One of the dangers of baking your own bread is that you get spoiled. Our family is used to a steady supply of healthy, fresh sourdough bread. I have been baking this hearty sourdough sandwich bread for over three years for example.
At the beginning of July, I broke my ankle (I wrote about it on my personal blog), and I could not stand up, let alone bake bread. With the help of my incredible mother-in-law and wonderful friends, we could arrange our lives around the injury. But we were at a loss as to where to buy our bread. Even the bread from the better bakeries in town was ‘sourfaux” (sourdough with commercial yeast) or yeast bread with mainly white flour.
I am so glad that I was finally able this week to bake my sandwich loaves and tomorrow I will bake two loaves of artisan bread using my Easy Whole Grain Sourdough Bread recipe.
What is the difference between artisan and sandwich bread?
There are a few differences between sandwich bread and other breads. The main one is the fact that the sandwich loaf is usually baked in a loaf pan. These bread pans can be made from different materials, and some even have a lid to produce perfectly rectangular slices of bread.
Sandwich breads also mostly contain fat. I like to use avocado oil for ours, but other bakers prefer coconut oil or butter. This makes the crust a little softer and allows us to bake the bread without the use of a closed baking vessel, even in a conventional oven.
The term “sandwich bread” means something different for a lot of people. Often we think of white or almost white bread that we toast to enjoy it or that serves as the base and lid for layers of meats, cheeses, and vegetables.
As someone who takes sandwiches to work almost daily, I find that these traditional breads lack substance and fibre. For me, the bread is the main feature of the lunch :-).
Since I began to appreciate eating my own bread and knowing exactly what is in the food I am eating, I have become more interested in making more of the food we eat from scratch.
In this Instagram post, I show my sourdough sandwich bread with my homemade hummus and my own microgreens. To me, this is the perfect sandwich :-).
Of course, I enjoy a slice of toast. You should try this bread toasted, with peanut butter and jam – delicious!
A word about loaf pans
There are several options for bread pans on the market.
I have two of these pans and they work well. Don’t be fooled by the “Non-stick” label, though. I learned very quickly that you do have to grease all pans for bread baking.
You can also get these Pullman pans with a lid. That way you can get perfectly square bread :-).
Railway service pioneer George Pullman chose the loaf for use on his Pullman railcars for efficiency reasons. [Wikipedia]
The sandwich pans you see in some of my pictures are beautiful terracotta pans by the Henry Watson Company. Once they are seasoned, you can use them the same way you use metal pans.
I hope you try my sourdough sandwich bread and let me know how it turned out!
Equipment
- 1 Mixing bowl
- 1 Danish dough whisk optional but recommended
- 1 Loaf pan
Ingredients
- 60 grams starter fed, bubbly, active starter
- 300 grams warm water (cold if your kitchen is hot)
- 20 grams honey
- 30 grams oil I use avocado oil but olive or others work
- 100 grams spelt flour
- 150 grams whole wheat flour
- 250 grams bread flour
- 9 grams salt
Inclusions
- 70 grams (seven) grain hot cereal I like Anita's Organic Seven Grain Hot Cereal
- 200 grams hot water
- 20 grams ground flax seed optional
- 50 grams walnut pieces optional
- 1 tbs rolled oats optional for decoration
- olive oil optional to brush on the top
Instructions
Fermentolyse
- Mix starter, water, honey and oil in your large bowl.
- Add the flours but not the salt.
- Roughly mix together; the Danish dough hook is great for this. Don't worry if there is still dry flour left.
- Cover and let it sit on the counter for about 30 minutes.
Inclusions
- Heat the water and add the multigrain cereal to it.
- Soak the grains in the water for 30 minutes while the dough is resting.
- Measure the salt and add optional dry ingedients.
Bulk Rise
- Add all ingredients together and mix well by hand or in your stand mixer. Careful, your grains may be hot!
- Cover your bowl for about one hour.
- Stretch and fold the dough to build gluten. Repeat 2-3 times in about 1 hr intervals.
Shape
- Grease your pan liberally with butter or margarine.
- When the dough has about doubled, shape it and put it into the loaf pan. Shaping is not as critical with sandwich bread because the pan holds everything together.
- Leave the bread pan on the counter for about an hour. Depending on your pan, it may rise above the rim.
Cold fermentation
- Cover your bread (I use shower caps) and store it in the fridge overnight.
Bake
- Preheat your oven to 450F (230C)
- Brush your bread with a liberal amount of water and add the oat flakes on top.
- Bake for 40 minutes. Depending on your oven, you may have to rotate the pans once.
- Let your bread cool in the loaf pan for at least one hour. If you like a softer top, you can brush some oil or melted butter on top.
- Take the bead out of the pan and cool for another hour.
Enjoy!
- Sandwich bread is easy to slice with a good bread knife. I usually bake two loaves, slice and freeze them. When the slices are thawed, you can use them as is or toast them.
Hi, I have made this bread a number of times. It is delicious. However, I have always had to add extra flour to it, as it is too wet.