Sourdough dinner rolls are great as a dinner side, or as a sandwich roll. Make them ahead the night before, or the morning before serving.
Jump to RecipeBread is a staple in our family. My children love to eat it in any form. After realizing the amount of ingredients in store bought bread, I decided to try making bread from scratch.
I’ve always enjoyed a traditional, crusty sourdough bread. Thick BLT sandwiches with a savory homemade sourdough is a favorite meal in our house. However, I wanted to make a softer sweeter bread for dinner rolls, french toast, and weekly sandwiches. I came up with this all purpose recipe and it was instantly a hit with everyone.
I add sugar or honey to the dough if I’m making a dinner roll, and leave the sweetener out if I’m making a sandwich bread. The crust can also be made softer by coating it with melted butter after baking.
Tips
- The amount of liquid you add to your sourdough bread will usually vary depending on how hydrated your starter is. You can adjust the moisture by adding water 1-tablespoon at a time the dough. The flour should be moistened. You don’t want sticky dough, or crumbles.
- Sourdough is a fermentation, so it needs extra rise time. This can take up to twelve hours. If you are making dinner rolls I recommend starting the dough the night before or early the morning you wish to have them. Sourdough can also be cold fermented in a fridge for a few days prior to baking.
- More mature sourdough starters can be used within a couple of hours of feeding. If you have a new starter, you may need to feed your starter the night before you want to use it to ensure that it is active and bubbly. The more you practice with sourdough starter, the better you will be at judging its activity.
- To speed up rise time on cold days, turn the light on in your oven for around 15 minutes. Turn the light off, and put the dough in the oven. This creates just enough warmth to help he dough rise faster.
Making the Sourdough Dinner Rolls
Begin by mixing together your wet ingredients and dry ingredients separately. This will help the dough come together more easily.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and bring everything together with your hands. The flour should be moist, and the dough will look shaggy. Allow the dough to rest for 10-30 minutes.
Next you will knead the dough for 10 minutes. I do this by hand since my stand mixer is a standard size. However, if you have a large mixer, a dough hook would work great. Knead the dough until it is smooth and springy.
Bulk Rise
Put the dough into a glass bowl to bulk rise. Rise time will vary depending on the temperature of your kitchen. After one hour, you can begin a series of stretches and folds. Start on one side of the dough and pull it up folding it on top of itself. Turn the bowl repeating this process until all the sides are stretched. Repeat the process every ten minutes for around five rounds. Cover the dough with a damp towel and let it rise. The dough should double in size in 6-12 hours.
Forming the Dinner Rolls and Second Rise
After the bulk rise, turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Divide the dough in half for easier molding. I will often make dinner rolls with one half, and a bread loaf with the other. Flatten the dough to about 1 1/2 inches thick with your hands. Divide the dough into 12 equal squares using a pizza cutter. You could also use a scale and weigh each piece if you wanted to be precise. I prefer ease over perfection. Mold each piece into a round ball by gathering the corners together, and lightly rolling the dough on the surface of the counter.
Next, place the rolls on a cookie sheet lined with parchment to rise the second time. Second rise can take 2-4 hours, again, depending on the temperature of your kitchen. See my tip above on how to speed up the rise time.
Bake the rolls in a pre-heated 350° F oven for 30 minutes until they are golden brown. Top them with melted butter immediately after removing them from the oven. Serve warm.
Sourdough Dinner Rolls
Equipment
- 2 Glass Bowls
- 1 Wooden spoon
- 1 Cookie Sheet
- Parchment Paper
- Loaf pan optional
- Stand Mixer optional
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Water room temperature
- 1/2 cup Milk room temperature
- 2/3 cup Sugar optional
- 1 cup Bubbly, active sourdough starter
- 1 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/4 cup Coconut oil (melted and cooled)
- 4 cups Bread flour
- 2 tbsp Butter (melted)
Instructions
- Start by combining the water, milk, sourdough starter, coconut oil, sugar, and melted butter. Whisk until combined.
- Whisk the bread flour and salt together until combined.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and knead with your hands until the flour is moistened. The dough will be shaggy.
- Let the dough rest for 10-30 minutes.
- After the rest, knead the dough for around 10 minutes. It should be smooth and springy.
- Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a glass dish, and cover with a damp towel for 1 hour.
- At this point you can begin a series of fold and stretches. Starting on one side stretch the dough and fold it over itself to the middle. Continue this stretch and fold all the way around the dough. Repeat the process every 10 minutes for a total of 5 rounds.
- Cover the dough with a damp towel and let it rise. This time will vary depending on the temperature of your kitchen. The dough should double in size in around 6-12 hours.
- After the bulk rise, turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Divide the dough in half for easier molding.
- Flatten the dough to about 1 1/2 inches thick with your hands. Divide the dough into 12 equal squares using a pizza cutter. You could also use a scale and weigh each piece if you wanted to be precise.
- Mold each piece into a round ball by gathering the corners together, and lightly rolling the dough on the surface of the counter.
- Place the rolls on a cookie sheet lined with parchment to rise the second time. Second rise can take 2-4 hours, again, depending on the temperature of your kitchen.
- Bake the rolls in a pre-heated 350° F oven for 30 minutes until they are golden brown. Top them with melted butter immediately after removing them from the oven. Serve warm.
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