This sourdough bread recipe is based on a recipe for Sally Lunn bread, and I adapted it to test it out with both rolls and loaf bread. It worked out really well, and is soft enough to use for sandwiches or dinner rolls because of the butter in it.
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Recipe
For the sponge:
- 1/2 cup sourdough starter
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 1/2 cups AP unbleached flour
Mix the ingredients and let them sit in a covered mixing bowl for 12-24 hours.
For the bread:
- Sourdough sponge (or 1 Tbsp active dry yeast)
- 3/4 cup milk (full-fat is best but any kind will work)
- 1/2 cup butter, softened at room temp.
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 5-6 cups AP unbleached flour
Equipment:
- Mixing bowl
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Loaf pans
- Baking sheets
- Parchment paper
- Spoon or rubber spatula
- Mixer (optional)
Recipe:
- 12-24 hours ahead, make the sponge. If you want to use active dry yeast, skip this step.
- When it’s time to make the bread, add the milk, softened butter, and flour to the sponge and mix well.
- Add the salt and mix.
- Turn the dough out on a floured counter and knead for about ten minutes, or use a stand mixer to knead the dough for about 5 minutes.
- Let the dough rise until doubled in size, about 3-4 hours depending on how cold it is.
- To make loaves: Divide the dough and shape into two loaf shapes. Put one in each pan, cover with a cloth, and let them rise until doubled in size.
- To make rolls: Form the dough into rolls shaped however you like, either rounded or knots. Put the rolls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, cover with a clean dishtowel, and let them rise again until doubled in size.
- About fifteen minutes before the second rise is done, preheat the oven to 370F.
- Bake the loaves for about 40 minutes, or until the bread is 185F inside using an instant-read thermometer. Cut the top of the bread before baking if you want to do that.
- Bake rolls for about 20-25 minutes, check the internal temperature of one roll to see if it’s at 185F. If it is, they’re done, if not, leave them in a little longer.
- Remove the bread from the pans and the rolls from the baking sheet and cool them completely on a cooling rack.
- Store the bread in a sealed plastic container or bag.
Tips for making the bread.
The sponge needs to develop for at least 12 hours to make sure that it’s active and the yeast is alive and kicking. If you don’t have time for that, you can use 1 Tbsp active dry yeast in the dough instead. You can also combine some starter with yeast for flavor, but it’s best to use a developed starter.
Get the recipe for starter in this article.
I use the mixer to knead the bread if I don’t feel like kneading it by hand, but I think that I get a better result when I do the hand kneading. Since this recipe has butter in it, kneading it by hand will mix that in better than a machine will, and that will improve the texture.
The dough will be ready for the first rise when it’s stretchy and not too wet. You should be able to press your fingers into it gently and the holes will slowly fill in. This is something that you learn with experience, but the wetter the dough, the crispier the final loaves will be, and for this bread you don’t want it to be to crusty at the end.
When the dough has basically doubled in size, you can divide it into loaves or make rolls (or do half and half.) If you’re not sure about whether it’s doubled, take a picture of it before to compare to after. Cell phones are handy for this kind of thing.
For this recipe I did a half-and-half and made one loaf and also made rolls.
These are the final rolls, they were delicious! I made these into a knotted design by starting with 2.5 ounces of dough (I weighed them) and stretching it into a rope, then tying one knot. They expanded enough that it kind of lost the shape, though, so you might as well just make them round.
I didn’t slash the top of the loaf before baking it, so it rose on the side to give it that rough look. This was a nice loaf that was pretty dense and easy to cut for sandwiches. We used them to make grilled cheese in a panini maker and the bread didn’t fall apart.
I was able to cut each slice pretty thin, and the crust wasn’t too crusty so it was soft enough to bite easily. One thing that you can do to make the crust softer is to put the bread in the plastic bag that you’re going to store it in when the bread is still a little warm. The steam from inside the bread will stay in the bag and soften the crust.
This was the texture of the bread when it was cut. I know that sourdough typically has big holes in it, but I seriously can’t get mine to do that. I like a denser bread better anyway, so I’m not concerned about it, but if that’s what you’re looking for this might not be the best recipe for that! The texture of this one was similar to the milk and honey sourdough in this article.
This bread was great for sandwiches and the rolls were good, too. The butter in it made the finished bread a little softer than a crusty sourdough, and I like the softer texture. It worked well for dinner rolls because of that, and the sandwich bread is now a staple in our house. I make a couple of loaves a week and it definitely gets eaten!
I also made this recipe with a starter made from yogurt, and it was really good. Check that out here.
