Seeded Sourdough Sandwich Bread Recipe

This seeded sourdough bread recipe makes a delicious sandwich bread! The bread has it all: a golden-brown crust, soft, airy crumb, crunchy seeds, and a nice sourdough flavor.

Whether you’re a seasoned sourdough baker or just getting started with artisanal bread baking, I am sure you will love this sourdough sandwich bread recipe just as much as we do!

This is the kind of bread I grew up with in Germany – light and airy, but without those oversized holes that make it impossible to spread butter or jam without losing half of it.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. You can read my full disclosure.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

The recipe is adaptable. You can substitute the ingredients with what you have on hand
Sturdy consistency. It holds up well to heavier ingredients like mayo-based salads, making it the perfect sourdough sandwich bread!
Easy to follow, step by step instructions
Kitchen-tested recipe that you can trust. This recipe is my creation and I test my recipes multiple times before I share them with you.

Ingredients

These are the ingredients for one loaf of seeded sourdough sandwich bread :

All-purpose flour: I use organic all-purpose flour
Whole-grain flour: I like to mill fresh flour from ancient grains (such as kamut and emmer) with my grain mill
Sea salt: A high-quality sea salt enhances the flavor of the sourdough
Active sourdough starter: If you don’t already have one, just follow my tutorial on how to make a no discard sourdough starter
Seeds: I like a combination of pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, and poppy seeds

Substitutions

Flour: You can make this a 100% whole wheat bread by using whole wheat flour instead of AP flour. Just know that the bread will be a bit denser. Other good substitutes for all-purpose flour include bread flour, oat flour, white spelt flour, or light rye flour
Grains: You can use any grains you have or like: einkorn, spelt, kamut/Khorasan, rye, harvest grains blends, or just plain wheat berries
Seeds: You can use any type of seed or seed mixture you like: flax seeds, chia seeds, black sesame seeds, hemp seeds, or even a handful of whole grains
Nuts: If you prefer a nuttier flavor, you can add some walnuts, pecans, or hazelnuts
Sweeteners: I personally don’t like to add any sweeteners but some people like to offset the sourdough flavor with a tablespoon of maple syrup or honey in their dough

Useful tools and equipment

In addition to what you probably already have in your kitchen, I recommend:

Grain mill: Freshly milled flour is always best and I love my high-quality grain mill
Stand mixer: Of course, you can mix and knead the dough by hand, but I like to use a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment.
Kitchen scale: I highly recommend you use an inexpensive kitchen scale
Loaf pan: You can use any rectangular, oval, or round loaf tin, but I like using an enameled cast iron Dutch oven.
Parchment paper: If you’re using a Dutch oven, I recommend lining it with parchment paper
Dough scraper: A dough scraper helps to remove the dough from the bowl or the bannetton
Bench scraper: Not extremely necessary, but helpful for shaping the loaf
Scoring lame: While a dedicated scoring lame is very useful, you can use a very sharp knife as well
Banneton: Letting the dough proof in a banneton or proofing basket helps the loaf keep its shape
Proofing kit: The scrapers, lame, and banneton are available in a convenient proofing kit

How to make seeded sourdough bread

This is a summary of the steps involved in making the pizza. For the complete instructions, please scroll down to the recipe card at the bottom of the post.

Mix the dough

Combine warm water (about 112°F) and sourdough starter in the bowl of your stand mixer, or a large bowl.
Mix on low speed with the dough hook attachment until combined.
Add the floursmixing on low speed at firstthen mix on medium-low for 5 minutes.
Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let the dough rest for 1 hour in a warm place.
Mix in the salt.
Let the dough rise for 30 minutes.

Stretch and fold the sourdough

With wet hands, perform a few stretch-and-folds (lift one side of the dough up, stretch it and fold it over the dough, then turn the bowl 90 degrees and repeat a few times).
Let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
Repeat stretching and folding 3 more times.
Tightly cover the bowl with beeswax wrap or plastic wrap.
Transfer the bowl to the refrigerator overnight or for about 8 hours for the bulk fermentation.

Day 2 – add the seeds

Remove the dough from the fridge and let it come to room temperature.
Pull the dough into a rectangle shape. Generously flour your work surface and turn out the dough onto the flour. Lightly flour your hands then gently pull the dough in all four directions to create a rectangle. Ideally, the dough should not tear. Sprinkle the seeds onto the dough.

Shape the sourdough loaf

Fold the long sides of the dough rectangle over towards the middle. Then starting at one side, roll the dough into an oval loaf. With the bench knife, create some surface tension by stretching the dough underneath itself.
Heavily dust the banneton proofing basket with flour or rice flour and add more seedsif desired.
Transfer the shaped dough to the proofing basketcover it with beeswax or plastic and return it to the refrigerator.

Final proof

Let the seeded sourdough loaf rest in the refrigerator for 4-12 hours.

TIP: The longer the dough sits in the fridge, the stronger the sour flavor will become.

Preheat the baking vessel

One hour before baking the breadplace both the Dutch oven and the lid inside your oven and turn it to 450˚F.

Score and bake the seeded sourdough sandwich bread

When you’re ready to bake, remove the dough from the refrigerator.
Place the unbaked dough inside of the hot baking vessel.
With a lame or sharp knife score the top of the loaf in your preferred pattern. Optional: mist the dough with water.
Cover the loaf pan with a lid and bake in a preheated oven for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes remove the lid and bake the bread for another 30 minutes, or until golden brown on top.
Remove the sourdough loaf from the Dutch oven and let it cool on a wire rack.

Helpful Recipe Tips

Don’t worry if your dough is especially sticky. Resist the urge to add more flour. Instead, wet your hands and use them to stretch and fold the dough to help the gluten development.
Instead of a bannetonyou can line a medium bowl with a tea towel and use that as a proofing vessel
To easily make a loaf pan linerset your baking vessel onto a sheet of parchment, and use a pencil to trace around the bottom. Then, cut out the tracing and line the bottom of the pan with it.

How to keep sourdough sandwich bread fresh

Sourdough bread tastes the best when it’s fresh. I keep my loaves at room temperature, in either a bread bagsome beeswax wrapor a paper bag. As long as it is wrapped well, it should stay fresh for 2 to 3 days.

If you know you won’t finish the loaf in 3 daysyou can cut the fresh loaf in half or into slices and freeze the slices tightly wrapped in plastic.

This seeded sourdough bread is great any time of day. It’s delicious warm, with a dollop of butter or jam. It toasts up nicely and is great for French toast, too. It’s sturdy enough to hold piles of lunch meat and heavier foods like tuna salad or mashed avocado.