Soft Wheat Sourdough Sandwich Bread (Perfect for Toast)
This brioche-style sourdough sandwich bread bakes up luxuriously soft thanks to fresh-milled soft wheat flour, tangzhong, milk, cream, butter, and honey. If you love crispy, buttery toast, this is the loaf to bake.
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Known and loved around the world, sandwich bread is not only a recipe, it’s its own category.
Here in Germany, we don’t really make soft sandwiches though. I’d confidently wager that 95% of all sandwich bread here always ends up as toast. Golden, shattering, crispy slices of beautiful toast. In fact, we don’t even call it sandwich bread. To us, it’s “Toastbrot”: toast bread!
This European-style recipe for soft wheat sourdough sandwich bread makes exactly that kind of bread. A bread that is deliciously soft and almost like milk bread when sliced fresh, but becomes exceptional when toasted to perfection.
Not your everyday kind of sandwich bread, this is extra indulgent: Generously enriched with butter, milk, cream, and egg, it’s full of flavor and texture (without the dreaded whole-grain heaviness you politely pretend to like because it’s “better for you”).
Thought you needed a strong flour to make amazing sourdough bread?
Contrary to what the majority of grain guides out there suggest, Soft Wheat is perfectly capable of making amazing sourdough bread. It doesn’t need fixing with vital wheat gluten or other dough enhancers. All it needs is to be handled right.
Don’t believe me yet? Try my basic Soft Wheat Sourdough Bread as well. Just soft wheat flour, water, salt, and voilà: perfect sourdough bread!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
This European-style sandwich bread is very rich and tender, and has a great soft texture from tangzhong and heavy enrichment. Sliced plain, it’s almost brioche-like, but without the upfront eggy taste.
To me, the best part happens when you toast it: With all the dairy fat in the crumb from milk, cream and butter, there’s a lot of maillard reaction happening, and that means a lot of delicious browning and a shattering crumb when you sink your teeth in.
Baking with soft wheat means the crumb won’t be chewy, but rather what I like to call “short-chained” in my mind. Soft wheat forms shorter gluten strands, that offer less resistance. It’s easy to bite and chew, with a crumb that’s soft without being squishy. It makes a very satisfying, crunchy toast.
And even though it may read like many steps, the recipe is actually really easy to make. The tangzhong can be prepared a day (or more!) in advance. After that, you just add everything to a bowl and take it from there.
I’m usually a lean loaf girl, so if I’m going to go through the trouble of making sandwich bread, it needs to be easy enough but still worthwhile. And this is very much worthwhile.
Tools You May Need
Digital Kitchen Scale
Making bread requires accuracy, and a feeling for the dough. But mostly accuracy.
Stand Mixer (Optional)
I like to let the mixer do the initial mixing and kneading, just for the convenience of keeping my hands clean. One or two more rounds of stretch and folds help me get a feeling for the dough’s progression. You can either knead by hand, or let the mixer do it all. Up to you!
Bench Scraper
The dough will be a little tacky, so a bench scraper really helps with dividing and shaping.
Standard Bread Pan (1.25lbs)
I use a 9×5-inch bread pan with tall sides and a lid, similar to a pullman loaf pan (ca. 23 x 12,5cm). A 9×5-inch standard bread pan also works, but your loaf may get a more classic, mushroom-shaped top.
Ingredients & Substitutions
Fresh-Milled Soft Wheat Flour
Ground as finely as possible, soft wheat berries make a wonderfully tender sandwich bread.
If you don’t mill your own flour at home (yet), a whole wheat pastry flour with at least 10% protein is the closest match in the U.S. In Europe, any regular whole wheat flour can be used.
Milk
Enriching with milk adds fats and protein, making the crumb tender and the crust turn golden brown in the toaster.
Cream
For a little extra tenderness and sweetness, we’ll also use cream. That little extra decadence really makes this loaf exceptional.
Butter
Butter’s fat turns sandwich bread to golden, shattering slices of toast. Never skip it.
Egg
With all the extra richness, and the addition of a water-roux, egg helps stabilize the structure of the dough. This is especially beneficial when working with fresh-milled flour.
Honey
I prefer the subtle floral notes of honey, but you can use brown (or regular) sugar in a pinch.
Sourdough Starter
Use active and bubbly starter, fed within the last 4-8 hours. If you’re maintaining your starter in the fridge, use cold starter that’s been fed within the last 7 days.
Baking Timelines
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Feed your starter the night before so it’s active and bubbly in the morning. |
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08:00 AM |
Cook and cool the tangzhong roux. |
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08:30 aM |
Mill flour and mix the roux with the rest of the ingredients into a shaggy dough. Cover and rest for 30 minutes. |
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09:00 aM |
Knead the dough and bulk ferment at room temperature (or perform stretch and folds for the following 60 minutes). |
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05:00 pM |
Shape the dough and place in a loaf pan. Rise at room temperature until roughly doubled. |
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08:00 PM |
Preheat oven and bake until tall and golden brown. |
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09:00 PM |
Remove from the loaf pan and cool to room temperature. |
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Feed your starter in the afternoon so it’s active and bubbly in the morning. |
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09:00 pM |
Cook and cool the tangzhong roux. |
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09:30 pM |
Mill flour and mix the roux with the rest of the ingredients into a shaggy dough. Cover and rest. |
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10:00 pM |
Knead the dough and bulk ferment in a cool spot (but not the fridge). |
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07:00 aM |
Shape the dough and place in a loaf pan. Rise at room temperature until roughly doubled. |
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10:00 aM |
Preheat oven and bake until tall and golden brown. |
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11:00 aM |
Remove from the loaf pan and cool to room temperature. |
How to Make Sourdough Sandwich Bread with Fresh-Milled Soft Wheat Flour
Step-by-Step : From Grain to loaf
Step 01
Mill Flour
Measure whole soft wheat berries and mill on the finest setting of your grain mill.
Set out milk, cream, eggs and butter, to bring to room temperature.
Step 02
Cook Tangzhong
In a small pot, combine 25g of fresh-milled flour, salt, and water.
Warm over medium low heat until the mix thickens into a thick pudding.
Cover and cool to room temperature.
Step 03
fermentolyse
In a stand mixer bowl, combine 145g of the tangzhong roux with the rest of the ingredients.
Use your hands, a dough whisk, or the paddle attachment to bring the ingredients together into a shaggy dough.
Cover and rest for 30 minutes.
Step 04
knead
Switch to the dough hook and knead the dough for no more than 8 minutes on the lowest setting of your stand mixer (or by hand).
Step 05
stretch & folds
If the dough doesn’t form a windowpane after kneading, cover the bowl and rest the dough for 20 minutes. Perform 1-3 rounds of stretch and folds spaced 20 minutes apart, until you see a windowpane forming.
Step 06
bulk
Cover the bowl and bulk ferment for 6-8 hours, until puffy and nearly doubled in size.
Grease a bread loaf pan with butter and line with a sling of parchment paper for easy removal (optional).
Step 07
shape
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface, and
divide into four equal pieces.
Roll each piece up into a ball. Use a bench scraper and gently drag the dough across the work top to create surface tension.
Step 08
proof
Place the shaped pieces in the loaf pan, side by side.
Cover and proof until the dough has roughly doubled in size again (another 3-6 hours).
Step 09
bake
Preheat the oven to 230°C (445°F). Place in the oven and immediately drop the temperature to 200°C (390°F). Bake for 50-55 minutes.
Let the bread cool in the pan for 5 minutes before lifting it out to a wire rack to cool completely.
How to Serve Fresh-Milled Sourdough Sandwich Bread
Plain
Slice, butter, and fill with your favorite sandwich toppings, sweet or savory.
As Toast
This loaf really shines when toasted.
- Serve it buttered and sprinkled with salt as a side to bacon and eggs, soups, or stews.
- Butter several slices, stack them high, and serve as part of a full English breakfast.
- Toast, cool, and indulge in jams, honey, or Nutella and a sprinkle of salt (trust me).
From the Pan
- Since this fresh-milled sandwich bread has a soft, brioche-like texture already, it’s perfect for turning into french toast.
- It’s also great turned into grilled cheese, as it browns so beautifully. Use a sharper cheese, to balance the sweeter notes of the bread.
How to Store & Freeze
Store fresh-milled sourdough sandwich bread at room temperature for up to 3-4 days.
Once cooled completely, wrap in a plastic freezer bag or other bread bag. To prevent drying out, keep the bread wrapped airtight. In humid climates, use a breathable bag or allow for some airflow, to prevent moisture build-up.
Freeze sourdough sandwich bread for up to 2 months for maximum freshness.
Wrap the loaf in a freezer-safe bag as a whole or in slices. Press out as much air from the bag as possible, seal tightly, and keep in the freezer until needed. You can either set the bag or single slices out overnight to thaw on a cooling rack, or toast individual slices directly from frozen.
Recipe FAQs
If you make this soft-wheat sourdough sandwich bread…
I’d love to hear how it turned out! Was it the best whole wheat sandwich bread ever?
P.S. If you’re into fresh-milled sourdough sandwich bread, you might love these recipes too:
happy baking!
Sourdough Sandwich Bread with Fresh-Milled Soft Wheat Flour
Equipment
- stand mixer (optional)
- Standard Bread Loaf Pan - (9×5-inch, 1.25lbs)
- or Pullman Bread Pan - (9×5-inch, 1.25lbs)
Ingredients
Tangzhong Ingredients
- 25 g fresh-milled soft wheat flour - or chose a store-bought alternative
- 125 g water
- 10 g salt
Dough Ingredients
- 435 g fresh-milled soft wheat flour - or chose a store-bought alternative
- 145 g tangzhong roux - cooked and cooled
- 135 g whole milk
- 75 g cream
- 60 g softened butter - at room temperature
- 25 g honey - or white or brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 100 g sourdough starter - active and bubbly
Instructions
- Measure whole soft wheat berries and mill on the finest setting of your grain mill. Set out milk, cream, eggs and butter, to bring to room temperature.
Cook Tangzhong
- In a small pot, combine 25g of fresh-milled flour, salt, and water. Warm over medium low heat until the mix thickens into a thick pudding. Cover and cool to room temperature.
Make the Dough
- In a stand mixer bowl, combine 145g of the tangzhong roux with the rest of the ingredients. Use your hands, a dough whisk, or the paddle attachment to bring the ingredients together into a shaggy dough. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.
- Switch to the dough hook and knead the dough for no more than 8 minutes on the lowest setting of your stand mixer (or by hand).
- If a windowpane doesn’t form after kneading, cover the bowl and rest the dough for 20 minutes. Perform 1-3 rounds of stretch and folds spaced 20 minutes apart, until you see a windowpane forming.
- Cover the bowl and bulk ferment for 6-8 hours, until puffy and nearly doubled in size.
Bake
- Grease a bread loaf pan with butter and line with a sling of parchment paper for easy removal (optional).
- Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface, and divide into four equal pieces. Roll each piece up into a ball. Use a bench scraper and gently drag the dough across the work top to create surface tension. Place the shaped pieces in the loaf pan, side by side. Cover and proof until the dough has roughly doubled in size again (another 3-6 hours).
- Preheat the oven to 230°C (445°F). Place in the oven and immediately drop the temperature to 200°C (390°F). Bake for 50-55 minutes.
- Let the bread cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
More from the Grains & Greens Kitchen
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I’ve yet to make a standard loaf of bread with this recipe BUT it makes for fantastic cinnamon rolls.
What a great idea!!
Thanks for sharing, I never would’ve thought of that! ❤️
I usually make an adjusted version of the Kamut Sandwich bread but decided to give this one a try. I had to do three rounds of stretch and fold but then it worked perfectly. I am happy with the result but since I prefer the taste of Kamut, I will either substitute for the wheat here or just stick with the other tried and true recipe of yours.
Interesting idea with the cinnamon rolls🤔
What I loved was the ability to change the number of slices before printing the recipe! That’s great for scaling the recipe up or down!