Sourdough Buttermilk Bread is a soft, enriched bread with the perfect balance of sweetness and tanginess. Using buttermilk and an active starter, you can make it in one day or choose to do a cold fermentation for even more flavor.
This is one of my favorite sourdough bread recipes to use for making sourdough French toast! It also makes a delicious PB and Jam sandwich - I love having blackberry jam with mine!
If you’re looking for another recipe without buttermilk (and with a secret to reduce the extra tanginess of the sourdough), try my Same Day Sourdough Sandwich Bread.
Ingredients
Buttermilk: It makes the crumb tender and gives the bread a delicious tangy flavor. You can use store-bought or homemade buttermilk.
You can substitute buttermilk with milk and still get a delicious sourdough milk bread.
Sourdough starter: You’ll need an active sourdough starter to make this recipe. Feed it 4 to 8 hours prior to starting the dough, or overnight.
Honey: Choose your favorite honey. It can be substituted with maple syrup or vegan honey.
Butter: You can use salted or unsalted melted butter.
How to Make It
This is a soft sourdough bread that needs kneading. If you have a stand mixer, use it! If you don’t, clean a surface and knead by hand for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the dough develops a good windowpane.
Step 01. In a large bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer, add buttermilk, sourdough starter, honey, and melted butter. Stir to combine.
Step 02. Add flour and salt, mixing until a shaggy dough forms. With the hook attachment, knead for 8 minutes. The dough will stick just a bit to the bottom of the bowl, feel tacky, and have a good windowpane.
Step 03. Place the dough into a clean glass or transparent bowl. Cover the dough with a damp towel, plastic wrap, or your choice of covering, and let it rise on the counter.
Step 04. When bulk fermentation is done, there will be visible bubbles on the side of the bowl, and the dough will have doubled or almost doubled. This should take between 5 to 8 hours, depending on the temperature.
You can use the proofing function of your oven for this dough, especially during winter. Just make sure it doesn’t go over 86°F (30°C).
Step 05. On a clean surface, open the dough into a rectangle.
Step 06. Roll the dough over itself into a log.
Step 07. Place it into a lined loaf pan, cover, and let it rise. This should take between 1 hour 30 minutes and 3 hours. When ready, the dough will feel light and look puffy.
Step 08. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F for 50 to 55 minutes. When done, the bread will be golden brown on top, and the internal temperature should be 210°F.
Expert Tips
- After bulk fermentation, you can opt to cold ferment the dough for up to 48 hours. Besides developing more flavor, this is useful if you don’t have enough time in the day to finish baking.
- I use a 9x5 inch loaf pan, but an 8½x4½ inch pan also works.
More Sandwich Bread Recipes
Have you tried this Sourdough Buttermilk Bread? Please leave a 🌟 star rating in the recipe card below, I'd love to know how it went!
📖 Recipe
Sourdough Buttermilk Bread
Equipment
- 1 Loaf Pan 9x5
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup buttermilk
- ¼ cup butter melted, salted or unsalted
- 3 tablespoon honey
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup sourdough starter
- 4 cups all purpose flour
Instructions
Making the Dough
- In a large bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer, add buttermilk, sourdough starter, honey, and melted butter. Stir to combine.
- Add flour and salt, mixing until a shaggy dough forms. With the hook attachment, knead for 8 minutes. The dough will stick just a bit to the bottom of the bowl, feel tacky, and have a good windowpane.
Bulk Rise
- Place the dough into a clean glass or transparent bowl. Cover the dough with a damp towel, plastic wrap, or your choice of covering, and let it rise on the counter.
- When bulk fermentation is done, there will be visible bubbles on the side of the bowl, and the dough will have doubled or almost doubled. This should take between 5 to 8 hours, depending on the temperature (1) (2).
Shaping the Dough
- On a clean surface, open the dough into a rectangle (3).
- Roll the dough over itself into a log. Pinch the ends to close.
Second Rise
- Place it into a lined loaf pan, cover, and let it rise. This should take between 1 hour 30 minutes and 3 hours. When ready, the dough will feel light and look puffy.
Baking
- Bake in a preheated oven at 350° F (177° C) for 50 to 55 minutes. When done, the bread will be golden brown on top, and the internal temperature should be 210° F (99° C).
Jeanne
If, after bulk ferment, I choose to cold ferment overnight and bake in the morning, should I refrigerate in the bowl that I did the BF in then shape in the morning? Then should I let it rise till it’s light before baking? I’m not clear on this part if I don’t bake and rise right after BF. Please advise.
Tatiana Kamakura
Hi Jeanne,
Although I prefer to cold ferment the dough in the bowl and shape it the next morning, I’ve tried both methods with enriched dough, and they both work. Just be sure the dough is puffy and light after shaping before you bake. Also, don't forget to cover really well the dough, so it doesn't develop a "skin" when cold fermenting. Happy baking!
Julie
I'm pretty new to sourdough baking and was looking for a recipe for sourdough buttermilk sandwich bread so decided to give this a shot. The flavor was wonderful! However the cook time was too long for me, it was getting too dark. I cooked it to just about 200f before taking it out to cool, mine reached that in about 40-45 minutes.
I also did not get much of a rise out of mine once it went in the oven but I think I may have used my starter before it had reached peak. I'm still trying to figure out how to get my starter where I need, when I need it. I also used bread flour bc I wanted a bit of a chewy bread.
Another thing I did was rubbed the top with a stick of salted butter after taking it out of the oven and still very hot. The flavor profile was just what I was after. I also appreciate your recipe layout, short and precise and I didn't have to sift through long winded banter to find the info I'm looking for.
I will be trying out more of your recipes, thanks!
The flavor however was
Tatiana Kamakura
Hi Julie,
Thank you for trying the recipe! I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed the flavor.
Several factors can affect oven time, including the temperature of the dough. If your loaf starts to get too dark, you can tent it loosely with aluminum foil about halfway through baking to prevent over-browning—this trick works like a charm!
Underproofing enriched doughs like this one can sometimes result in less rise. If your starter is still young (under 4 months old), that could also play a role. Timing your starter’s peak activity can be tricky when you’re new to sourdough, but don’t worry—you’ll get the hang of it with practice!
Cheers!