Can a Bread Machine Handle Sourdough? The 3 Best Bets

No bread machine makes true sourdough on autopilot, but some come close with custom programs. Our picks, from Zojirushi to Breville, and how to use them.

By Amanda RobertsUpdated October 29, 2026How we pick products

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Let’s be honest up front: no bread machine makes real sourdough the way you’d make it by hand. Sourdough rises slowly, often over 4 to 12 hours, and most bread machine programs are built for commercial yeast that does the job in an hour or two. Put sourdough on a regular “white bread” cycle and you’ll usually get a dense, pale brick.

What a good machine can do is take the work out of mixing and kneading, and, with a custom program, let the dough rise for as long as it needs. That’s what these picks are good at.

The picks compared

Specs are from manufacturer listings, and test notes are from Reviewed's bread machine testing. Prices are typical October 2026 prices.

1. Zojirushi Virtuoso Plus BB-PDC20: Best for sourdough

Best for: Bakers who want the machine to handle sourdough from start to finish.

The Virtuoso Plus has a “Homemade” setting with three memory courses where you set your own knead, rise and bake times. That’s the key feature for sourdough: you can program a long rise that a natural starter needs. Two kneading blades mix the dough evenly, and a second heater in the lid helps the top brown, which bread machines often struggle with. It bakes a traditional rectangular 2-pound loaf, and it’s a long-standing favorite among bread machine reviewers.

It also has a “Sourdough Starter” setting. Read the manual before you rely on it: it’s built around Zojirushi’s own quick starter recipe, not the slow, wild-yeast starter most sourdough bakers keep.

What bugs us: It’s the most expensive machine here, it takes up a lot of counter space, and its standard cycles are long.

Skip it if: you mostly bake regular yeasted sandwich bread. A cheaper machine will do that well.

2. Breville Custom Loaf BBM800XL: Most customizable

Best for: Tinkerers who like to adjust every stage.

Reviewed named the Custom Loaf its best overall bread machine. It stores nine custom programs, so you can build and save a sourdough cycle. Its paddle folds down before baking, which means a smaller hole in the bottom of the loaf, and an automatic dispenser adds fruit and nuts at the right time.

What bugs us: Reviewed found the tops of its loaves could come out lumpy, and it’s not cheap.

Skip it if: you want the simplest machine. All those options take some learning.

3. Panasonic SD-R2550: Best value

Best for: People who want a reliable machine for everyday bread, and who’ll use sourdough mostly for flavor.

The Panasonic offers 27 programs and dispensers for yeast and add-ins, and it costs noticeably less than the two above. It’s a good choice if you’ll mostly bake yeasted bread and add some sourdough discard for flavor.

What bugs us: There’s no viewing window, so you can’t watch your dough, and it has fewer options for programming a long sourdough rise.

Skip it if: you want to bake 100% naturally leavened bread in the machine.

How we chose these

We compared bread machines using Reviewed’s hands-on testing, manufacturer specs and manuals, and reports from home sourdough bakers. We focused on:

• Custom programs, since sourdough needs long rise times
• Kneading quality, including the number of blades
• Baking evenness and crust
• Loaf size and shape
• Price

We haven’t tested these ourselves. Read more about how we pick products.

How to make sourdough in a bread machine

Option 1: Use the dough cycle, bake in the oven

This is what most experienced bakers do. Let the machine mix and knead on the dough setting, then take the dough out, let it finish rising in a bowl or banneton, and bake it in a hot covered pot. You get the convenience of the machine and a real sourdough crust. See the best Dutch ovens for sourdough.

Option 2: Program a custom cycle

On machines with custom settings, set a short knead, a long rise (often several hours, depending on your starter and kitchen temperature), then the bake. Expect a few tries to dial it in.

Option 3: Add yeast for a “sourdough-style” loaf

Many bread machine sourdough recipes add a little commercial yeast along with the starter so the bread rises on a normal cycle. It won’t be as tangy or open, but it’s reliable.

Weigh your ingredients

Sourdough is much more consistent when you weigh flour, water and starter instead of using cups. See the best kitchen scales for sourdough.

FAQ

Can you make sourdough in any bread machine? You can use any machine’s dough cycle to mix and knead. For baking sourdough fully in the machine, you need one with custom programs, like the Zojirushi or Breville.

Do I need a bread machine for sourdough? No. A bowl, a scale and a covered pot are enough. A machine just saves the kneading. If you want help with heavy kneading but still bake in the oven, a stand mixer is another option: see the best stand mixers for bread dough.

Why is my bread machine sourdough dense? Usually the rise was too short for a natural starter. Use a custom program with a longer rise, or make sure your starter is active and bubbly before you start.