Sourdough Discard Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread
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This simple recipe for Sourdough Discard Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread is a healthy vegan homemade bread! This recipe uses sourdough discard along with instant yeast so you can have fresh bread in just a few hours.
If you’re looking for more bread recipes be sure to check out some of my other favorites like Homemade Sesame Bagels, Lemon Rosemary Sourdough, or Simple French Baguettes.
Table of Contents
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Soft & Fluffy: This Sourdough Discard Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread is soft and fluffy! This is just like a sliced sandwich bread you’d buy at the store, but this healthy vegan homemade bread is much better for you as it doesn’t contain seed oils or unnecessary ingredients!
Whole Wheat Goodness: The base of this healthy vegan homemade bread is whole wheat flour. Even though there’s sourdough discard in here for flavor, you still get the flavor of the whole wheat too, making this the perfect combination of tangy sourdough and whole wheat. This healthy vegan homemade bread is perfect for sandwiches, avocado toast, or just with a slab of butter!
Quick & Easy: All you need is just a few hours to make this Sourdough Discard Whole Wheat Sandwich bread! You can start this in the morning and have fresh bread after lunch!
This is another collab with my friend Hannah at Make It Dough! We have been collaborating on recipes for over a year now and each month we share a collab recipe! The benefits of these recipes for you are that you get double the testing and you get to view this two different ways.
While Hannah and I have different style, we make the same exact recipe and share it! So, it’s incredibly fun to see our individual takes on the same recipe. Just like we know yours will be individual to you when you make our recipes!
Ingredients
Red Star Organic Instant Yeast
Organic Sourdough Discard
King Arthur Organic Whole Wheat Flour
Carapelli Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Organic Roasted & Salted Sunflower Seeds
Tools Needed
Stand Mixer (optional)
Large Mixing Bowl
Plastic Wrap
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Step by Step Instructions
Step 1
To make the dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook (or in a large bowl), whisk the water, maple syrup and yeast together. Cover the bowl and let the yeast bloom until foamy, about 15 minutes.
Step 2
Add in the sourdough discard, whole wheat flour, and sea salt into the yeast mixture and mix on low until no dry bits of flour remain. Slowly stream in the olive oil as you are mixing on low speed.
Continue to knead the dough until the oil is completely absorbed. The dough should start greasy and gradually become smoother and less sticky. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rest for 15 minutes.
Step 3
Strengthen the dough: Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead the dough by folding it in half, then pressing and pushing with the heel of your hand. Continue this process until the dough becomes smooth and elastic, about 5 to 10 minutes.
Step 4
First rise: Round the dough into a tight ball, and transfer it to a clean, lightly oiled bowl. Spread oil on top of the dough to prevent it from drying out.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set it in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Step 5
Toss the toasted sunflower seeds and poppy seeds in a bowl. Set aside.
Shape the dough: Turn the dough out on a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into 5 even portions.
Working with 1 portion of dough at a time. Flatten the dough into a rough rectangle, fold the corners towards the center. Turn the dough over, cup the dough and drag it on your work surface in a rounding motion to create a smooth taut surface.
Repeat with the remaining portions of dough, arranging them in a zigzag pattern in the loaf pan.
Brush the top of the dough with water and sprinkle the seed mixture on top.
Step 6
Final Proof: Cover the loaf pan with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise untouched in a warm place. The dough should fill your pan and rise about ½ an inch above the rim, about 30 to 45 minutes.
Step 7
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a 1-pound loaf pan with parchment paper or brush liberally with oil.
Bake the dough for 10 minutes at 400°F. Without taking the loaf out of the oven, turn the oven temperature down to 350°F and continue baking for another 30 to 45 minutes or until the loaf registers at 200°F when probed with an instant-read thermometer.
Allow the bread to cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing.
Baker's Tips
- I provide mixer instructions here, but you do not need a stand mixer to make this recipe! As long as you don't mind kneading a bit more and longer with your hands, you can do this completely by hand.
- While we do provide time estimates for rising, always make sure to look for visual signs your bread is ready to move to the next step. It will highly depend on your climate and temperature in your kitchen. Cooler temps can call for longer rise times.
- Make sure your yeast is good! Yeast packets will have expiration date on them. But, if your yeast is not bubbly then that means its bad and there is no point to continue with the recipe as the bread will not rise. You’ll need to get new fresh yeast and start from scratch if that happens.
- The recipe calls for instant yeast, but active dry yeast will also work too! Whatever you have on hand is just fine so long as you allow it to bloom and it’s bubbly.
- I used my Caraway 1-Pound Loaf Pan. You can use any 1-pound loaf pan you like for this recipe!
- The seeds can fall off the bread as it’s baking in the oven and rising and expanding. I recommend adding the loaf pan onto a baking sheet if you don’t want to have to clean up seeds in the bottom of your oven!
- Let the bread cool for at least 2 hours before slicing! Cutting into bread too soon can cause moisture to escape which will, according to Hannah “hinder the crumb from setting properly and result in a gummy loaf that goes stale faster”. I actually baked this in the afternoon, put it in my cake dome once it was not hot and let it set overnight before slicing into it.
- Be sure to store this bread in an airtight container so it retains its soft and spongy texture. I used a big zip bag for this bread.
FAQ's
You can easily make sourdough discard with half all purpose flour and half water. For this recipe, add 57 grams all purpose flour and 57 grams water to a small bowl. Mix together and use this in place of sourdough discard. Your bread won't have the flavor of sourdough, but it will still be a delicious homemade whole wheat sandwich bread!
Nope! While I always provide mixer instructions, it's just because that's how I usually bake (because I'm lazy). I would rather my mixer knead the bread than me! If you are not using a mixer, you'll just have to get in there with your hands and mix it up until it looks as described in the recipe.
Nope! If you want to leave the seeds off you totally can! They are completely optional.
This is a hearty whole wheat bread which makes it great for sandwiches! Ham, turkey, salami, roast beef, these would all be delicious meats on this bread. You could also use it for my Chicken Salad or Avocado Egg Salad. This is also delicious as toast! Top it with butter (or vegan butter) or my favorite is avocado with everything bagel spice mix. You could also make my Blueberry Honey Almond Butter Toast with this!
This bread is soft and spongy, so it should be stored in an airtight container to retain it’s soft texture. I used a big zip bag for this and I kept it in the fridge. You could also slice it all up and freeze this as well, be sure to store it in a zip bag if you do this to prevent freezer burn.
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Sourdough Discard Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread
Equipment
- Stand Mixer (optional)
Ingredients
Dough
- 282 grams water
- 56 grams maple syrup
- 7 grams instant yeast (1 packet)
- 113 grams sourdough discard (white or whole wheat)
- 450 grams whole wheat flour (plus more for kneading)
- 9 grams fine sea salt
- 56 grams extra virgin olive oil
Topping
- 40 grams 40 grams (1/4 cup) roasted sunflower seeds
- 10 grams 10 grams (1 tbsp) poppyseeds
Instructions
- To make the dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook (or in a large bowl), whisk the water, maple syrup and yeast together. Cover the bowl and let the yeast bloom until foamy, about 15 minutes.
- Add in the sourdough discard, whole wheat flour, and sea salt into the yeast mixture and mix on low until no dry bits of flour remain. Slowly stream in the olive oil as you are mixing on low speed.
- Continue to knead the dough until the oil is completely absorbed. The dough should start greasy and gradually become smoother and less sticky. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rest for 15 minutes.
- Strengthen the dough: Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead the dough by folding it in half, then pressing and pushing with the heel of your hand. Continue this process until the dough becomes smooth and elastic, about 5 to 10 minutes.
- First rise: Round the dough into a tight ball, and transfer it to a clean, lightly oiled bowl. Spread oil on top of the dough to prevent it from drying out.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set it in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- Toss the toasted sunflower seeds and poppy seeds in a bowl. Set aside.
- Shape the dough: Turn the dough out on a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into 5 even portions.
- Working with 1 portion of dough at a time. Flatten the dough into a rough rectangle, fold the corners towards the center. Turn the dough over, cup the dough and drag it on your work surface in a rounding motion to create a smooth taut surface.
- Repeat with the remaining portions of dough, arranging them in a zigzag pattern in the loaf pan.
- Brush the top of the dough with water and sprinkle the seed mixture on top.
- Final Proof: Cover the loaf pan with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise untouched in a warm place. The dough should fill your pan and rise about ½ an inch above the rim, about 30 to 45 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a 1-pound loaf pan with parchment paper or brush liberally with oil.
- Bake the dough for 10 minutes at 400°F. Without taking the loaf out of the oven, turn the oven temperature down to 350°F and continue baking for another 30 to 45 minutes or until the loaf registers at 200°F when probed with an instant-read thermometer.
- Allow the bread to cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing.
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Notes
Nutrition
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