J.R. Johnson

I post recipes for your entertainment and edification, but also so that when I lose my scribbled-on bits of paper I’m not left digging through piles of scrap-paper notes while muttering “I just saw it here somewhere!” For example, today’s recipe is my current favorite sourdough bread recipe. Here’s what it looks like when it’s at home:

Mr. Man liked my initial attempts at sourdough (I’ll have to post that recipe later) but wanted a soft, sandwich-friendly loaf that had good flavor and stored well but wasn’t as tangy as a classic sourdough loaf. This recipe works perfectly.

The recipe is a hybrid, with both starter and instant yeast. If you don’t have yeast, it’s possible to make it work with levain only, using a little more starter and longer rise times (check out comments at the recipe link below; search for “yeast” to see what other bakers have done).

The original is from King Arthur, an employee-owned company established in 1790, and known for its flour but also its recipes, videos, and helpful staff. We can’t get their flour up here, and so have to make do with alternatives. I use unbleached organic all-purpose flour because that’s what I’ve got, and I’ve tweaked the recipe to work without dry milk, which I never have.

I’ve used this recipe to make two standard loaves or (same bake time) one 9 x 13 pan of pull-apart rolls, great for sliders or with soup, chili, etc. Hasn’t failed me yet!

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Sourdough Sandwich Bread

modified from Sourdough Sandwich Bread | King Arthur Baking

Ingredients

Levain*

• 1 C + 1 Tbs (128g) flour

• 1/2 C + 1 Tbs (128g) water (60° to 70°F)

• 3 Tbs (44g) ripe (fed) sourdough starter

* The flavor won’t be as developed, but if you forget, this can be done the morning of.

Dough

• 5 1/4 C (631g) flour

• 1/4 C (50g) sugar

• 2 1/2 tsp (15g) salt

• 2 tsp (5.6g) instant yeast

• 4 Tbs (57g) butter, melted*

• 1 5/8 C (382g) milk (70° to 80°F, I microwave for 35 seconds)

• all of the ripe levain

Instructions

• Make the levain (~8pm): Mix the levain ingredients together and place in a covered container with room for the levain to grow. It will almost double in size, and will take about 12 hours to ripen at room temperature (70°F).

• Make the dough (~8am): Mix and then knead together all of the dough ingredients, including the levain, to make a smooth, supple, and not overly sticky dough. Your mileage may vary, but kneading takes me 10-12 minutes by machine or hand.

• Place the kneaded dough in a lightly-buttered bowl, cover the bowl, and let the dough rise for 1 to 2 hours, until doubled in size.

• Divide the dough in half, and shape each into 8″ logs. Place the logs in two buttered bread pans. Cover the pans and let the loaves rise until they’ve crowned about 1″ over the rim of the pan, about 1 to 2 hours. Don’t score.

• Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 375°F.

• Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the crust is golden brown. (Internal target temperature is 195-200F.) For me, this is 35 minutes. Remove the loaves from the oven and turn them out onto a rack. Let cool completely before slicing.

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* The original recipe calls for room temperature butter, but I always forget to take it out the night before. Turns out melted butter works fine too, so I’ve updated the recipe accordingly. Also, mayonnaise works too and seems to add structural support, but I’d add another gram of salt as well.