Sourdough Discard Sandwich Bread
Make this simple sourdough discard sandwich bread this week for lunches, toast, and the best grilled cheese you'll ever eat! Adapt the recipe to double it and even switch up the flour used. This is a no-knead recipe!
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Water
- 1/2 Cup Discard unfed Sourdough Starter
- 3 - 3 1/2 Cups Organic White Flour
- 1 tsp. Sea Salt
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine 1 cup water with 1/2 cup of starter. Mix well.
- Add flour and salt to the bowl and mix until incorporated. The dough will start to clear the sides of the bowl as you finish mixing.
- Once the dough is thoroughly mixed, use your hands to form a ball of dough.
- Wipe the bowl with oil and return the dough ball.* Cover the bowl to keep the fermenting dough warm and damp. Allow to ferment six hours or until doubled in size. The dough will slowly return a gentle fingerprint, though not completely, when ready to form into a loaf.
- Remove the dough from the bowl and place it on a clean, lightly floured** surface. Start tucking the edges underneath to the bottom of the dough while slowly rotating it. This should take no more than four or five tucks to form a log of dough. Don't overwork the dough.
- Place the log into an seasoned/oiled or parchment paper-lined bread pan and cover with an inverted oiled bread pan. This will keep the dough moist while it rises. Allow the dough to rise until doubled in size, usually 1-2 hours.
- Remove the inverted pan and use scissors to cut 3-6 slashes on the top of dough. Return the inverted pan and place in the oven. Place the pan inside a cold oven and set to 450°F/232°C for 35 minutes. Then reduce the oven temperature to 400°F/2041°C and bake for another 25-30 minutes. Sourdough bread is done when an internal thermometer reads around 205°F/96°C.
- Gently remove from the pan to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely ( up to 12 hours) before cutting.
- Store in an airtight bag or container for up to a week in a cool place.
Notes
*You may also flour a piece of clean cheese cloth placed inside a round dish double the size of the dough ball. Place the ball inside the cheesecloth and cover it with the corners of the floured cloth.
You can use a scale to measure ingredients for more consistent results, but it's not necessary to achieve delicious bread.
Don't overthink sourdough sandwich bread. Mix it, let it ferment, shape it, let it rise, bake it.
Cast iron loaf pans are great for sourdough because their shape creates a tight, tall loaf. Ceramic loaf pans also work very well with sourdough. You can also use well-greased metal or glass pans.
All ovens vary in bake times and temperatures; use the baking times in any recipe as a general guide. After you make the sourdough discard sandwich bread ten times, you'll be very familiar with how long it needs to bake.
Covering the loaf as it bakes will give you an artisan sourdough crust with soft crumb (the inside of the bread). You may also bake this at recipe at 350°F/177°C uncovered, if you prefer. Watch the bread top for burning towards the end of the bake and cover it with foil, if you need.
You may substitute half of the white flour for wheat flour, if you'd like a more robust texture and flavor. You may also try rye, spelt, or einkorn flour. The more whole the grain flour, the more dense the loaf. The dough may also require additional rise time with whole grain flours.
If you don't have extra time to raise the loaf, you can go ahead and bake it but anticipate that the finished bread will be a little flat. It will still taste amazing and be great for sandwiches.
Bottom line, remember that sourdough bread is very forgiving. So, don't stress over it!
For whole grain sandwich bread, I suggest you add 1 or 2 Tbsp. of honey, maple syrup, or molasses to give the starter an extra boost. This recipe might be of interest: Sourdough Maple Bread.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!