Easy Sourdough Dinner Rolls - Soft and Fluffy

A recipe for soft and tender sourdough buns. Serve them as sourdough dinner rolls, or roll them a little bigger and use them as sourdough burger buns.

These soft sourdough dinner rolls can be made by hand or in a mixer. Read on for step by step instructions and video demonstrations.

It’s time for another addition to my sourdough archives! Sourdough buns have been on the to-do list for a while.

They’re tender and soft. Serve them as sourdough dinner rolls, or roll them a little bigger and use them as sourdough burger buns.

It’s a two day process, as most of my sourdough recipes are. However, the main kneading is done at the beginning so a lot of the time is very hands off.

The Sourdough Starter

This recipe calls for 150g active sourdough starter, at 100% hydration. As with all my bread recipes that use starter, it needs to be a starter that is active and ready but is low in acid. 

It is easy to keep the acid content low in a starter if you refresh your starter regularly and use a small amount of seed starter each time you feed it.

My preferred feeding ratio is 1:2:2, which is 1 part seed starter, 2 parts flour and 2 parts water. At a room temperature between 21-23°C, this should double, if not triple easily within 6 hours.  Ensure to use it before it collapses.

For this dough it could be 35g starter, 75g flour and 75g water. This will make approximately 175g starter. 150g can be used for the dough and the remaining starter can be fed again 1:2:2 and stored for the next time you need it.

The Sourdough Dinner Rolls Process

In the morning the starter is fed. Once that has risen, it’s time to make the dough.

The Flour

For this recipe, an all-purpose flour is used, one with a protein level of around 10.5- 11%. The protein amount in all-purpose flour changes depending on brand, and so does the name of the flour.

In New Zealand flour with a protein of around 11% is a high-grade flour and flour with a protein level of 10% is called a plain flour. It's best to just check the protein level rather than the name of the flour. A bread flour with protein of around 12% could also be used for a chewier bun.

The Method

Flour, cornstarch, sugar and salt are mixed in a bowl. This bread uses both all-purpose flour and a little cornstarch. The gluten in the flour is needed for structure in the bread but the cornstarch helps to soften the buns and give a tender crumb. 

Then, the water, milk and sourdough starter are added and the mixture is combined into a shaggy dough.

Cubed butter is then added in and squished in by hand in the bowl before transferring the dough to a bench.

It needs a good 10 minutes of kneading now to develop the gluten. It will be very sticky but don’t worry, it will come together. Once the dough feels stronger, take a little break. Giving the dough a rest for a couple of minutes and coming back to it with clean damp hands will make it easier. This process can also be done in a mixer with a dough hook.

See the video below for a snippet of the kneading process.

Proofing the Dough

Once kneaded, place the dough in a bowl and cover it with a upside down plate, lid or damp tea towel to stop it drying out. Leave the dough to ferment at room temperature (one that’s between 21-23°C) for 2 hours before transferring to the fridge overnight. If your room is cooler than this, leave it for 3 hours.

At this point the dough can stay refrigerated between 8-20 hours, depending on when you want to bake the dinner rolls.

Shaping the Sourdough Dinner Rolls

Remove the dough from the refrigerator can take it from the bowl. Place it on a lightly floured bench and cut it into 8 or 12 even pieces.

Shape each piece into a tight ball and place them in a lined tin. I use a round 23cm cake tin. 

Leave the dough balls to bulk out for 2-5 hours, until doubled in size. This is dependant on room temperature. If your room temperature is cold, you can create a warm spot by lightly preheating an oven to around 40°C/104°F, then turning off the oven and placing them in there.

Brush the tops of the buns with milk, then bake them in the oven until they are puffed and browned.

Immediately after baking brush the baked bun tops with melted butter.

Let the buns cool a little bit before serving.

And that’s it! Freshly baked, tender sourdough dinner rolls.

Have you made these ? Tag me and let me know!