Sourdough Dinner Rolls

These soft and fluffy sourdough dinner rolls are made with a rich, buttery dough and baked to golden perfection. Perfect for sharing at the dinner table, they’re light, flavorful, and easy to pull apart and enjoy warm.

Course Bread

Cuisine American

Keyword Sourdough Recipes, Sourdough Rolls

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 30

Fermentation Time 10

Total Time 11

Servings Rolls

Calories 212kcal

Author Kate Freebairn

Equipment

Stand Mixer
Digital Scales
Baking Pan or Dish (9" x 13")

Ingredients

200 g Milk (whole milk, warm)
50 g Butter (melted)
80 g Water
40 g Granulated Sugar
10 g Salt
500 g All Purpose Flour (see notes for using Bread Flour)
100 g Sourdough Starter (active, fed and bubbly)

Instructions

Add the milk, melted butter, water, sugar and salt to the bowl of your stand mixer. Mix the ingredients together using the whisk attachment so that the sugar and salt are dissolved and the butter is mixed through the milk. It won't take long, like 30 seconds - you just don't want gritty sugar and salt through your dough.
Now add your flour and sourdough starter to the liquid in the bowl. Mix the flour and sourdough starter through the liquid so it just comes together into a dry dough (you'll need to swap to your dough hook attachment for this part, use your mixer on speed 2). Leave the dough to rest for around 30 minutes.
Now knead the dough using your stand mixer until it forms a silky, slightly tacky dough. The dough is enriched with butter and milk so will be glossy. It will generally come away from the sides of the bowl when it's done. It can take anywhere from 3 to 5 minutes depending on the type of stand mixer you're using. I use speed 1 on my KitchenAid for this step.
Bulk Ferment:
Once the dough is sufficiently kneaded you need to let it ferment and rise. You can leave it in your stand mixer bowl for this (saves washing up) or you can transfer it to another bowl if you like. Cover the bowl with plastic or a damp dish towel and let it bulk ferment at room temperature. As always, the time it takes will depend on your starter and the temperature in your home. You want it to come to just under double.
This is an enriched dough and will take a lot longer to bulk ferment than regular lean sourdough.
Once your dough has risen you need to shape it into rolls. This recipe will give you 12 rolls around 80g in weight.
To shape the dough, tip it onto your counter (you won't need flour as it won't be a sticky dough). Using a metal dough scraper, cut the dough into 12 pieces. I like to use a scale to ensure that all the pieces are exactly the same. Gently shape each piece of dough into a round ball. Arrange the dough balls into a parchment lined pan or baking dish (see notes for other options). They need to be just touching each other in the pan. You could also choose to bake these as individual rolls (space them further apart on a baking tray).
Second Rise:
Cover the pan with a dish towel and allow the rolls to double in size. They will look puffy and squished - this is good! It will generally take around 2 hours for them to double - but of course will take longer if your house is cold (ideally you want to put them some place warm).
Baking The Rolls:
Preheat your oven to 180C (350C)
Once the oven is warm and the rolls have doubled, spray the rolls liberally with water.
Place the rolls into the oven and bake at 180C (350F) for around 30 minutes. You'll know they're done when they are golden on top. Don't let them brown too much though or the crust will be too tough.
Take them out of the oven and brush immediately with melted butter (this is completely optional but it makes the sourdough dinner rolls lovely and soft).
Allow them cool on a wire rack for around 10 minutes before pulling apart and enjoying!

Notes

Bulk Fermentation at Room Temperature - do not worry about leaving your dough out when it has milk and butter in it. Sourdough starter bacteria is wonderful stuff and it will not go bad - even if you leave it on your counter overnight. I do this often and I promise it will be absolutely fine.

Baking Pans - I have baked this recipe in just about every pan imaginable. These rolls fit perfectly into most 9" x 13" casserole or baking pans. They are fantastic in the USA Sheet Cake Pan measuring 9" x 13" (no butter, oil or parchment needed if you are using this pan).

Nutrition