Sourdough Sandwich Bread

This 4-ingredient sourdough sandwich bread requires no complicated shaping, no scoring, and no preheated heavy Dutch oven. High-hydration dough yields a soft crumb perfect for sandwiches and toast.

Servings: 1 loaf

Ingredients

Directions

1. Mix the dough: Place the starter, salt, and water in a large bowl. Stir with a spatula to combine. Add the flour and mix until completely incorporated. Transfer to a straight-sided vessel if you have one to monitor the rise.
2. Perform stretches and folds: 30 minutes after mixing, reach into the bowl and pull the dough up and into the center. Turn the bowl quarter turns and continue this pulling 8-10 times. Repeat every 30 minutes for the first 2 hours if time permits (even just 1 fold is fine).
3. Let it rise: Drizzle with olive oil and rub to coat. Cover and set aside to rise at room temperature (70°F) for 6-18 hours, until the dough has increased in volume by 50% to doubled. Use visual cues rather than time.
4. Prepare the pan: When dough has nearly doubled, grease a 9×5-inch or 10×5-inch loaf pan with butter.
5. Shape and proof: Drizzle dough with olive oil and rub your hands with oil. Release dough from sides of vessel, turn out onto work surface, and quickly shape into a rectangle by folding envelope-style. Transfer seam-side down to prepared pan. Let rise 5-6 hours or until dough begins reaching the rim of the pan.
6. Bake: Heat oven to 425°F. Transfer pan to oven and bake for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 375°F and bake 20-25 minutes more until golden all around (internal temp should be 206-210°F). Turn bread out onto cooling rack and cool at least 30 minutes before slicing.

Notes

• Water: Depending on humidity and flour type, you may need to reduce water to 400g or 420g. Start with less water in humid environments or if not using bread flour
• Chlorine: Leaving water at room temperature for 24 hours allows chlorine to escape, though tap water usually works fine
• Starter: Use 100% hydration starter (equal parts by weight flour and water)
• Pan size: Recipe works with either 10×5-inch or 9×5-inch loaf pan
• Timing: Don't use an oven with light on for bulk fermentation - too warm. Rely on visual cues (50% increase or doubling) rather than time
• Second rise: Be patient - dough should be near the rim of the pan before baking to get good height
• Refrigeration option: After shaping into pan, you can refrigerate covered with plastic wrap or in a 2-gallon bag. Continue with recipe the next day
• Straight-sided vessel makes monitoring the bulk fermentation especially easy

Adapated from Alexandra's Kitchen.