Fridge — the low-effort weekly routine that keeps Pearl alive when life gets crazy.
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Sourdough Sandwich Bread — About Stephanie’s Recipes
Stephanie Longstreth is the home cook, mom, and storyteller behind StephanieCooksForACrowd.com. She cooks for a family of seven in Florida — five kids, two cats, and one husband who appreciates a good meal. Four of her children came home through adoption, and family stories are woven into everything she makes and shares. Find her crowd-friendly recipes, weekly meal plans, and real family life on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest @stephaniecooksforacrowd.
Excellent
Thank you! I think our starter really helps make this bread so good! My kids don’t want store-bought sandwich bread anymore.