This is the perfect recipe for the beginner baker. I’ve been making this bread for years using commercial yeast before I ever tried my hand at sourdough. I have since tweaked this recipe to use sourdough discard because my family doesn’t prefer long fermented, sour, sandwich bread.
With the addition of honey and whole-wheat, this is a delicious and well rounded sandwich bread that everyone will love and is great for any occasion.
โค๏ธ Why You’ll Love Sourdough Discard Sandwich Bread
This can be made in the same day with the help of yeast! I usually start my bread in the morning around 8 am, and by noon we can have sandwich bread for lunch. Or, if I’m planning ahead, I start the dough at lunch time and bake it at dinner so I can have bread ready for the next day. This is great for so many reasons, but using up sourdough discard and being able to bake bread in the same day makes this a winning recipe.
๐ฒ Ingredients
Sourdough Discard – This is just inactive sourdough starter that hasn’t been fed. It is equal parts flour and water that has already risen and fallen and now can be added to a multitude of recipes.
Flour – I use all-purpose flour in this recipe because, from my experience, it is the most universal flour in the homemakers pantry. I didn’t want you to feel it was necessary to go out and buy a separate bag of bread flour just for this recipe. The whole-wheat flour adds another depth of flavor and pairs perfectly with the honey.
๐ฉโ๐ณ How to Make Honey Whole Wheat Sourdough Sandwich Bread
Start by adding your yeast and sugar to warm water in a stand mixer and let the yeast bubble up. In small bowl, mix together the sourdough discard, water, and honey until it is all dissolved together. With the stand mixer on low speed, add the flour and salt to the mixing bowl and slowly pour in the sourdough discard mixture until a dough starts to form. Then add the cubed butter in and knead in the stand mixer for 5-8 minutes. Let the dough rise for 90 minutes – 2 hours. Separate the dough into two equal parts, shape them into an oval and place them into two greased sandwich loaf pans. Let them sit and rise for another hour. Bake at 390 degrees for 27 – 30 minutes, brush with honey butter and transfer to a wire cooling rack until completely cooled before slicing and serving!
๐ช Tips and Tricks
- Make sure your butter is room temperature so it’s easy to incorporate into the dough.
- Wet your tea towel when you cover the dough so the top doesn’t dry out.
- Roll the separated dough into a log and fold the sides into the sandwich pan to make your bread shape.
๐ Substitutions
You can certainly leave out the whole-wheat flour if you would like, or if you want to add bread flour, use 2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour + 1 cup bread flour + 1 cup whole-wheat flour. Bread flour will make the inside crumb very fluffy, but not every kitchen has bread flour (including mine), but it would be a lovely addition to this recipe.
๐ Best Served
- As a warm grilled cheese
- Ham/Turkey and cheese sandwiches
- On the side of a bowl of chili
๐ How to Store Leftovers
This makes two loaves, so it would be best to freeze one in a Ziplock bag in your freezer for up to 6 months. The loaf that you don’t freeze, but have leftovers of, I store in a brown paper bag or Ziplock and keep in the cabinet or a bread box. It will store there for 4-5 days before going stale.
๐ค Common Questions
If you want to use active starter and do a long fermentation, take away the yeast and add one cup of active starter, mix the dough together and let it sit on the counter overnight.
Recipe Card Goes Here

Sourdough Discard Sandwich Bread
Ingredients
- 2 tsp active yeast
- ยพ cup warm water, two times
- 1 tsp sugar
- 3ยฝ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup whole-wheat flour
- ยฝ cup sourdough discard
- ยผ cup honey
- 2 TBS softened butter
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- Combine ยพ cup of warm water, sugar or honey, and yeast together. Let sit and bubble/foam for about 5 minutes. In a stand mixer, on low speed, add flour and salt to the yeast mixture. Slowly add second ยพ cup warm water, honey and sourdough discard to the stand mixer. Add the cubed softened butter and mix on a low speed for 10 minutes. (You donโt need a stand mixer for this, I have kneaded this dough by hand many times and it works just fine). Knead until a smooth ball forms.
- Transfer the dough into a greased bowl and let rest for 2 hours, or until it has doubled in size. After resting, punch the air out of the dough to release the gas and transfer onto a clean surface. The dough should not be sticky so extra flour isnโt necessary. Cut the dough into two equal parts, and shape into two oval loaves by tucking the ends towards the middle, rolling into a log and tucking the ends together pinching the seams shut. Place the loaves into two greased bread pans, cover and let rest for an additional hour or until it has doubled in size.
- Preheat the oven to 390 degrees and bake for 27-30 minutes. Let cool slightly then transfer onto a cooling rack, brush with melted butter and honey to make the crust deliciously sticky and sweet.
- TIP: I usually keep one on the counter to eat for lunch and freeze the other. This bread freezes beautifully, I wrap it in cling wrap or place it into a gallon freezer bag and when I want to use it or know weโre going to have it for lunch the next day, Iโll take it out of the freezer the night before and itโs ready to go by morning
Nutrition
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Just made bread using this recipe for the first time & oh my goodness. Highly recommend!
These taste sooo good! I have one question, my loaves are really small and donโt fill out the bread pan. I did let it rise until it was doubles and still didnโt fill the pan! Am I doing something wrong? They still taste amazing
Ruth, The same thing happened when I made it using 9×5 pans. Very small loaves.
Iโm going to try one pan next go around.
Hey Ruth, it sounds like your yeast didn’t proof in the first step. Are you using rapid-rise yeast? Make sure your water is warm enough (around 100 degrees F) and you allow your yeast to get bubbly before proceeding to the next step. Hope that helps!
Made this today. So easy and so good!
I’m in the process of making this for the first time. I’m new on the sourdough game but I’ve been making bread for a bit. My dough was quite sticky using the recommended flour amounts as the recipe is written. I ended up adding about a 1/4 cup more AP flour. Should this dough come to a nice ball and pull away from the bowl when mixing? I didn’t get that but close so hoping it still turns out. ๐ค๐ผ
It should be alright! Add a tablespoon of water or milk if you need to while it’s mixing ๐ But pulling away from the bowl is always a good sign.
I just made this honey wheat bread recipe and it is a definite keeper! I used the recommended amount of all-purpose flour, bread flour and wheat flour. My discard may have been more hydrated, so I ended up using an additional cup of all-purpose flour. The bread is light with good flavor. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
What is sourdough discard?
Unfed sourdough starter ๐
The best homemade bread! Nailed it the first time. Life changing. ๐ฉทthank you for making it so easy!
This is great. Simple with on hand ingredients. So tasty and smells amazing while cooking!
This is the best recipe!! I used my bread machine and it came out perfect.
Wow how did you do that?
Am I using 1/4 cup honey twice or just once.?
Thanks in advance!
Wow! My family loves this bread! I have made it twice and my family says it is delicious and now it’s the only bread they want me to make. I’m unable to eat it because of the gluten ๐ , it looks beautiful and smells heavenly. I used bread flour instead of all purpose because it was all I had. I also doubled the recipe to fit my extra long bread pans. I wish I could share some pics, the loaves came out beautiful.
Hi! Any way you could add in the grams of the ingredients? It would be so helpful! Iโm a new baker and Iโm a little scared to try new recipes that arenโt by weight, but I would love to try this! Thanks so much!
Hi! I love that idea, and will absolutely work on that and update the recipe here <3
Can you post this recipe using grams please?
I don’t have the gram conversions but when I do I will adjust the post accordingly. ๐
Canโt wait to make this! Can I sub sugar for the honey so that I can feed it to my 6 month old? If so, any recommendations on how much sugar? Thanks!
You absolutely can! I would use 2-3 tablespoons of sugar ๐
I only have one loaf pan, if there any way I refrigerate one after its risen the last time or could I just half the recipe?
Definitely use the refrigerator method!
WOW๐ why did I wait so long to try this?!
I’m glad you liked it! ๐
We love the taste of this recipe, but my bread always falls in the middle. Iโve tried all the flour combos you listed, making half of a batch, a whole batch. Iโm not sure what Iโm doing wrong? Any suggestions to try?
Falls in the middle? Like underbaked? If not, I would let it proof for 30 minutes – 1 hour longer for the second rise.
I love that this recipe uses sourdough discard for some added benefits but has the ease of typical yeasted bread. It came out perfectly and tastes delicious! My new go-to for weekly sandwich loafs.
This turned out amazing!! I just bought a pullman loaf pan and Iโm curious if using a large Pullman loaf pan would it still make 2 loafs or just 1 loaf with all the dough?
I’m not sure! If you try it and it works let me know ๐
What size is your pan? Looking to purchase a Pullman pan but there is small and large
I use 9×5 or 8.5×4.5. I’m not sure what size Pullman is.
I’m having a hard time finding whole wheat flour here (and it’s super pricey), but I do have bread flour. What would the measurements be using just AP and bread flour? Thanks!
using all-purpose flour or bread flour in substitution will work great!
With adding bread flour, your modification then shows there is 4 1/2 cups flour. Is this correct instead of your 3? Thanks!
Oh my goodness! Disregard, I guess my sleep deprivation got to me!
Can I do this in a big loaf pan? 11 by 5?
I’ve never tried it, but I don’t see why not! The baking times will probably need vary.
Iโve been making this recipe for probably over 8-9 months now consistently every single week for my husbands lunch. Well. Last week my mom gave us store bought sandwich bread and he REFUSED TO EAT IT. I have created a spoiled monster ๐ all of this to say that this is our familyโs favorite sandwich bread & itโs incredibly easy. I had trouble rolling it up for a while, but I think Courtney heard my prayers and posted a reel on IG on how to roll it- GAME CHANGER.
I’ve been making this for awhile now, thought I’d finally leave a review! My kids love it so that’s always a win. Super easy recipe to follow with a great result. We use it for sandwiches, toast with jam, and make garlic toast. Another great recipe!
I’m so happy your family loves it ๐
Hi, I donโt have a stand mixer. Can I mix by hand?
Absolutely!
When you take it out of the freezer-do you let it thaw on the counter or the refrigerator?
Let it thaw on the counter.
Just made 2 loaves and they look and taste great! Used 9×5 pans and they rose beautifully
I will try the stuffed recipes too. Thanks for coming up with great recipes!
This recipe came out perfectly on the first try!! Absolutely love the texture and taste of the bread even without the whole west flour ๐
I accidentally left out the wheat flour, but the bread came out amazinggggg. It tastes just like Texas Roadhouses rolls, I ended up making some copy cat cinnamon butter and all of it is heavenly. First time making bread and definitely inspired me to make more!
I’m glad they turned out. Now you’re ready for more bread baking!
I cannot wait to try this!! Novice baker here though, so is active yeast the same as active dry yeast or fast-acting yeast? Iโm confused on what to buy. Can anyone one help? Thanks!!
Could I use instant yeast with this? If so, at what step would I incorporate it?
Yes! Put it in at the same time as active yeast.
What does it mean if my dough is SUPER sticky? I used my mixer for about 10-15 min mixing it, but it didnโt seem to change too much. I just finished letting it rise for 2 hours and still very sticky:(
I was so excited to try this recipe that involved sourdough but wasnt as time consuming as traditional sourdough. I used my sourdough start, Followed the recipe exactly and both loaves came out flat and crumbling. I wanted to cry! No sure if it needed more yeast or honey??
Ok I have to admit that I stress baked this bread in the middle of a hectic day. I definitely forgot about it and over proofed it . I was not super diligent in following the order of ingredients and yet this bread still came out beautiful. Itโs so fluffy ๐๐ I literally woke up excited to eat it . The recipe is a winner for sure .
My husband’s most requested bread. So easy to make and I freeze one loaf regularly. It’s fabulous!
How do you make this without a sourdough starter? ๐
I made your whip pie pies one afternoon andโฆo.em.gee..chefs kiss! Kids devoured while I blissfully lived in that moment of nostalgia!
Hi! Tried this and loveddd it.
Do you have a standard sandwich bread recipe you go by? Or would we just omit the whole wheat and replace with more regular flour?
Am I using 1/4 cup of honey twice or just once ?
Once! ๐
Could this be made with only all purpose flour if thatโs all I have?
Iโm hit and miss on my loaves not collapsing before baking – what am I doing wrong? Overproofing?
Thank you for sharing! Is there supposed to be an egg in this recipe like whatโs on the IG reel?
This was my first try making this recipe. It was super easy! I didn’t have any whole wheat flour so I just used all-purpose in place of that and it worked great! I’m so thankful to have Acts of Sourdough for such a great resource for recipes, it is a blessing! ๐
This is absolutely amazing. Our family LOVES the honey whole wheat loaf. It’s light, fluffy, perfect crumb, and is SO easy to assemble! It’s ready in no time. Courtney, you’ve done it again! We love all of your recipes!!