Wholewheat Sourdough Sandwich Bread

Wholewheat Sourdough Sandwich bread – A flavourful and healthier alternative to supermarket bread. Or even artisan bakery bread since it’s so easy to make. Most of the work is done by the sourdough, as you just have to mix it together and stretch it a few times. The result is a soft, chewy and fine crumbed bread, holding up to all sorts of toppings.

I particularly love this as quick dinner (Abendbrot as we say in Germany. Or “Girl Dinner”, according to the newest TikTok trend) with any cheese or charcuterie I have in the fridge. Or leftover roast chicken, layered on Black Garlic Aioli, together with crunchy lettuce and tomatoes. Maybe a few olives or fruit on the side and you have yourself a feast. Ok, now I’m hungry.

Why Wholewheat and Sourdough?

Being German, I had a strange fascination at first, with the super soft white sandwich bread you get in Ireland (and probably pretty much anywhere except Germany): You squish it all the way together and it just bounces back. Weird. It also basically melts away when you eat it, not really satisfying your hunger or any of your bodies needs for nutrition but pretending to be basic bread and giving you instant glucose spikes. How that can impact your weight is explained very well in “The Obesity Code” from Dr. Jason Fung.

After reading the above, I decided to lower both sugar and white flour intake, and if white flour, use it mainly with sourdough, to limit my bodies fat storage response.
Now with sandwich bread in particular, you still want a certain softness, to wrap nicely around your toppings, which meant I had to use parts white flour and add wholewheat as much as possible. From my trials, the below ratio of 3:1 works best for this.

My Secret Ingredients

As with most of my bread recipes, I add a few “secret” ingredients, to increase the malty flavour I love so much.
Baking malt powder, made from barley. Available here, for flavour and a crunchier crust. Barley malt extract, replacing the usual honey or sugar, to add more malt layers. And, last but not least my most recent discovery: Pure Vitamin C powder, (none of the above links is sponsored or affiliated.) which lends more structure to the bread by helping to develop the gluten, resulting a better rise, which helps especially when you use heavier flours such as wholewheat or rye (in my Wholewheat Sourdough Pretzel Buns for example). It also adds even more crunch to the crust, which is always a win in my eyes.

It’s easy. Really. Try it. I promise you won’t look back.

Don’t be intimidated by the long seeming recipe. There is very little active work involved, as the sourdough bacteria do most of the job for you. All they need is time.
You can start this in the morning and bake in the evening, to have with dinner. Or start in the afternoon, then leave overnight in the fridge, take out in the morning to come to room temperature and have freshly baked bread for breakfast or lunch. The toppings can be any seeds you enjoy, and you could even throw in some add-ins like seeds or crispy onions for more flavour, say to accompany a freshly made soup. Or just leave them out, to have a classic looking bread.

Your Reward for Patience

The result will be a Wholewheat Sourdough Sandwich bread that is moist, denser than your usual sandwich bread, but with so much more flavour and health benefits. I personally prefer the structure of this over the soft, barely-there feel of supermarket breads. It is satisfying both as a meal of its own or to accompany any meal you choose. It keeps well in a bread tin for a few days, toasts beautifully golden and what you don’t eat quickly enough makes delicious croutons.

Wholewheat Sourdough Sandwich Bread

A flavourful and healthier alternative to supermarket bread. Or even artisan bakery bread since it’s so easy to make. Most of the work is done by the sourdough, as you just have to mix it together and stretch it a few times. The result is a soft, chewy and fine crumbed bread, holding up to all sorts of toppings.

5 from 5 votes

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 45 minutes mins

Resting time 12 hours hrs

Total Time 13 hours hrs 15 minutes mins

Course Breakfast, Dinner, Side Dish

Cuisine American

Servings 12 Slices

Calories 210 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• ½ cup 125g fed sourdough starter
• 1 1/3 cups 315ml water
• 3 cups 375g white Bread Flour
• 1 cup 125g wholewheat Bread Flour
• 3 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp 30ml barley malt extract (Health food shops usually have it and I find it very worth adding. Or honey if you can’t find it.)
• 2 tsp baking malt powder also known as Barley malt. I found mine on Amazon DE
• 1 tsp yeast I tend to add a little yeast to wholewheat breads, as it’s a little heavier and the yeast helps with the rise. It’s optional though
• 2 tsp Vitamin C optional, lends structure and crunch

Instructions

 

• In a large mixing bowl, combine the sourdough starter and water. Stir well to incorporate.
• Add the white bread flour, fine wholewheat flour, kosher salt, barley malt extract, baking malt powder, and yeast to the bowl. Mix everything together until a shaggy dough forms.
• Cover the bowl with a damp clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes to 1 hour. This step is called autolyse and helps the gluten develop.
• After the autolyse, perform a series of stretch and folds on the dough. To do this, wet your hands and reach underneath the dough, gently stretching one side up and over the rest of the dough. Repeat this process, rotating the bowl each time, until you've done this stretch and fold process 4-5 times.
• Cover the bowl again and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
• Perform another series of stretch and folds on the dough, just like in step 4. Cover the bowl and let it rest for another 30 minutes.
• Repeat the stretch and fold process for a third time, cover the bowl, and let it rest for another 30 minutes.
• After the third set of stretch and folds, let the dough rise at room temperature for about 2-3 hours, or until it has visibly expanded and feels light and airy.
• Line a loaf tin with baking parchment
• Gently transfer the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Shape it into a long loaf, the shape of your baking tin, by folding the edges towards the centre, creating tension on the surface of the dough.
• Place the shaped dough into your loaf tin. Cover it and let it rise at room temperature for another 1-2 hours, or until it has visibly risen and feels puffy. Alternatively, you can leave it overnight in the fridge at this point, to take it out a few hours before you want to bake it in the morning, to let it come to room temperature.
• Preheat your oven to 450°F (230°C).
• Once the oven is preheated, score the top of the dough with a sharp knife or a bread lame (You could skip this step like I did, but your bread will randomly rise on whatever side it feels like), brush with a little water and add any seeds you might like to the top.
• Place the bread tin in your oven
• Bake the bread uncovered for 20 minutes. Check for browning and cover loosely with aluminium foil, if it’s already golden brown, bake for another 20-25 minutes, or until the bread sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.
• Once baked, remove the bread from the oven and tin right away and let it cool on a wire rack before slicing.

Notes

I particularly love this as quick dinner (Abendbrot as we say in Germany. Or “Girl Dinner”, according to the newest TikTok trend) with any cheese or charcuterie I have in the fridge. Or leftover roast chicken, layered on black garlic aioli, together with crunchy lettuce and tomatoes. Maybe a few olives or fruit on the side and you have yourself a feast.

This bread freezes beautifully. Either sliced, so you can take them out and just toast, or, as I usually do, cut in half, so you can have each half at its best.

The below is based on the estimation of about 12 slices. Which depends very much on your slice preference. Mine are about 80-100g per slice. Not that I weigh them every time, but that is the average when I did.

Total Estimated Nutrition per Portion:
Calories: Approximately 207-215
Fat: Approximately 1-2 grams
Protein: Approximately 6-7 grams
Carbohydrates: Approximately 43-46 grams
Fiber: Approximately 3-4 grams
Sugar: Approximately 0-1 gram

Nutrition

Calories: 210kcal

Nutrition Facts

Wholewheat Sourdough Sandwich Bread

Amount per Serving

Calories

210

% Daily Value*

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Keyword Healthy, High Fibre, sourdough

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