Italian Herb & Cheese Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread
Servings: 1 Loaf
Soft, flavorful sourdough sandwich bread packed with Italian herbs and cheese. Perfect for toasting, sandwiches, or enjoying warm with butter.
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Equipment
- 1 Medium/Large bowl
- 1 Cheese Grater
- 2 Bread Pans or 1 bread pan and and foil to cover it (see instructions)
- 1 Spray Bottle filled with water
- 1 Oven Gloves
- 1 Long sandwich bag for storing
Ingredients
Feeding Sourdough Starter
- 60 g Sourdough Starter
- 60 g Unbleached flour
- 60 g Filtered water room temperature
Dough
- 150 g active sourdough starter
- 330 g Warm water 80–90°F
- 25 g Honey
- 20 g Avocado oil can sub for olive oil or cooled melted butter
- 500 g Unbleached Flour All purpose or bread flour work
- 10 g Sea Salt
- 4 g or 2 tbsp. Italian Seasoning
- 5 g or 2 tsp. Garlic Powder
Cheese Inclusion and Topping
- 40 g Parmesan Cheese Freshly grated
- 40 g Asiago Cheese Freshly grated
Instructions
Feeding Sourdough Starter (night before):
- About 4-6 hours before (or the night before) you make your dough, feed your sourdough starter. In a jar add 60g of starter, 60g of unbleached flour, and 60g of water. Mix, loosely cover, and let it rise until its doubled in size, active, and no longer growing.
Dough (Morning):
- Mix: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together 150g active sourdough starter, 330g warm filtered water, 20g avocado oil (or cooled melted butter/olive oil), and 25g honey until combined. Then add in 500g unbleached flour, 10g salt, 5g (2 tsp.) Garlic powder and 4g (2 tbsp.) Italian seasoning. Mix until a shaggy dough forms. Cover and let it rest in a warm (not hot) place for 1 hour.
- Stretch and fold & add cheese: Perform a total of 3 sets of stretch and folds every 30 minutes to build structure in the dough. To stretch and fold, spray or wet your hands with water to prevent the dough from sticking. Then, gently pull one side of the dough up and fold it into the middle, rotate the bowl and repeat on all four sides.After the first stretch and fold, finely grate your parmesan and asiago cheese 40g of each equaling 80g total and set aside. You will add a portion of it (50g) to the dough during your next stretch and fold. Save the rest (30g) for the top of your dough before baking.During the second stretch and fold, gradually incorporate 50g of finely shredded cheese. To do this, sprinkle a portion of the cheese over the dough before each stretch and fold motion. Stretch, fold, add more cheese, and continue until it is evenly distributed in layers throughout the dough.I make sure my cheese is finely graded to prevent big bubbles from forming in the dough. Once again, don’t forget to reserve the extra 30g of cheese for the top of your dough later!
- Bulk Ferment: Cover and let the dough continue to bulk ferment at room temperature. (If your home is cooler, you can also do this overnight.)Bulk fermentation starts as soon as your dough is mixed, but the timing will be different for everyone. Warmer dough will ferment faster, while cooler dough will take longer. I like to keep mine in a warm spot to help speed things up.Instead of timing dough, I use visual cues to know when it’s ready: the dough should look just about doubled in size, bubbly, and airy. It will also jiggle when you shake the bowl.For reference, this dough took about 6 hours at 80°F to achieve that!
- Shaping: Once your dough is ready, dump the dough from the bowl onto a clean surface. Spray or wet your hands with water to prevent the dough from sticking. Gently shape the dough into a loaf by stretching it into a rectangle, folding in the right side to the middle, then the left side into the middle, and rolling upward into a log. I also show this technique in my video below. Place it seam-side down in a well greased loaf pan.
- Proof/second rise. You have two options:Same day option: Let it proof at room temperature for about 2 more hours before baking. The dough should fill the pan and be very puffy when it’s ready. Time for proofing depends on temperature as well. To speed this up, put dough in a warm place. To slow it down keep it cooler.Overnight cold proof: Let it cold proof in the refrigerator overnight or up to 24hrs. If you choose this method, you may need to let your dough sit at room temperature and rise a bit before baking.
- Prepare and bake: Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C). Score the top of the dough and spray it lightly with water. Add the remaining 30g of cheese to the top of the dough. Cover with an inverted second loaf pan (or loosely greased foil*) to trap steam for the softest loaf. Bake for 30 minutes at 400°F, then uncover and bake for 15 minutes at 375°F.*If you're using foil instead of a pan, make sure to grease it and shape it like a loose tent over your bread pan.
- Using a digital thermometer, check the internal temperature of your bread. It is fully baked when the internal temperature reaches 205°F (96°C).
- Remove from the pan immediately and let it cool completely before slicing!
Video
Notes
I prefer to use avocado oil in this recipe as it has a high heat tolerance and neutral flavor. However, if you'd like, you can sub for olive oil or melted butter. In my experience the melted butter took longer to bulk ferment and yielded a denser loaf.
You can swap out the cheeses, but I highly recommend using asiago in this recipe- it complements the tangy sourdough flavor perfectly.
