Perfectly tender and ultra-flavorful Soft Sourdough Rolls are made with active sourdough starter, and no yeast. Make in one day or refrigerate overnight. They freeze well and are vegan-adaptable. Watch the video!
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Rupi kaur
These Soft Sourdough Rolls have it all (as far as rolls go). They have a sophisticated tenderness with some substance to them, not mushy, light with the perfect springiness.
It is hard to beat the fullness of pure sourdough flavor with just a hint of tang without being overly sour. However, you can always extend the rise time if you prefer a zestier flavor.
A fun project when you are cozy at home all day. They don’t take a lot of hands-on time, but they do need a bit of tending throughout the day. The whole process takes about 7-8 hours. So if you start them around 7 or 8 am you’ll have delicious fresh rolls for dinner.
We love adding wheat or rye flour, it really boosts up the flavor and gives a little more substance to the texture. Feel free to go all white bread flour for ultra-soft tender rolls.
For a faster project try Sourdough Biscuits or Sourdough English Muffins made with sourdough starter discard.
Table of Contents
Sourdough Roll Overview
- Feed and activate starter 8-12 hours before you begin. The evening before is perfect.
- Mix dough together. Rest 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- Stretch and Fold 3 rounds, 30 minutes apart. Proof dough 2 hours.
- Shape into rolls. Proof 2-3 hours. (or place in the refrigerator overnight)
- Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Internal temperature is perfect at 190 F.
Ingredients In Sourdough Rolls
Ingredient Notes
- active sourdough starter– get this going the night before
- whole milk or rich plant-based milk– you can really use any liquid, rich milk (or some sort) will make the rolls soft.
- rye flour– gives lovely flavor and texture, substitute with wheat or white bread flour
See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
How To Make Sourdough Rolls
STEP ONE – Activate your starter the night before (or at least 12 hours ahead). Combine 15 grams of starter, with 50 grams water and 50 grams bread flour mix thoroughly. Loosely cover and leave out at room temperature.
STEP TWO – In the morning in a small saucepan, melt butter, add salt, honey and milk. Turn heat off. The milk mixture should be warmed to about 95 F degrees.
If using olive oil instead of butter, simply just gently warm all ingredients together. This should only take a minute or two.
STEP THREE – Add milk mixture to a bowl and mix together with 100 grams of bubbly active starter, rye or wheat flour and white bread flour.
STEP FOUR – Mix thoroughly, cover the bowl with a towel and rest for 30-60 minutes to let the gluten strands form.
STEP FIVE – Stretch and fold 3 times, 30 minutes apart.
How To Stretch And Fold
- Get a little water on your hand and grab one side of the dough and stretch it out as far as you can without tearing.
- Fold the stretched dough over itself inside the bowl.
- Give the bowl a quarter turn and repeat the process until all four sides are done, rewetting your hand as needed. The dough will start out soft, and by the 4th quarter fold it will feel much firmer.
- Let rest for 30 minutes. Do 2 more rounds of stretch and fold.
After the last round of stretch and fold, cover the bowl and let rest 3-4 hours at around 70 degrees F. (Allow more time for cooler temperatures and less for warmer). The dough will be raised and puffed up.
STEP SIX – Oil a baking pan or use parchment paper. Cut the dough in 12 equal pieces. If you want precise equal sized rolls, weigh the entire chunk of dough in grams, divide this by 12 and this will be your size per roll (somewhere around 60-65 grams).
STEP SEVEN – Gather up the sides and pinch together at one end creating a smooth mound. Place on pan, seem side down. Cover and let rest around 3 hours (depending on the temperature in your kitchen).
STEP EIGHT – Rolls should be puffed and close to doubled in size. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake rolls 25-30 minutes. Check with a thermometer temperature should be around 190F. Remove from oven and place on a rack to cool. Brush with butter or olive oil (optional).
The more the rolls touch while they bake, the softer they will be. When I use a 9 x 13 pan I center the rolls more in the middle of the pan, there is space around the edges. Rolls pictured below were baked in an 8 x 11 pan. A round pan or cast iron skillet works well too.
Recipe faqs
Enriching the dough with milk (instead of water) and adding butter or oil will tenderize the dough and make the bread or rolls tender.
Bread made with natural sourdough starter is more nutritious, easier to digest, and has a lower glycemic index.
The internal temperature for soft tender sourdough rolls is 190 F degrees.
Ways To Enhance
- Enhance your rolls with fresh minced herbs mixed into the dough.
- Add seasonings and seeds to the tops of rolls just before baking, using an egg wash will help them adhere. We used sesame, fennel, sumac and pepper in the picture below.
More Sourdough Recipes You May Enjoy
We love these Sourdough Dinner Rolls! Hope you enjoy. 💛
Love this recipe? Please let us know in the comments and leave a 5-star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below the recipe card.
Soft Sourdough Rolls Video
Soft Sourdough Rolls
- Prep Time: 8 hours
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 8 hours 25 minutes
- Yield: 12 rolls 1x
- Category: Sourdough
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Flavorful, tender sourdough dinner rolls made with sourdough starter, no yeast. Make in one day or refrigerate overnight. They freeze well and are vegan-adaptable! Watch the video.
Ingredients
Starter
- 15 grams sourdough starter
- 50 grams water
- 50 grams bread flour
Rolls
- 2 tablespoon unsalted butter (substitute with olive oil)
- 2 tablespoons honey (or sugar)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk (whole milk or rich plant based milk)
- 75 grams rye or whole wheat flour
- 300 grams white bread flour
Instructions
The night before
- Activate your starter the night before (or at least 12 hours) combine 15 grams starter, with 50 grams water and 50 grams bread flour mix thoroughly. Loosely cover and leave out at room temperature.
In the morning
- In a small sauce pan, melt butter, add salt, honey and milk. Turn heat off. Milk mixture should be just warmed. Add to a bowl and mix together with 100 grams of bubbly active starter, 75 grams of rye or wheat flour and 300 grams of white bread flour. Mix thoroughly, cover bowl with a towel and rest for 30-60 minutes to let the gluten strands form.
- Stretch and fold (see notes) 3 times, 30 minutes apart. After the last one, cover the bowl and let rest 3-4 hours at around 70 degrees F. (Allow more time for cooler temperatures and less for warmer). The dough will be raised and soft.
- Oil a baking pan (8×11 or 9×13-see notes) or use parchment paper. Cut the dough in 12 equal pieces. If you want precise equal sized rolls, weigh the entire chunk of dough in grams, divide this by 12 and this will be your size per roll (somewhere around 60-65 grams). Gather up the sides and pinch together at one end creating a smooth mound. Place on pan, seem side down. Cover and let rest around 3 hours, depending on the temperature of your kitchen. (At this point you can put them in the fridge for a slow rise overnight. Allow 2 hours at room temperature before baking)
- Rolls should be puffed and close to doubled in size. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake rolls 20-30 minutes. Check with a thermometer temperature should be around 190F. Brush with butter or olive oil (optional).
Notes
How to Stretch and Fold-
- Get a little water on your hand and grab one side of the dough and stretch it out as far as you can without tearing.
- Fold the stretched dough over itself inside the bowl.
- Give the bowl a quarter turn and repeat the process until all four side are done. The dough will start out soft and by the 4th fold it will feel much firmer.
The more the rolls touch while they bake, the softer they will be. When I use a 9 x 13 pan I center the rolls more in the middle of the pan, there is space around the edges. Rolls pictured were baked in an 8 x 11 pan. A round pan or cast iron skillet works well too.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 roll
- Calories: 146
- Sugar: 4 g
- Sodium: 112.9 mg
- Fat: 2.5 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.3 g
- Trans Fat:
- Carbohydrates: 26.6 g
- Fiber: 1.3 g
- Protein: 4.5 g
- Cholesterol: 5.5 mg
Hello! The video seems to be missing. Is there someone that can check the link? Thanks!
Hi Sharon, you may have your ad blocker turned on. Try a different browser- Duck Duck Go will not show videos.
I’m so happy with how these turned out! Planning to make sliders for the new year 🙂 happy new year, FAH fam!
Perfect for slicers! Thanks Angeli, happy new year!🥳
I am so excited to make these for Thanksgiving. How long can they slow rise in the fridge? Would like to bake them on Wednesday and start the process tonight.
I have only left them overnight, though I think they will be fine- just a little more sour.
Do you have to use rye flour or could I just use 375g of white bread flour?
You can use all white bread flour!
Hey there!
I love your recipes and make them weekly! This is my first time making these dinner rolls and unfortunately the weather is much colder than I anticipated. I am planning on putting them in the fridge for an overnight rise and hoping they come out well! Since I will be baking these in the morning, how would you recommend storing them until dinner? What about any leftovers?
Thanks!!
Nice to hear this Danielle! The rolls should be ok at room temperature. If you want to cover them use a paper bag (not plastic or a sealed container). You can pop them in the oven for a quick reheat if you want but they will still be moist and delicious if not. Once they are completely cool store in an airtight container.
Hi, I had the rolls out on the pan and is it possible that they over proofed? They sayarted to sag and be more flat after 3 hours at room temp?
It does sound like overproofing. How warm is your kitchen?
It’s was about 22C today (71F) . I am wondering if my dough was also too wet. If that could have changed things ..
I’m new to sourdough
That’s a good tempurature. Did you bake them?
Hello. I want to make your dinner rolls but I’m curious, how much grams of starter do I need? And why are you using only 15g of starter with 50g of flour and water? I’m still trying to understand the ratios here.
Thank you so much.
Basically, you are “pre-feeding” a little bit of your starter, the night before- this is also called autolyze- then you add this fed starter, the next day, to the remaining roll ingredients. Hopefully, this makes sense. This process improves the texture of the rolls.
Made these rolls for Father’s Day. They are heavenly! I honestly almost tossed the dough out partway through because I thought I had done something wrong. It was pretty stiff, and the bulk rise was more subtle than I’m accustomed to. But the puffed up nicely after being shaped and came out of the often looking gorgeous. Fluffy as promised and the sourdough and rye flour give them a more interesting taste than your average dinner roll. Might try an overnight in the fridge next time for even more flavor. Thank you for yet another great recipe!
Great to hear Marnie!
How could I forget 5 stars? You deserve 50! TYVM. Jerry
🙌🏼
I finished making the soft sourdough rolls today. These rolls are fantastic! Light, flavorful, with a tender crust! My only substitution was molasses for the honey.
The dough seemed firm and heavy at first. Once I took a good look at the videos about stretch & fold I added water to the dough little by little until it had the same consistency as yours.
I’m happy I chose your recipe for my very first sourdough bake! Thank you very much!!
<3 Jerry
Ok great Jerry good to know and love the problem solving! So glad they turned out for you.
I made my starter about a week ago. It is vigorous, rises quickly and has been fun to work with. I am getting the dough ready now. I should have my first results and I’ll post to let you know how things turn out. My dough is starting out pretty stiff so I am using marginally wetter hands to patiently add moisture while stretching and folding.
Thank you for the recipe, videos and tips. Stay tuned for an update Sunday afternoon!
So glad it is working for you Jerry!
I have always made dinner rolls with my basic roll dough recipe. I started baking sourdough and sourdough rye about a year ago. I made these rolls yesterday proofed them overnight in fridge and baked this morning. They are so delicious and softer than my other recipe. These are my go to dinner rolls from now on. Thank you so much.
Great to hear this Kim!
I love these rolls!! I was wondering…
Could you use this same recipe to make loaf, instead of breaking it into rolls?
I know there’s an easier way but I truly enjoy the process.
Curious if anyone has tried it or what you might do differently to make these into a loaf.
I am sure you could! It is basically just an enriched dough. When time to form rolls, I would just spiral it into a loaf pan, it could take longer to rise and longer to bake. I would still go for the same internal temperature. It would make an amazing sandwich bread!
Thanks Tonia!! I think so too!
I’ll try it out and let you know.
These are yummy! My family loved them.
Great to hear Tracy.
Gosh- just figured it out! I had clicked on the 2x button and didn’t realize it adjusted the batch size ( I suppose I thought it increased the font size). You are welcome the ignore my earlier comment 🤪 Off I go to make my rolls. Enjoy your holidays.
Great Kim- glad you figured it out!
This recipe is perfect! Makes soft, fluffy rolls that are so good!
Yay! So hard to stop eating these…
Question for you Sylvia. Do I let the rolls set out for three hours before putting the fridge overnight or in lieu of the 3 hours, can they go straight to the fridge?
Hi Tracy, Skip the 3 hour rise and put directly in fridge (where they still rise but way more slowly). They will need to come up to temperature before baking. In a 70 degree kitchen, takes about 1 1/2 hours.
Thanks so much!
These look great! Currently have resting right now! Can they be eaten directly after coming out of the oven? Or so they need to rest first?
We ate them right out of the oven…hard to resist!
Thank you! they tasted amazing – I’ve made twice now! However – Both times have been unsuccessful in getting a good rise.. tried fridge proofing over night the second time. Can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong.. is it possible I am heating the milk/butter too much?
Hi Kelsey, Is your starter bubbly when you begin mixing? The milk mixture should be below 100 degrees. Maybe your kitchen is on the cool side? They may just need a longer rise time. Are you using bread flour? I made some yesterday and put a damp towel over the rising rolls- they didn’t like that and didn’t get very lofty.
Made these yesterday and they’re absolutely delicious! At the front, you’re certain there’s no way these are going to rise (I even added an 1/8 t instant yeast, JUST in case!) but they’re wonderful after an all night rest in the fridge. Now I have the basic recipe down, I’ll play w added minced onion, caraway or a bit of cheese. I think I’ll try beer next time also instead of the water! Yum! Thanks Sylvia, your recipes are always so good!
Thanks Monica- we are so happy you liked them!
Just wanted to comment that I stumbled on your blog just a few days ago. I haven’t had a chance to make anything yet, but I just wanted to tell you that your blog is beautiful. The layout, the photography, how it’s organized…very nice. I will be trying a few recipes in the weeks to come ❤️
Thanks so much Angell- really appreciate this and happy you found us!
Sylvia I live in Australia and I just have to thank you for both the creative and colourful food you inspire us with. I also appreciate the snippets of wisdom and inspiration offered xx Shirl
Thanks so much Shirl, really appreciate you being here!
These sound great!
Let us know if you give them a try!
Looks like a great recipe. Excited to try. Can I skip the honey? Its not good for me. Also will it work with rice milk?
I think it is worth a try with these adjustments!