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Soft sandwich bread

A soft, pillowy sourdough sandwich loaf with a tender crumb and thin, yielding crust that slices cleanly without shattering. A small amount of butter and honey enriches the dough and softens the crumb, while a modest hydration keeps the dough easy to handle for beginners. Baked in a loaf tin for a uniform shape perfect for school lunches, toast, and sandwiches. The gentlest entry point among our loaves, and one of the most used.

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Ingredients

Makes 1 loaf · about 965g of dough

  • Bread flour500g
  • Water310g
  • Active sourdough starter100g
  • Unsalted butter30g
  • Honey15g
  • Fine sea salt10g

62% hydration

  • Loaf tin
  • 900g (2lb) loaf tin
  • Kitchen scale
  • Large mixing bowl, 4–5 litres
  • Bowl cover, a shower cap, plate or cling film
  • Bench scraper, metal
  • Thermometer, probe or instant-read
  • Wire cooling rack
  • Bread knife, serrated
Alternatives, sizes and where to buy

Method

  1. 1

    Mix starter, water and honey

    5 min

    Add 100g active starter and 15g honey to 310g water at 22–24°C / 72–75°F and swirl with your hand or a dough whisk until the starter is dissolved and the water looks cloudy. Dissolving them first means they blend evenly through the dough.

  2. 2

    Add flour and autolyse

    35 min

    Add 500g bread flour to the bowl. Mix with your hand until no dry flour remains and a rough shaggy dough forms, about 3 to 5 minutes. The dough will feel firm and only slightly tacky. Cover and rest 30 minutes at room temperature.

  3. 3

    Add salt

    10 min

    Sprinkle 10g fine sea salt over the rested dough and squeeze it through with wet hands, using firm pinch-and-fold motions, until no gritty salt remains. The dough may feel a little looser right after; that settles during the first rise.

  4. 4

    Incorporate butter

    10 min

    Uncover the rested dough. Place 30g softened butter on top. Work the butter in using firm pinch-and-fold movements, squeezing butter through the dough. The dough will go through a greasy, broken-looking phase. Keep working. After 5–8 minutes the dough will feel smooth, supple, and slightly shiny. Cover and rest 20 minutes.

  5. 5

    Bulk fermentation with stretch and fold

    5 h 30 min

    Cover and leave to rise at room temperature, 22–24°C / 72–75°F. Do 3 sets of stretch and folds at 30, 60 and 90 minutes: with a wet hand, stretch one side of the dough up and fold it over, turn the bowl a quarter, 4 times per set. Then leave it undisturbed. This first rise (bulk) is done when the dough has grown by 50–75%, looks domed and bubbly and feels pillowy: about 4–6 hours.

    At 20–24°C / 68–75°F this usually takes about 5½ hours; a warm kitchen (24–28°C / 75–82°F) can be ready in about 4 hours, a hot one (28°C+ / 82°F+) sooner still, and a cool kitchen (below 20°C / 68°F) may need about 7 hours.

  6. 6

    Shape (tin loaf)

    10 min

    Lightly flour the bench and turn the dough out gently. Pat it into a rough rectangle, slightly narrower than your loaf tin is long. From the far edge, roll it tightly toward you like a Swiss roll. Pinch the join firmly closed along its length. Butter your loaf tin lightly and place the dough in it, join down. It should fill about half the tin.

  7. 7

    Cold retard (overnight)

    10 h

    Cover loaf tin tightly with shower cap or cling film. Place in fridge at 4°C for 8–12 hours. Bake directly from cold the next morning. Do not bring to room temperature first.

  8. 8

    Preheat the oven

    30 min

    Set oven to 200°C (180°C fan) / 400°F. Fan-assisted if available. Preheat 30 minutes. Leave tin in fridge until oven is fully preheated.

  9. 9

    Bake

    35 min

    Remove loaf tin from fridge and place directly on centre rack. Bake at 200°C (180°C fan) / 400°F for 30–35 minutes. Tent loosely with foil after 20 minutes if top is browning too quickly. Done when golden brown and internal temperature reaches 93–96°C / 200–205°F.

  10. 10

    Cool completely

    60 min

    Remove from oven. Immediately turn out of tin onto wire rack. Cool minimum 60 minutes before slicing. 90 minutes preferred.

Keeping it

  • Up to 4 days on the counterIn a bread bag or an airtight container.
  • Up to 3 months in the freezerSlice first. Slices go straight into the toaster.
  • Warm it upToast slices from frozen. A whole loaf: 160°C (140°C fan) / 320°F for 10 minutes, wrapped in foil.

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