Soft Sourdough Rolls

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!

Perfectly tender and ultra flavorful sourdough dinner rolls are made completely with active starter, no yeast. Make in one day or refrigerate overnight. They freeze well and are vegan adaptable!

How you love yourself is how you teach others to love you.
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.

Sourdough Roll Overview
Ingredients In Sourdough Rolls
Ingredient Notes
How To Make Sourdough Rolls
More Sourdough Recipes You May Enjoy
Simple Sourdough Starter
Beginner’s Guide to Sourdough Bread
Sourdough English Muffins
Quick Sourdough Buns
Soft Sourdough Rolls Video
Soft Sourdough Rolls

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.

Mixing the starter in a glass bowl on a scale.

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.

Melting together butter, milk, honey and salt.

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.

Weighing the flour in the mixing bowl with starter.

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).

Pinching dough at the bottom to form the roll.

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).

Rolls after raising and reading to bake.

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

How do you make soft sourdough bread?

Enriching the dough with milk (instead of water) and adding butter or oil will tenderize the dough and make the bread or rolls tender.

Is sourdough bread healthier then yeasted bread?

Bread made with natural sourdough starter is more nutritious, easier to digest, and has a lower glycemic index.

At what temperature are sourdough rolls done?

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.

Love this recipe? Please let us know in the comments and leave a 5-star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below the recipe card.