Sourdough Discard Sandwich Bread
This Sourdough Discard Sandwich Bread Recipe makes a sandwich loaf with the flavor of sourdough and the ease of using commercial yeast. I’m not embarrassed to say, “Hello. My name is Joanne, and I make a cheater sourdough discard bread.”
In this post, I’ll share the step-by-step process and key tips to crafting an easy loaf of bread with sourdough discard. So keep your sourdough discard out of the compost bin, hit that Jump to Recipe button, and come bake a discard sourdough sandwich bread loaf with me!
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Backstory
Like many people, I was given a sourdough starter in 2020. It was started by a friend who died suddenly, and it felt like baking sourdough breads would keep a bit of him alive.
In those early months of the pandemic, I dutifully fed my starter. I made sourdough discard crumpets. I made sourdough discard crackers. And occasionally I’d guiltily throw the discard away. But I felt obligated to bake sourdough.
Eventually I gave myself permission to do whatever I needed in order to make life easier. I give you permission to do the same.
Ingredients
Sourdough discard is the flour and water combination you’re left with when you feed your sourdough starter. You can use that starter to make sourdough bread or use it a day or more later as sourdough discard. The key here is that the yeast in your starter doesn’t need to be maximally active to make a sourdough discard bread.
So a bit of commercial yeast is the key to making a sourdough discard bread without the time and effort of a sourdough loaf. I recommend using highly active instant yeast because you don’t need to proof it, but feel free to use whatever yeast you feel most comfortable with.
Otherwise the ingredients in the base recipe to make sandwich bread using sourdough discard are flour, salt, and water at about 70% hydration. Feel free to make some sourdough discard bread variations with some of my suggestions below.
Please see the recipe card below for complete information on ingredients and quantities.
Variations and substitutions
- Switch out one cup of whole wheat or rye flour for a cup of bread flour.
- Add in up to one cup of toasted seeds or nuts to your sourdough discard sandwich bread.
- Use sweet potato for color and flavor in this purple sweet potato discard bread.
Recipe tips and tricks
Step 1: Put all of the sourdough starter in a large bowl except for what you need to refresh and maintain your starter. Add the remaining ingredients except for the salt and mix with a spoon or spatula until a shaggy dough forms. Cover with plastic wrap and let this sit for 20 minutes to autolyse.
I don’t use a sponge step when I make sourdough discard bread like I do with my honey wheat bread and other sandwich breads. That extra step is unnecessary for flavor with sourdough discard.
Tip from the wise quacker: yeast are single-celled fungi. “They say” that adding salt at the same time as yeast can lead to osmotic pressure that kills the yeast, resulting in less fermentation and rise and potentially affecting your bread’s texture and flavor. It’s not clear if avoiding this really makes a difference, but it can’t hurt.
Step 2: Add the salt and knead by hand or using your stand mixer until the dough is supple and passes the windowpane test. It should be slightly tacky, so add a tablespoon of flour at a time as you knead if it’s sticky (or a teaspoon of water if it is too dry).
If you want seeds or nuts in your sandwich bread, add them at the end and knead by hand to incorporate. Form your bread dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and put the bowl in a warm location to rise until doubled, about one to two hours.
The best temperature for bread-making is in the high 70s Fahrenheit. If your home is cool, you can create a warm place by either turning on your oven until it reaches 80 degrees or heating a microwave-safe cup of water in your microwave for a minute or two.
Step 3: Shape the sourdough discard bread dough into a sandwich loaf and let it rise a second time in a greased bread loaf pan. It should take another hour or two to rise about an inch above the edge of your loaf pan.
Step 4: Heat the oven to 375°F at least thirty minutes before baking, then bake for about thirty minutes. Your sourdough discard sandwich bread is done when it is lightly browned, has an internal temperature of 190°F, and it sounds hollow when you thump it on the bottom.
Remove the bread from the pan immediately and let your sandwich bread cool on a cooling rack at least for one hour prior to cutting.
Recipe FAQs
Store baked bread in an air-tight bag or container at room temperature. You can also slice the sourdough discard bread for sandwiches and keep the slices in a freezer bag.
If you are feeding your sourdough starter and don’t want to make this sourdough discard sandwich bread recipe right away, keep the discard in a clean glass jar in the refrigerator for a week or more. You can use it for its flavor as long as it doesn’t look or smell off.
You can use sourdough discard in any recipe that has flour and liquid to give it a slightly sour or tangy taste. I make breads, bagels, homemade pita, sourdough soft pretzels, or recipes with buttermilk like pancakes and waffles and sourdough discard buttermilk biscuits.
To use your discard in any recipe, just calculate the amount of flour and water in your starter and reduce the amount of flour and liquid in your recipe by that weight. If you don’t want to do math, check out my sourdough discard waffle recipe or these apple-packed sourdough discard apple muffins or sourdough apple cake.
Related bread recipes
Love this sourdough discard sandwich bread? Check out other breads for sandwiches from the Ugly Duckling Bakery bread archives like:.
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-heart 💜💜💜💜💜 rating in the recipe card below. Let me know how much you loved it, or any problems you had, in the comments section further down.
Recipe
Sourdough Discard Sandwich Bread
Ingredients
- 3 cups (375 grams) bread flour plus extra, as needed
- 1 cup (113 grams) sourdough discard
- 1 cup (240 milliliters)warm water
- 1 teaspoon instant yeast
- 1½ teaspoon (5 grams) kosher salt
- butter or cooking spray for greasing the loaf pan
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to a large mixing bowl except for the salt and mix with a spoon or spatula. Let rest for 20 minutes.3 cups (375 grams) bread flour, 1 cup (240 milliliters)warm water, 1 teaspoon instant yeast, 1 cup (113 grams) sourdough discard
- Add the salt and knead until the dough is smooth and passes the windowpane test. The dough should be slightly tacky. If the dough is full on sticky, add a tablespoon of flour at a time, or add a teaspoon of water if it is dry. If adding seeds or nuts, add them at the end of kneading and knead by hand to incorporate.1½ teaspoon (5 grams) kosher salt
- Shape the dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and put the bowl in a warm location until it has doubled in size, about 1½ hours. The microwave or a 80°F oven works well here.
- Shape into a sandwich loaf and let rise in a greased 9 by 5 inch bread loaf pan until it is about an inch over the side of the loaf pan, about 1½ hours.butter or cooking spray
- Preheat the oven to 375°F at least 30 minutes before baking.
- Bake your sourdough discard sandwich loaf for 30 minutes until it is golden brown, the internal temperature is 190℉, and it sounds hollow when thumped on the loaf bottom.
- Remove the sandwich bread from the loaf pan immediately, and let cool on a baking rack for at least one hour before cutting.
Notes
Nutrition
Bored with the recipes you’ve been cooking and baking lately? Get inspiration here:
Can you use APF instead of bread flour?
Hi Stephanie – thanks for the question! Bread flours are generally higher protein flours than all-purpose (which are higher protein than pastry and cake flours), giving the bread a stronger gluten network. You can definitely sub all purpose in this sourdough discard recipe, and you’ll end up with a softer bread that might not rise as high
Good recipe! Turned out light and airy even though I used some whole wheat flour. I like that it uses a cup of sourdough discard. Need to use that up!
So glad you liked this sourdough discard bread. I’ve got tons of other sourdough discard recipes up and in the works, too!