What do a bacon sandwich, fried bread, French toast, Croque Monsieur and Welsh rarebit all have in common? They’re all best made using a plain, white sliced loaf.
I’ve confessed in the past that I’m quite partial to the odd, soft slice of Warbie’s Toastie now and again. The French have a far more chic-sounding name for this kind of bread – pain de mie. I saw this recipe recently for a soft sourdough sandwich loaf and thought I’d give it a try. As I outlined earlier, you don’t always want a strong flavoured loaf with an open, uneven texture.
The knack to making a loaf with a soft, tearable texture is to knead, knead, knead until the gluten has developed fully. You can attempt to do this by hand, but my arm muscles aren’t up to the job! The other trick is to roll it out and roll it up… twice. Finally, a couple of long proving sessions with an overnight stint in the fridge in between.
Making a sourdough sandwich loaf is a long, drawn out process – the exact opposite to the mass produced, Chorleywood processed stuff. Don’t fret though, bread preparation can fit easily around the rest of your day and night.
The original recipe says you need to allow your loaf to have a final proof of 6 hours. I don’t know if it’s the ever-cool temperature of my kitchen, but this wasn’t anywhere near long enough for mine. I’ve made this loaf on two different occasions now, and I’ve needed at least 12 hours on both occasions. Rather than go by length of time, judge it ready when your dough has doubled in size.
I like the first few slices of my fresh, home-made bread plain & simply buttered. Justin preferred using it as an opportunity to make a bacon sandwich. Apparently, the sweetness of the bread worked perfectly with the saltiness of the bacon.
What’s your favourite sandwich to make with soft, white bread?
Save the sourdough sandwich loaf recipe to Pinterest here
- 18g/⅔oz ripe sourdough starter (100% hydration)
- 30g/1oz milk
- 56g/2oz strong bread flour
- 138g/4¾oz plain flour
- 138g4¾oz strong bread flour
- 20g/¾oz milk powder
- 34g/1oz sugar
- 134g/4¾oz milk
- 1 large egg white (50g)
- All of the levain
- 34g/1oz butter, softened
- 6g/⅕oz salt
- Mix together the starter, milk and flour and allow to develop at room temperature (23ºC/73ºF) until mature (about 12 hours)
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment, combine the flour, milk powder, sugar, milk and egg white until it just comes together. Cover and autolyse in a warm place for half an hour
- Add the levain and half of the butter mixing in completely. Add the rest of the butter and the salt
- Knead until the dough is smooth, silky, stretchy and shiny and passes the windowpane test (this took me about 15 minutes in my stand mixer, on a slow-medium speed)
- Cover and bulk rise at room temperature for 2 hours. Fold, cover with cling film (or plastic bag) and refrigerate overnight
- Divide the dough into 3 or 4 equal pieces (I made 4 x 160g/5⅔oz pieces), roll them into balls, cover with slightly oiled cling film and allow to rest at room temperature for an hour
- Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out each piece into an oval. Roll up tightly and allow to rest for 10 minutes
- Roll each piece along its seam into long oval again. Roll up tightly for a 2nd time.
- Place the rolls, seam side down, into a 23cm x 13cm / 9" x 5" loaf tin or Pullman pan if you have one. Cover the tin loosely with cling film and allow to proveat room temperature for about 6 hours
- Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/Gas mark 6. Bake the loaf for 20 minutes
- Turn the temperature down to 175ºC/350ºF/Gas mark and bake for a further 15-20 minutes. If the top of loaf is browning too quickly, cover over the top with a piece of aluminium foil to prevent it from burning
- Take the loaf out of the oven and immediately turn the loaf out on to a wire cooling rack
- While the loaf is still warm, brush the top and sides with a little melted butter
Cakes & Bakes: Simple plain white loaf
A good recipe for a simple, plain white loaf is an essential in your home baking repertoire. This is an easy to make, easy to remember recipe – 100% flour, 60% water, 2% salt, 1% dried yeast.
This ratio of ingredients means the quantities can be multiplied easily depending on how many loaves you want to make. Just like a basic sponge cake recipe, it can be adapted to make all manner of variations. I regularly use this recipe as a starting point for other kinds of loaves…
- Use half white, half wholemeal flour.
- Add mixed seeds & nuts such as poppy, sunflower and pumpkin seeds.
- Add dried fruit such as raisins, currents, sultanas (pre-soaked for a few hours in ) and/or chopped dried figs with a teaspoon of cinnamon and tablespoon of honey or maple syrup.
- Simply kneading in a teaspoon of caraway seeds makes one of my favourite loaves!
The quantities below make one, medium-sized loaf.
Simple plain white loaf
Ingredients
- 500 g/18oz plain flour
- 300 ml/10.5 fl oz warm water
- 10 g/⅓oz salt
- 5 g/⅙oz active dried yeast
Instructions
- sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl
- add the yeast to the warm water (no hotter than blood temperature) and mix together
- make a well in the dry flour & salt mixture and pour in the water & yeast mix
- fold the flour from the edges into the centre of the mixing bowl to combine well
- lightly dust a tabletop with flour and knead the dough well for about 10 minutes until smooth
- form the dough into a ball and put it back into the mixing bowl
- cover the bowl with a damp tea towel or oiled cling film (Saran wrap) - I use a very large, clear plastic bag which I reuse over & over again
- leave to prove for 60-90 minutes (depending on the temperature of the room) until the dough has doubled in size
- lightly dust a tabletop with flour and knock the dough back and form it into an oblong and put it into a greased 500g/1lb rectangular loaf tin
- put the tin back into the bowl and cover again with a damp tea towel or oiled cling film
- leave to prove again for 60-90 minutes until the dough has doubled in size
- preheat the oven to 240ºC/465ºF/Gas mark 9, put an empty roasting dish on the bottom shelf of the oven and fill a cup with cold water and set aside
- when the loaf has proved, use a small serrated knife or grignette to score the top
- Quickly & carefully pour the cup of water into the roasting dish before putting the loaf into the oven
- After 10 minutes, turn the oven down to 200ºC/ 400ºF/Gas mark 6
- Bake for a further 20-25 minutes before taking it out of the oven, removing from the tin and tapping on the base. If it sounds hollow it's done
- Leave to cool on a wire rack for at least half an hour before use
