Easy sourdough sandwich bread

Simple and a loaf of delicious bread. Excellent for breakfast- or other kinds of sandwiches. 😊

It could not be easier than this.

The great thing about this bread is that it does not need to be kneaded in a machine – if you have a machine, you can, of course, use it, but otherwise, you only have to use a spoon to mix the dough. Then, of course, you can bake the bread on the same day – but the longer the dough is allowed to rest in the fridge, the more flavor the loaves of bread will have.

I have divided the recipe into two parts – the first part is about baking the bread the same day. The second part is about how to do when choosing a more extended rest period for the dough in the fridge.

Flour varieties
Here I use a mixture of durum wheat flour and regular wheat flour – but it is excellent to use only wheat flour or replace durum wheat flour with coarsely ground rye flour. But, again, it is a matter of taste – no matter what kind of flour you use, the bread will be super tasty!

Bread molds
Half a batch gives a loaf of bread; I usually double it. When I bake only one loaf, I typically use a 2-liter mold; if I double the batch, I use two 1.5-liter molds plus a 1-liter mold. You can also use 2 x 2-liter molds for the double set.

Oven temperature
392° (F) – convection oven 347° (F).

Activate the sourdough
Activate the sourdough 6 – 10 hours before you start baking. If you want a slightly lower acidity, then it is 6 hours that apply.

For the double batch (whole batch), I use 100 grams of sourdough mixed with 200 grams of 78,8 ° (F) water and 200 grams of flour (combines 100 grams of coarse rye flour with 100 grams of ordinary wheat flour). I call it the 1.2.2 method.

Feel free to activate the sourdough the evening before you start baking.
You can keep the dough for up to 72 hours in the fridge. It is an easy way to be well prepared! But, of course, the longer you have the dough in the refrigerator, the more flavor the bread gets. You can read about how to start a sourdough here. 

Ingredients whole batch (more than one loaf of bread)
650 grams of water /37 degrees
300 grams of sourdough starter
700 grams of flour
300 grams of durum wheat flour
40 grams of sugar
20 grams of salt
50 grams of vegetable oil

Method 1 – bake the bread the same day.
Time required: about 8 hours from start to finish.

1. Mix the sourdough with 98,6 ° (F) water. Mix so that the sourdough dissolves in the water.
2. If you use a machine: add all the ingredients: wheat flour, durum wheat flour, salt, sugar, and oil. Knead for 3 minutes.
3. If you use a spoon: Add wheat flour, durum wheat flour, salt, and sugar and mix well, then add oil and work it in.
4. Knead for about 2-3 minutes with your hands.
5. Oil a spacious container and put in the dough, cover with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and rest for 30 minutes.
6. Stretch and fold the dough after 30 minutes. (see video). Repeat the stretch and fold the method four times in total at 30-minute intervals.
7. After the last round of stretching and folding, cover the dough with plastic wrap or kitchen towel and let it rest at room temperature for at least 3 hours.
8. Pour the dough on a clean and floured surface.
9. Divide the dough into two parts (if you make a batch of 2 loaves).
10. Stretch the dough to get a rectangular shape – fold it once and then fold the dough again on the short side.
11. Next, roll and pinch the dough and then place it in a rectangular bread tin.
12. Lightly oil the top of the bread and cover it with plastic wrap. It takes about 2.5 to 3 hours before the dough has finished fermenting, provided that you have a room temperature of approximately 71,6° (F). (Under tips below, you can read how to check if the dough is ready to be baked in the oven).
13. Now you can prepare the oven. It is good if you have a pizza stone – otherwise, you can use two pcs. of oven sheets instead. Place the pizza stone or baking sheets in the oven and preheat the oven to 392° (F). Have a small container at the bottom of the oven and pour 0.5 liters of water into it.
14. Spray the loaves with water before putting them in the oven.
15. Bake the loaves of bread for 15 minutes, after which you take out the water and pour it off.
16. Continue baking the loaves of bread for additional 15 – 20 minutes.  The loaves of bread are ready when a thermometer shows 199,4° (F) in the middle of the loaf, and they have a nice golden color.

Allow cooling before cutting.

Method 2 – bake the bread the next day or later
Time required: 2 days

1. You make mixing, kneading, etc., as in steps 1 – 6 under method 1.
2. After the last “stretch and fold,” cover the dough and store it in the fridge until the next day (or longer – up to 72 hours).
3. Remove the dough from the fridge the next day.
4. Let it come to room temperature for 4 – 6 hours.
5. Follow steps 8 – 16 under method 1.

Enjoy!

Tips when baking with sourdough.

• A prerequisite is to have an activated sourdough, which means that you should preferably activate the sourdough the evening before starting to bake (6 – 10 hours before).
• Most loaves of bread do not require much effort to knead – but to stretch and fold. You need to use the stretch and fold method for this particular bread. The dough needs to be stretched and folded four times at 30-minute intervals.
• The dough gets more flavor the longer it is stored in the refrigerator. (Can be up to 72 hours).
• The dough will not be twice as big as when baking with regular yeast!
• You can check if the dough is ready to bake in the oven by pressing in the dough with a floured finger. If it bounces back quickly, give it a little more time. If the hole you created fills in slowly, the dough is ready to be baked.
• If you press on your dough and it collapses or feels like it may collapse, you probably have an over-fermented dough. You can still bake it, but the texture will be a little more compact.

Ingredients for half a batch
325 grams of water /37 degrees
150 grams of sourdough starter
350 grams of flour
150 grams of durum wheat flour
20 grams of sugar
10 grams of salt
25 grams of vegetable oil

 Swedish bread tins or mold:
2-liter mold: 13 x 5 x 2,5 inches
1,5-liter mold 11 x 4,5 x 2,5 inches
1-liter mold 8 x 4 x 2.5 inches