Sourdough Sandwich Bread
Soft, a little chewy, but so so good. This sourdough recipe is so easy and a great place to start for anyone wanting to dip their toe in the sourdough world.
I stopped buying bread from the grocery store about 6 years ago when I learned it one of the things with the most preservatives. I learned how to make sandwich bread, buns, and everything that we need.
Sourdough has become such a trendy thing in the baking world. You see it all over social media, in bakeries, and even at grocery stores more and more. I was very reluctant to try sourdough. It seemed really intimidating and I found making yeasted bread so satisfying. The trend eventually got to me and now it is a staple at our house. And what is so fun is sourdough is really a health food! It is pretty neat when bread and carbs become healthy! I am going to try my best to explain how I do it. I am sure there are sourdough experts who will say this is not right, but my bread rises like it should and bakes up great, so it works for me!
Not a sourdough expert!
To begin, I am no expert with sourdough. I was extremely intimidated by the sourdough process and seeing all of these different accounts making sourdough different ways. When I decided to give it a try, I ended up really simplifying it to where it make sense to me and it works. I have made quite a few things and will continue to share recipes as I perfect them, such as this one. But sourdough really takes time to figure out. It is more about the feel and the texture than the measurements. Give it a try and don't give up. You will get it, I promise!
A lot recipes will measure in weighed grams. I do not. I measure by cups and trust my intuition to get the perfect texture with what I am making. As I have continued to make different baked goods, it has become easier and easier to know what to look for in the dough.
There are a lot of accounts out there that are great for learning how to make sourdough. One of my absolute favorites and how I learned is through Sourdough Sparrow. She has a ton of really great recipes. I recommend looking into their accounts for more in depth information.
The right starter!
What makes sourdough more nutritious and also a little more difficult to make is that there is no yeast. The rising agent is called starter. Starter is simply water and flour that has fermented. A strong starter will be bubbly, a little thick, and that is what will help your dough rise as it sits.
You can make your own starter from scratch, and if you want to do that, go for it! I cannot explain to you how to do that because that seemed really hard to me. I bought a dehydrated starter that I hydrated and made active. I have kept that starter going since I got it. It is a foolproof way to get a strong starter quickly. All of them will come with instructions on how to hydrate your starter. There are all sorts of companies who now sell dehydrated starter online.
Another great option for getting starter is to ask a friend, family member, or coworker to give you some of theirs. You can take just a small amount and continue to bulk it up so you have plenty for your new baking obsession!
What is discard?
When I first started working through my sourdough journey, I was son confused and overwhelmed with the talk out there about discard and starter. I would see accounts who had multiple jars of starter and discard and I just thought, "I do not want 10 jars of sourdough starter and discard on my counter or in my refrigerator." So here is my thought process on it and the steps I take.
Discard is simply inactive starter. You could get discard from having some active starter left over after making a recipe. You could also just feed your starter and put it in the fridge, making in inactive, or discard. I have one jar of discard that I keep in the fridge. It is in a lock and seal jar. It is important to store it in a lock and seal jar to keep it from going moldy.
When I want to make something, I remove however much I need from my jar in the fridge and go through the steps to activate it (explained below). When I have pulled out the amount of active starter I need for my recipe, I take whatever is left over and I put it back in my discard jar in the fridge. This jar of discard can sit in the fridge, unused, for weeks to months. It will separate and get a grayish liquid on the top, that is totally normal. When you go to use it again, just mix that back into the discard. It is only unsafe to use if you see mold on top of the liquid or around the top of the jar. I have been using the same jar of discard for almost two years!
How to activate your starter!
There are so many different methods and opinions on how to activate your starter. This is how I do it. It works every time!
I do equal parts discard and flour with 3/4 parts water. I always go in full cup increments. If I have some left over, it just adds to my discard jar so I really don't get too worked up about how much discard I am activating. Here is an example.
1 cup discard
1 cup flour
3/4 cup room temperature, filtered water
Add everything to a glass jar and mix well with a spatula or wooden spoon. Some small clumps of flour are okay. You are looking for a texture that is slightly thicker than a pancake batter. You want it to fall off the spatula or spoon but you do not want it runny. Depending on the time of year or temperature of your house, you may need more or less water.
Place the lid on loosely or place a towel over the top and let it sit until it doubles and you see little bubbles on the sides of the jar and on the top of the starter. This could take anywhere from 3-6 hours. If your starter is not bubbling up, add another cup of flour and 1/2 cup of water and let it sit for another few hours.
I will typically start my starter mixture in the morning, allowing it to activate all day if needed. Once it is bubbly, it can sit for a few hours before being used.
Now, time to dive into making some sourdough sandwich bread!
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Sourdough Sandwich Bread
The perfect recipe to start with when starting sourdough! This sandwich bread is very easy to make and does not take a lot of prep!
- 1 cup active starter
- 2 cups filtered water (as close to room temperature as possible)
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup (or honey)
- 7-8 cups all purpose flour (good quality is best. Kirkland's Organic or King Arthur's Organic are my favorites)
- 2 teaspoons salt (fine or course ground)
- In a large glass bowl, add the active starter, water, and honey or maple syrup. Mix everything together with a wooden spoon or Danish Dough Hook until it is milky and completely mixed.
- Add in 7 cups of flour and the sea salt. Mix everything into shaggy dough using the spook, dough hook, or your hands. It should be slightly sticky but still firm. Cover with a damp towel and let rest for 1 hour.
- After an hour, remove the towel and place the dough onto the counter. Work it slightly by lifting one end of the dough and folding it onto itself. Do this 6-7 times. This is called stretching and folding the dough which builds tension. At this point, your dough should not stick to the counter or your hands much. It should feel nice and smooth.
- NOTE: If your dough feels too sticky, continue doing stretches and folds until it comes together. You can also work a little bit of flour into it with the stretches and folds if it is really sticky.
- Form your dough into a ball and place it back in the bowl. Cover with a damp towel and let it sit on the counter at room temperature overnight or for 8-10 hours.
- Once the dough has sat overnight, it should have almost doubled in size. Divide the dough into two equal pieces.
- Working with one half at a time, place it on the counter. Gently push into a rectangle shape, about 7 inches by 12 inches. Starting on one of the short ends, fold the dough over 1/3 of itself and do the same on the other end, like you are tri-folding a letter. Gently seal the seam on the bottom and place it in a buttered loaf pan (this GreenPan Loaf Pan is my favorite). Do the same with the other half of dough.
- Place a damp towel over the loaves and let sit for 3-5 hours or until they are risen slightly and are puffy. They don't have to double in size here. I typically bake them once the tops have met with the top of the loaf pan.
- Once the loaves have risen, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bake the loaves for 35 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
- Immediately remove the bread loaves from the pans once baked and allow them to cool on a wire rack. Let them cool completely before cutting!
This bread recipe freezes so well. I will typically double the recipe when I make them so I always have some on hand in the freezer.