Honey Wheat Sourdough Sandwich Loaf

Hey there again! I am back today with another amazing recipe. This is one I have been working on for quite some time and I think I finally got it down. 

I love baking with sourdough and can proudly say I have had my (alive and well) going on 3 years. It has survived a move to a completely different state and everything! 

I first learned about sourdough from Lisa at Farmhouse on Boone while I was in a hospital bed, bored, recovering from an infection I had contracted at the hospital a few day prior. I happened to come across her on YouTube and became a huge fan of hers. I started my own sourdough using her instructions a couple of years later.

In the mean time, I kept watching her videos and she was one of the people who inspired me to start my own YouTube channel. I got to meet her at a bloggers conference one summer. I did a collaboration video with her later on and I even was a guest on her podcast. 

To go from fan to eventually a “colleague” felt pretty amazing to me. 

Just a little backstory, but now onto this bread you came here to read about. 

Please note* because baking with sourdough is a slower process, I like to start this process in the late afternoon/early evening and this will allow me to bake the next morning. 

 *Some of the following links are affiliate links. Please see full disclosure for complete details*

At first I was really intimidated with “playing around” with sourdough recipes. I was a novice when it came to sourdough, but I eventually found myself tweaking things here and there and got over that “fear” if you will. 

I personally love honey wheat sandwich bread, but it has been many months now since we don’t buy store bought sandwich bread. We made that change because we have been slowly eliminating highly processed foods with a ton of unnecessary preservatives and additives. 

Sourdough has a ton of benefits and I was determined to make our very own honey wheat sourdough sandwich loaf bread. I am happy to say that I think I nailed a pretty good recipe. 

A few things you will need for this: 

• A food scale 
• large bowl (I like this one because it comes with a lid)
• small bowl optional*
• loaf pan ( I prefer these glass ones that come as a set so I can make more than one and they have lids that I can store leftovers in when I am not using them)
• cooling rack
• milk
• water
• salt
• wheat flour
• unbleached all purpose flour
• honey ( I prefer local raw honey)

First thing you will do is take out your food scale and place your large bowl on top of it. Make sure it reads zero grams AFTER you put the bowl on the scale. 

Next, you will need 160 grams of fed sourdough starter. 

Remove that and using a smaller bowl on the scale (zeroed out) measure 200 grams of water and 100 grams of whole milk. Just pour them both into that one smaller bowl. 

*You can just pour this directly into the large bowl and onto the starter if you want, but I personally like to warm this water/milk mixture up a little bit in the microwave or on the stove. It’s just a slight warm since it will help start the process. Milk is chilled in the fridge and it will slow the process of getting the dough to rise the colder the liquid is. 

Next, you want to add the warm liquid to the sourdough and with a clean hand, mix the two so that the sourdough incorporates into the liquid. 

Afterwards, you want to add 2 tablespoons of raw honey. 

Place the large bowl back onto the scale and zero it out. 

Next, measure 200 grams of unbleached all purpose flour and 300 grams of wheat flour. 

Finally, add 10 grams of salt and begin to knead into a ball. The dough will feel sticky at first, but then it will come together nicely. I usually do this for 5-10 minutes, depending how quickly it comes together. 

I cover the bowl and let it sit until it doubles in size. I like to keep it in the warmest part of the kitchen, usually near the stove.

I will come back when it doubles and to do a stretch and fold and then form into a loaf. I will place it into a buttered loaf pan and  then let it rise overnight covered with a tea towel. 

The following morning (usually around 6am), I place it into a preheated  375 degree oven and let it bake for 35 minutes. 

I remove the loaf once it’s done and let it sit for 5 minutes before I remove it from the loaf pan and place it onto a cooling rack. 

For best slicing results, it is best to wait until the loaf is completely cooled, however, it doesn’t always make it that long before someone (ahem, the LE) takes some of it for himself to snack on. 

I left this loaf to rise quite a bit before putting it in the oven, so it rose more and has what my husband likes to call a “mushroom” top. You can see it has some bubbles towards the top of the slices. 

The one below rose for less time, and you can see is less airy. However, both are great either way. One is a little more airy than the other. My husband likes the more dense one, but they both have the chewy bread feel that comes with a sandwich loaf. 

The flavor is amazing. It’s a perfect blend of sourdough and wheat flour with a lovely hint of sweetness because of the honey. 

It’s perfect bread to dip into egg yolks, eat as a sandwich, enjoy as a tasty snack with peanut butter or devour with just plain ole butter warm out of the oven. 

Either way you like it, I am sure you will enjoy this recipe and make it a regular like we have in our home. 

If you try this, I would love to know what you think! Don’t forget to share with your bread loving friends. And if you enjoy homemade bread like this, you will also enjoy these homemade buttermilk biscuits. 

I will be back here soon. Until then… adios!