Name: Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread Recipe
Prep time: 20 h
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 21 h 10 min
Yield: 2
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 300 grams starter-freshly fed and active; 650 grams warm water; 50 grams honey; 40 grams avocado oil; 1000 grams White bread flour (high protein); 20 grams Salt

Jump to Recipe

Bake this beautiful soft white sourdough sandwich bread recipe for your favorite sandwiches.

Soft Sourdough Sandwich bread is an easy sourdough bread recipe to make. This sourdough recipe is formed into soft and fluffy loaves that are perfect for sliced bread. Make this sourdough sandwich bread once a week to always have yummy sandwich bread on hand.

This dough has delicious sweet flavor and a soft and fluffy texture. We have a few tips and tricks in this post for making the best sourdough sandwich bread ever!

Soft Sourdough Bread As A Loaf-Cut — Sasha’s Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread Recipe

Sourdough artisan breads are famous for their crusty crusts and soft holy crumb. Perfect for dipping in soups and making paninis or crostinis. Who doesn’t love that shattery crust with a steak or plate of lasagna?

However, When you want a soft squishable sandwich with Mayo or a piece of buttery toast? Eat THIS sourdough sandwich bread.

More Sourdough Bread Recipes:

See our complete sourdough bread recipe tutorial and step by step guide for Beginners in our Artisan Sourdough Bread Recipe .

Roasted Garlic Rosemary Bread Cut — **Roasted Garlic Rosemary Bread**

Milk And Honey Sourdough Dough Bread — **Roasted Garlic Rosemary Bread**

How long does Homemade Sourdough Bread Last?

This bread will last about a week when stored in a proper airtight container. Homemade sandwich bread will mold quicker than store-bought bread. This is because homemade bread does not contain the preservatives that you will find in store-bought bread. Keep that in mind when making homemade sourdough bread. Store it properly to avoid a moldy and stale loaf of bread. This recipe makes two 1000 gram loaves of soft sandwich bread.

Is Sourdough Bread good for Sandwiches?

Regular Sourdough bread is great for sandwiches. Many restaurants use sourdough bread to make grilled cheese sandwiches, turkey, toasted sandwiches etc. A regular loaf of sourdough bread has a different shape than sandwich bread. It usually produces long and narrow pieces of bread. A sourdough sandwich bread will be shaped into a traditional bread loaf shape. This makes it easier to toast the sourdough bread in a toaster.

Soft sourdough sandwich bread is great for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, turkey, or traditionally shaped sandwiches. The great thing about this bread is it is really easy to work with and store.

2 Loaves Of Baked Sourdough Sandwich Bread — Baked Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread

Why is my Sourdough Sandwich Bread not Rising?

Sourdough Sandwich Bread not rising is usually due to a weak or inactive starter. Always ensure that your starter can pass the float test before using it to bake. It can be tempting to make the bread early before the starter is ready. Always wait until your starter can float in a cup of water before baking. There is no way to save a loaf of bread that turns out flat. It is worth it to properly prepare the starter for the best loaf of bread.

Do I need to score Sourdough Sandwich Bread?

There is no need to score a loaf of sourdough sandwich bread. This bread will rise and ferment without scoring it on top. If you wish to score the sourdough sandwich bread, you can do a gentle slice down the center of the loaf prior to baking. However, there is no need to score this type of sourdough bread. It will bake and rise just fine without going through the scoring process.

Watch our video tutorial to see all the techniques I use to make this bread recipe.

Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread Sliced — This sourdough bread is easily sliced with a soft crust and moist dense crumb. Perfect for sandwiches.

Sasha’s Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread Recipe:

Sasha, our master baker contributor, created this sourdough recipe for her hubby. He wanted a soft white squishable bread with a soft crust. We all agree this bread makes great sandwiches.

Sasha’s family is incredibly lucky. And so are we. She is sharing her soft sandwich bread recipe with us so we all can benefit from her expertise.

Sasha also shared her Sourdough Milk and Honey Sandwich bread with us in case you missed it. Thank you Sasha!

Tips on making the Sourdough Sandwich Loaf:

This is a white bread recipe. However, you can mix whole wheat flour up to 50-50 with your white bread flour and still get good results.

Begin with an active fed sourdough starter for best results. You do NOT need active dry yeast for this recipe.
WATCH our video tutorial for ALL the techniques used in this bread dough making process. If you don’t know a term or technique the video will teach you.
Good Flour is critical to the outcome of any homemade bread recipe. Use a fresh high protein bread flour (at least 5% protein).

Soft Sourdough Sandwich Loaf — Brush the crust with a egg wash before baking to keep the crust soft and shiny.

How to Make a Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread Loaf:

Here is a quick visual walkthrough of this recipe. The complete recipe is in our Printable Recipe Card. But here are the main points.

Sometimes a picture really helps. AND don’t miss our video tutorial (playing in the sidebar) if you need further examples of the techniques.

Leaven Float Test- before you begin. Starter must pass float test.

Sourdough Shaggy Ball Stage — Leaven Float Test- before you begin. Starter must pass float test.

Cinnamon Swirl Bread Variation and Soft Cinnamon Sourdough Rolls:

Look at the bread baking in the oven (pictured above). The one closest to the front sideways is This soft sourdough bread made as Cinnamon Raisin Bread.

You will find This Complete recipe post for Sourdough Cinnamon Raisin bread has LOTS of tips. A complete walkthrough and guide for incorporating the plumped raisins, layering the cinnamon filling and forming the loaves.

Sliced Cinnamon Raisin Bread — Soft Sourdough loaf made as Swirled cinnamon raisin bread. It tastes amazing and holds together when cut and toasted too.

Soft sourdough made as cinnamon raisin swirl bread is pretty darn amazing breakfast food. Give it a try.

Also make these Soft Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls from this bread dough recipe. They are absolutely scrumptious!

How to Shape A loaf of Bread:

You can bake this recipe in boules. However it is much easier to eat as sandwiches and toast when baked in pans.

Here’s how to shape the dough for baking in bread pans. I use two 9 x 5 inch bread loaf pans for this recipe.

Prepare the dough for Shaping:

Remove Dough From Fridge and allow to come to room temperature. This will take about 2 hours.
Divide and shape the dough into two 1000 gram balls of dough.
Bench Rest the balls loosely covered about 60 minutes until very elastic.

Shaping:

Choose one dough ball. Set the other aside to be next.
Flatten the ball on a floured board with your rolling pin to degass. This may take several passes. (You will notice my bread does still have a few small holes. It needed more degassing)
Shape the degassed dough into a rectangle and spritz with water.
Bring the long edges into the center and form a closed seam.
Fold the two front corners to the middle seam as shown below.
Roll the dough tightly. tucking it as you roll to avoid air pockets.
Pinch the ends of the loaf and flatten the seam.
Place the dough loaf into your OILED loaf pan.
REPEAT with second dough ball. Continue with the recipe.

Degassed Sourdough Sandwich Bread — Bench rest

The final rise is done in the plastic bags as shown. Allow the dough to rise to the pan top or slightly above.

Now when the oven is thoroughly preheated, remove one loaf from the fridge, score it deeply and bake as directed with a water bath.

Your Printable Recipe Card:

Read the complete recipe and instructions below. If you print this recipe the pictures will not print. This is to save you ink and paper.

NEW! We now have a complete video recipe demonstration of this bread in the sidebar and the bottom of the printable recipe card.

2-1000 gram loaves of Sourdough Bread

Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread Recipe

Prep Time: 20 hours

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Additional Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 21 hours 10 minutes

Soft Sourdough Sandwich bread is the perfect soft squishy bread for toast and peanut butter sandwiches. You can also grill this bread for amazing grilled cheese sandwiches. The flavor is outstanding.

Ingredients

300 grams starter-freshly fed and active
650 grams warm water
50 grams honey
40 grams avocado oil
1000 grams White bread flour (high protein)
20 grams Salt

Instructions

MIXING:

Begin with a very active recently fed starter. It should pass the float test.
Set a large bowl on a digital food scale set to grams and press the tare button. The scale should read zero.
Pour in the water to weight of 650 g. Press tare.
Pour in 300 grams of starter. Press tare. The starter should form a floating mass on the water.
Add the oil. Press tare
Add the honey. Press tare.
Whisk together the starter, oil, honey and water until they are mixed.
Add the 1000 grams of flour.
Mix the flour into the water/starter with a dough hook, spatula and your wet hands until you have a shaggy ball of dough.

AUTOLYSE:

autolyse 1 hour.
Sprinkle salt across dough.
spritz with water bottle and work in the salt with wet hands.
Rest 30 mins

STRETCH AND FOLDS:

Begin Stretch and Folds. You need 4 rounds of stretch and folds 30 mins apart. See video for technique.

LONG COLD RISE:

Refrigerate overnight or up to 24 hours.

BENCH REST DOUGH:

Remove from fridge and warm to room temperature. (ABOUT TWO HOURS)
Divide the dough into two 1000 grams dough balls by weight.
Bench rest 30 to 45 minutes until dough is elastic.

SHAPE AND FINAL RISE:

Choose one dough ball. Set the other aside to be next.
Flatten the ball on a floured board with your rolling pin to degass. This may take several passes. (You will notice my bread does still have a few small holes. It needed more degassing)
Shape the degassed dough into a rectangle and spritz with water.
Bring the long edges into the center and form a closed seam.
Fold the two front corners to the middle seam as shown below.
Roll the dough tightly. tucking it as you roll to avoid air pockets.
Pinch the ends of the loaf and flatten the seam.
Place the dough loaf into your OILED loaf pan.

REPEAT for second loaf.

Let sit on counter 2 to 4 hours until the dough reaches to the top of the bread pans. For best oven spring chill two hours in the fridge covered.

BAKING PREP AND INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven and water bath(any pan half full of water. Set it on the shelf UNDER THE BREAD) to 400° F.
Remove the loaves from the fridge and score them deeply. (I do three slashes diagonally accross the top).
OPTIONAL: For a shiny loaf of baked bread, brush the dough with a beaten egg.
Set the loaf pans in the middle of oven.
Bake the loaves 15 minutes.
Reduce the oven temp to 375 degrees F.
Bake an additional 25 to 30 minutes.
Using a digital thermometer check internal Temp of loaf. It is done at 200°. If you don't have a thermometer pop loaves out to test for hollow on bottom. Or thump the loaf. Does is have a hollow sound?
Remove from oven and cool on racks to room temperature before cutting the bread.

Notes

Measure the ingredients CAREFULLY for best results.
THE SALT: I use Himalayan salt. All salt works. However, they have different volumes by weight. So you need to be careful. Weighing helps get it right.
THE OIL: Avocado oil is recommended for best health. Use any neutral flavor oil you prefer.
THE FLOUR: Use any high protein (On the label 12 % protein or 5 grams protein) organic white bread flour. You can make this loaf with 50/50 white and WHITE whole wheat.
The loaf will stay soft and have a great nutty flavor. Using 100 percent whole wheat or Hard red whole wheat will give you a different result. The recipe may need some adjusting. I suggest you stick with 100 percent white or 50/50.

Conversion CUPS to GRAMS:

I do NOT recommend volume measurements for best results with sourdough baking. There are differences in the starter and flours that make weighing by Scale a MUCH more reliable method. But if your not using a scale here are the approximate volume measurements of the ingredients.

2 2/3 Cups -300 grams starter-freshly fed and active
2 3/4 Cups 650 grams warm water
2 3/8 Tablespoons -50 grams honey
3 Tablespoons- 40 grams avocado oil
8 Cups- 1000 grams White bread flour (high protein)
1 Tablespoon-20 grams Salt

Final NOTE:

The video in this post is for those unfamiliar with the techniques I use. It is actually demonstrating our Beginner Sourdough Artisan Bread Recipe. This soft sourdough sandwich bread process uses many of the same techniques.

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Nutrition Information

Yield

Serving Size

1 slice
Amount Per Serving Calories 171Total Fat 2gSaturated Fat 0gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 2gCholesterol 0mgSodium 325mgCarbohydrates 32gFiber 1gSugar 2gProtein 5g

Follow Us:

We enjoy meeting you on our social networks. Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram . Tag us with your pictures of our recipes and comment on how it went for you. We would love to see what you do with them.

We often like, comment and share your posts of our recipes on our daily Instagram stories.

Ask questions and rate the recipe in the comments section below. Please share what you did with this recipe. We are always looking for more and better ways to make homemade food. Other cooks love your ideas!

Recent Posts:

Contact Sasha over on Etsy if you want to buy sourdough starter. She has a well established starter just for you. She sells all over the US.

The Best Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread Recipe-Pin Image — This dough has delicious sweet flavor and a soft and fluffy texture. We have a few tips and tricks in this post for making the best sourdough sandwich bread ever!

Vanessa

Friday 21st of March 2025

Where can I find the video? I don't see it anywhere on the page? Is there a YouTube link? Thanks!

Diane

Yes, Here you go!https://youtu.be/o-yurC7m09k?si=QhY05YHC5SAJ2GAR

You may have an ad blocker coming into play here. Have a great day!

Judy

Thursday 13th of March 2025

This recipe was exactly what I have been looking for. I halved the recipe as there are only two of us, but it was perfect! The dough is so easy to work with, and I will be making this very often. Thank you!

Kayti Lavergne

Yay! Love to hear that, it's one of our favorite sourdough recipes

Stephanie

Tuesday 4th of March 2025

Hi! I’m so bummed with how my loaf turned out(I halved the recipe). Everything was great until baking time. The top is very done, but the bottom is doughy and seems uncooked, despite the internal temp reaching over 200 degrees. Any idea what went wrong?

Hi Stephanie, hmmm. There are some things we can look at. 1) Did you measure precisely? Its best to keep the proportions exactly in line to keep the hydration right 2) Its possible you got a bit liberal with the final spraying of the loaf and water ran down the dough end or sides and soaked the bottom of the loaf. 3) If the top burned I'd look to you oven or the rack placement. For some ovens they bake inconsistently so a piece of foil over the top may be necessary to shield the loaf after the loaf sets, say after 20 minutes. And be sure to remove the loaf from the baking pan and allow it to cool completely so the crumb can completely set before cutting into it. I hope something here helps. Id say try the recipe again, full loaf this time, exactly following the instructions. Once your at the bake, set a timer for 15 minutes and when the loaf is almost browned add the foil shield. And possibly eliminate the final spray on the dough. Please let us know how it goes!

Jennifer

Friday 28th of February 2025

I love this recipe and how easy it is to get a perfect loaf each time. I have also made the cinnamon rolls, and they are great. My question is have you ever used this recipe with a chocolate starter? I made my chocolate starter and started this recipe this morning using 80% bread flour and 20% cocoa powder to make the full amount and preceeded with the recipe. My dough during autolyse and after adding the salt is very dry. I am using wet hands during stretch and fold which seems to be helping a tiny bit. Do you have any suggestions? Again, thank you for a great recipe

Hi Jennifer, Cocoa powder is going to change the whole composition of the recipe so you will need to wet the dough quite a bit. Watch the dough as it develops through the stretch and folds. Use wet hands every time you handle it and see if you can overcome the extra dryness that way. You can use very wet hands to transfer some added wetness to the dough. If the dough is continuing to absorb moisture and won't relax, its going to be a denser loaf, most probably. Do leave it in the long cold rise as long as possible until the dough builds the air holes and lightness you want, if it will. Im very curious how this turns out for you. I'd love a note back on how it turns out and what you did. Thanks so much for the great question!

Rose

Thursday 6th of February 2025

You mention there is a video showing the stretch and fold technique. I can't seem to find it.

Hi Rose, Here is the link to our video on YouTube.It is in the post and at the bottom of the recipe card as well. However, if you're using an ad blocker you may not be able to see it. Hope this helps! Happy baking!