Sourdough Dinner Rolls come out amazingly fluffy, tender, and lightly sweet while still holding onto that slight sourdough tang that you love! This recipe only requires 30 minutes of hands-on time!
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Soft Sourdough Dinner Rolls come out amazingly fluffy, tender, and lightly sweet while still holding onto that slight sourdough tang that you love! This recipe only requires 30 minutes of hands-on time!
Love pulling a batch of fresh homemade rolls out of the oven as much as I do? Then you’ll also want to try my Classic Parker House Dinner Rolls or Perfect Yeast Rolls!
This Sourdough Dinner Rolls recipe easily walks you step-by-step through the process of using your sourdough discard to create incredibly delicious dinner rolls! Everyone in your family will come running when they see these golden brown rolls slathered in melted butter hit the table!
Serve them up with a delicious pasta meal, with your Perfect Thanksgiving Roast Turkey, or even with your favorite bowl of soup or stew! But also don’t be afraid to just have a batch on the counter to snack on all week long.
I love enjoying them cut in half with more butter on the inside, using them for sliders, and even for breakfast with some jam! Regardless of how you enjoy them, you will absolutely LOVE them!
Table of Contents
5 Reasons Why I Love This Recipe!
- Uses Up The Extra! Since this recipe calls for the discard of your Sourdough Starter you get to skip throwing it away! I’m pretty sure using up the extra and eliminating waste makes these rolls taste better!
- Homemade! Don’t get me wrong, I’ve grabbed my fair share of frozen yeast rolls from the grocery store. But nothing ever beats the taste of homemade!
- Easy Ingredients! Aside from the sourdough discard, this recipe uses pantry staple ingredients!
- Make Something Sweet! This is a wonderful sweet roll yeast dough that you can easily turn into cinnamon rolls or pastries that use a sweet dough base. Simply just adjust the amount of sugar in the recipe as needed.
- Hands Off Time! Sourdough recipes do require some time and patience. But when making these Sourdough Dinner Rolls you actually have quite a bit of hands-off time!
Ingredient Notes
In this recipe for Sourdough Dinner Rolls, you’ll need just a handful of ingredients! Most of which you may even have on hand if you spend any amount of time baking or cooking.
To make a batch of dinner rolls you’ll need buttermilk, an egg, softened salted butter, sourdough discard from an active sourdough starter, all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, sea salt, baking soda, and rapid-rise active dry yeast.
After baking up a few batches of sourdough bread rolls myself I created a short list of kitchen tools that I always turn to as I’m making the rolls. I always find myself using:
- Kitchen Scale – Used to measure out the Sourdough Discard that this recipe calls for.
- Stand Mixer – Fitted with a bread hook for easier mixing!
- 9×13 Glass Baking Dish – Comfortably fits all of the rolls while also being able to check the sides and bottoms of the rolls while they’re baking.
- Plastic Wrap – Covers the bowl of bread dough and pan of rolls as they rise. You could also use a clean dish towel.
How To Make Sourdough Dinner Rolls
- Add the buttermilk, egg, softened butter, and sourdough discard to the bowl of a standing mixer.
2. Place the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and yeast on top of the wet ingredients.
3. Mix the ingredients with the dough hook attached and the mixer on low speed until everything is combined.
4. Increase the speed of the mixer to medium-high speed. Continue mixing the dough with the bread hook until the dough becomes smooth and forms a ball around the hook.
5. Transfer the dough into a greased bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Then set the covered bowl in a warm location to allow the dough to at least double in size.
6. Form the dough into rolls by first covering your fingers with butter to make it easier to handle the dough. Next, pull off ping-pong-sized balls of dough to knead in your fingers.
7. Stretch and fold the dough toward its bottom to form a smooth top. Divide the dough to make about 20 rolls, repeating steps six and seven on each one.
8. Place the sourdough dinner rolls balls in a glass baking dish that’s been greased with butter. Then cover them with a dish towel and place them in a warm location to rise.
9. Rolls are ready to bake once they slightly bounce back and leave a small dent when touched with the tip of your finger.
10. Bake the Sourdough Dinner Rolls in the preheated oven at 375 degrees F. Once the sides and bottom of the rolls have slightly browned they’re done baking.
11. Brush the tops of the rolls with melted butter using a pastry brush, enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
How To Store
Once the Sourdough Dinner Rolls have completely cooled you can store them in an airtight container. Enjoy them within 3 to 4 days!
Can I Freeze These Sourdough Rolls?
Yes, once they are baked and cooled you can store them in the freezer. To do so wrap each roll or row tightly with aluminum foil or plastic wrap.
Then place the wrapped rolls into a Ziploc freezer bag and squeeze the excess air out of the bag. Place them in the freezer and eat them within a month.
Can I Prepare These Rolls In A Bread Maker?
Yes, you can! Just follow the recipe instructions to add the ingredients to the bread machine and then set it on the dough cycle. After the dough cycle has finished, continue with the instructions on forming the rolls and then allowing them to rise.
Afterward, just bake the rolls as instructed!
Does The Sourdough Discard Need To Be Bubbly For This Recipe?
Since the leavening comes from the added yeast the sourdough discard does not need to be an active starter. I use the discard from the Sourdough Starter/Sourdough Bread recipe and it has a 1:1 flour-to-water ratio, so that’s the amount accounted for in this recipe.
If you’re using a more or less hydrated starter, you may need to adjust the amount of flour in this roll recipe.
You can always find a fresh warm piece of bread, like these Sourdough Dinner Rolls, tucked by my dinner plate any day of the week! Here are more delicious bread recipes to put on your own dinner table!
- Homemade Bread – Fluffy, tender white bread easily made using this recipe that has step-by-step instructions, photos, and tips, great for sandwiches, French toast, and more!
- Parmesan Garlic Bread – Loaded with herbs, butter, and Parmesan cheese for a quick and easy recipe that’s perfect for enjoying with pasta dishes!
- How To Make Challah Bread – Lightly sweet braided bread made with a dough that gets enriched with eggs and honey that makes incredible grilled cheese sandwiches and French toast!
- Easy Stuffed Cheese Breadsticks – Made with crescent roll dough, cheese, garlic salt, and parsley and ready to be paired with your favorite pizza, soup, or pasta dish in just 20 minutes!
- French Baguette – Uses only 4 ingredients to create long loaves of crusty bread that have a tender and chewy inside!
Let’s Connect!
If you’ve tried thisrecipe, please let me know how you liked it in the comments below and leave a review. I love hearing from you!
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5 from 7 votes
Sourdough Dinner Rolls
Author Rebecca Hubbell
Course Bread
Cuisine American
Prep Time 30 minutes minutes
Cook Time 12 minutes minutes
Proof Time 3 hours hours
Total Time 3 hours hours 42 minutes minutes
Sourdough Dinner Rolls come out amazingly fluffy, tender, and lightly sweet while still holding onto that slight sourdough tang that you love! This recipe only requires 30 minutes of hands-on time!
Equipment
Standing mixer with bread hook
9×13-inch glass baking dish
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup buttermilk
- 1 large egg
- 4 tablespoons salted butter softened (plus more for greasing baking dish and forming rolls)
- 6 oz. sourdough discard
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon rapid rise active dry yeast
Instructions
In the bowl of a standing mixer, add the wet ingredients – buttermilk, egg, softened butter, and sourdough discard.
On top of the wet ingredients, add the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and yeast.
With the dough hook attached and the mixer on low speed, begin mixing the ingredients together.
Mix on low speed for 1-2 minutes until everything is combined.
Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and continue mixing with the bread hook for 5-6 minutes, until the dough mostly forms a ball around the hook and is smooth.
Transfer the dough to a greased bowl, cover with a dish towel or plastic wrap and set in a warm location for 1-1 ½ hours until dough has at least doubled in size.
Grease a 9×13 glass baking dish with butter.
Cover your fingers with butter to make it easier to form the rolls. Pull off a ping-pong size ball of dough and knead in your fingers, turning the dough toward the bottom to form a smooth top. Form 20 rolls, placing them in rows of 5 in the prepared
baking dish.
Cover the rolls with a light dishtowel and set aside in a warm place to rise a second time (about 1-1 ½ hours). The rolls are finished rising when they bounce back only slightly, leaving a small dent when pressed with the tip of your finger.
Bake at 375°F for 12-15 minutes. Check the sides and bottom of the rolls for slight browning to know when they are done cooking.
Brush the tops of the rolls with a bit of melted butter if desired.
Notes
Storage: Store cooled rolls in an airtight container for 3-4 days or freeze for up to 1 month.
You can prepare the rolls in a bread maker – Follow instructions for adding ingredients to the breadmaker.
Set on the dough cycle and let it run its course.
When the dough cycle completes, continue with instructions above for forming and allowing rolls to rise. Bake as instructed.
This is a really nice sweet roll yeast dough.
You could use it to make cinnamon rolls, or pastries that use a sweet dough base.
Adjust the amount of sugar in the recipe as needed.
You’ll get your leavening from the added yeast so the sourdough discard does not need to be bubbly.
Use discard from the sourdough starter/bread recipe – this has a 1:1 ration of flour to water, which is
the amount accounted for in this recipe. If you have a more or less hydrated starter, you may need to adjust the amount of flour in the roll recipe.
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