Gluten-free Sourdough Sandwich Bread
A hearty bread with a soft crust, strong enough to hold any filling! Perfect for packed lunches or turning into a hot, crispy sandwich at home.
Too few people understand a really good sandwich.
James Beard
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Good gluten-free sandwich bread is so hard to find. Honestly, I’ve never found a gluten-free sandwich bread in the store that didn’t hurt or upset my stomach in some way. I’m not exactly sure what causes me such digestive distress, but my guess would be the high starches and gums. Sometimes starches are the first and main ingredient, which isn’t doing anyone any favors if they eat bread every day. Not to mention, a lot of those breads have an off-putting texture and lack flavor.
My gluten-free sourdough sandwich bread recipe is an enriched dough. It contains an egg, milk, and butter—ingredients that help the texture and softness of the bread. When researching wheat-based sandwich bread recipes, I found many of them also include milk, butter, and an egg. The extra protein and fat definitely contribute to a more palatable sandwich bread. The milk and butter can be swapped out for dairy-free options. The egg, I have not tried to replace, but if you need to be egg-free, I think a flaxseed egg replacement should do the trick!
This sandwich bread rises faster than the original sourdough. You’ll want to start the bread in the morning and bake it before dinner. I have tried cold-proofing it overnight, but it always over-proofs. When the bread comes out of the oven, it will feel like it has a hard crust, but if you rub some butter all over the bread, the crust will soften as it cools! This also gives the bread a delicious buttery flavor. You can use a regular bread pan to bake this bread, but I highly recommend a cast-iron bread pan. It is superior for baking sandwich bread, and the bread never sticks to the pan!
This bread stays good for at least a week, but after a few days, it does benefit from a good toasting. Grilled ham and cheese, anyone? I look forward to using this bread when hiking weather returns. Really, for any warm-weather homeschool outing, as the days of warmer weather are approaching. I’m happy to swap out a dry and breakable tortilla for this bread for all our adventures and picnics!
