Buttermilk Sourdough Sandwich Bread

This Buttermilk Sourdough Sandwich Bread has a soft and tender crumb with a buttery, tangy flavor. Perfect for sandwiches, cold or toasted!

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This buttermilk sourdough sandwich bread is truly the best of both worlds! When I set out to create this recipe, I wanted the soft, fluffy texture and tender crumb that buttermilk bread has to offer, while still being naturally leavened with sourdough starter.

This recipe is just that, and it has amazing flavor! This is the perfect loaf for French toast, PB&Js, and everything in between. Not to mention, kids love it! It’s delicious cold or toasted, but I personally love it for just a classic cold sandwich.

Find More Sourdough Bread Recipes at Quail Creek Homestead:

• Favorite Sourdough Bread – 70% Hydration Recipe
• Soft Wheat Sourdough Sandwich Bread
• Sourdough Sandwich Bread
• Sourdough Slider Buns

What I Love About This Recipe

Same-day bake. While some sourdough recipes need some extra time to develop and usually bake next-day, this recipe is made in one day. This makes it great for when you are out of bread and need some asap!

No special equipment. This recipe requires very little as far as kitchen equipment or tools. If you have a kitchen scale, bowl, and loaf pan, you are set!

Flavor and texture. While I love making traditional sourdough bread with it’s open crumb and chewy texture, sometimes I like to change it up. This recipe is perfect for that! Not only is it shaped specifically for making sandwiches, but it also has a soft, tender crumb and more complex tangy flavor due to the combination of sourdough and buttermilk.

Tools for Making Buttermilk Sourdough Sandwich Bread

Kitchen Scale

Large mixing bowl and spoon

Loaf pan

Bench scraper

Ingredients

Buttermilk – don’t have buttermilk on hand? No problem! See below for how to make a buttermilk substitute.

Water – room temp, non-chlorinated water

Leaven or active starter – not sure the difference? It’s basically the same thing, except a leaven is a separate portion of starter made just for the recipe you’re mixing. See below for how to make a leaven.

Bread flour – you want a flour with protein content between 11 and 13%. I use King Arthur Organic Bread Flour, which has a protein content of around 12.7%.

Butter

Sugar – can also use honey

Salt – my favorite salt is Redmond’s Real Salt

How to Make a Leaven for This Recipe

The night before, or several hours before you plan to mix the bread, you’ll need to mix your leaven. Depending on the temperature of your house and how strong your starter is, the leaven will take anywhere from 4-12 hours to become optimally active.

To make the leaven for this recipe, combine the following in a glass mason jar:

• 100 grams of room temp, filtered water
• 100 grams of bread flour
• 20 grams active starter

Stir well, making sure the mixture is fully combined. It should be a thick paste. Cover with a towel or cloth and place in warm spot, like the top of your refrigerator. Your leaven is ready when it’s bubbly, puffed up and doubled (or nearly doubled) in size.

How to Make a Buttermilk Substitute

If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, don’t worry! You can still make this recipe using a buttermilk substitute. You just need whole milk and white vinegar to make this substitute.

Usually, the recipe is 1 tablespoon of white vinegar to however much milk it takes to make 1 cup total (so about 1 part vinegar to 15 parts milk). However, since this bread recipe is measured in grams, I converted the buttermilk substitute recipe to grams also.

To make 600 grams of buttermilk substitute, you will need 570 grams of milk to about 35 grams of white vinegar. Yes, this will make about 5 grams extra, but that is a very small amount to have left over.

Method for Making Buttermilk Sourdough Sandwich Bread

In a large bowl, measure the buttermilk and water, then whisk in the leaven. Add the melted butter and sugar; whisk in. Finally, add the flour and mix until a shaggy dough forms. Cover and let rest 20-30 minutes (autolyse).

Add salt and about a tablespoon of water – the water helps the salt mix in well. Using a wet hand, work the dough until the salt is fully incorporated. Watch how the dough transforms from a shaggy mass into a smooth dough!

Cover for another 30 minutes, then start your rounds of stretch and folds. Cover the dough in between rounds so it does not form a crust. Perform three rounds of stretch and folds every 30 to 45 minutes.

To perform a stretch and fold: with a wet hand, grab one side of the dough and pull up, stretching the dough without breaking it. Fold it over onto itself.

A “round” of stretch and folds is usually four folds, working your way around the round of dough with each fold. So if you think of your round of dough as a clock, you should be performing a fold at the 12, 3, 6 and 9 points of your dough.

Cover the dough and place in a warm spot (like the top of your refrigerator) until risen. It won’t be quite doubled, but about 1.5 times original size. This usually takes anywhere from a couple hours to several hours, depending on the temperature of your kitchen.

Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface and cut in half using a bench scraper. Let the dough rest for a few minutes; meanwhile, grease your loaf pans or line with parchment paper. I like to use coconut oil.

Shape the dough by gently stretching it out, then rolling it up and pinching the seams.

Place the dough in the loaf pans and cover. Let it rise again, about 2-4 hours.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bake the loaves for about 40 minutes, or until golden brown. Let the bread cool in loaf pans for 10-15 minutes, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.

Example Timeline for Buttermilk Sourdough Sandwich Bread

Here is my usual schedule for making this bread.

10pm: mix your leaven using an active starter (to have an active starter, you should feed it that morning).

Next day, 8am: Mix the buttermilk, 100g water, leaven, butter, sugar, and flour; autolyse.

8:30am: Add salt and 12g water; mix.

9am: First round of stretch and folds.

9:30am: Second round of stretch and folds.

10:15am: Third round of stretch and folds.

3pm: Shape dough and place in loaf pans; second rise.

6pm: Preheat and bake.

I hope you love this recipe as much as I do! If you try it and love it, please leave a comment below and share with a friend. Thanks for reading!