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Sourdough Sandwich Rolls

These rolls are an excellent choice for burgers or sandwiches.

Yield 8 rolls

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Reviews

Ingredients

Dough

3 cups bread flour, divided
1 (0.25oz) package (7g) or 2 1/4 teaspoons Red Star Active Dry Yeast
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon table salt
3/4 cup warm water (120-130°F)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup Sourdough Starter
1 large egg (room temperature)

Egg wash

1 egg
1 tablespoon water

Instructions

In stand mixer bowl, add 1 cup flour, yeast, sugar and salt; mix well. Add water, oil and sourdough starter to flour mixture. Using a paddle attachment, beat on medium speed for 4 minutes. Add egg and beat 1 minute.
Switch to dough hook attachment. Gradually stir in enough remaining flour to make a firm dough. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 to 7 minutes.
(NOTE: For hand mixing: following above steps, mix ingredients in large mixing bowl using a wooden spoon or dough whisk. Knead on floured surface until smooth and elastic.)
Place dough in lightly oiled bowl and turn to grease top. Cover; let rise until indentation remains after poking dough with finger down to second knuckle, about 1 hour.
Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; punch down to remove air bubbles. Divide dough into 8 pieces. On lightly floured surface, shape each piece into a smooth ball. Place on greased cookie sheet. Flatten to a 4-inch diameter. Cover; let rise until indentations remains after touching.
Preheat oven to 400°F.
With sharp knife, make an “X” on the top of each roll. Brush with egg wash (whisk together egg and water). Brush tops of rolls. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet; cool on wire rack.

Notes

Get Bread Machine Method here.

Photo by Matt Weber.

Review & Comments

CHARLES WALKER | 6/28/2023 Reply

The last instruction in this recipe says to cut the cross on top after dough has risen. Every time I try that with any recipe, it collapses. For instance, I can score the top of a French loaf before it rises, but if after it rises it will collapse.
How do you do it last?
I have been baking bread at home for over 40 years an never mastered this technique.

Red Star Yeast | 7/11/2023 Reply

Hi Charles – A very sharp knife (or bread lame) works well to score the dough after it has risen. Make sure your dough is not over-proofed (over-risen), which will make it weaker and more susceptible to deflating. King Arthur has a detailed blog that walks your though scoring techniques that you may find helpful. https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2017/08/04/scoring-bread-dough
Happy baking!

Allie | 11/20/2022 Reply

Am I able to freeze the rolls before baking? I wanna make a large quantity for Thanksgiving but will need to start a couple days ahead.

Red Star Yeast | 11/21/2022 Reply

Hi Allie – We don’t recommend freezing during the bread-making process because it will damage the yeast and dough structure which will affect the quality of the final baked product. To break up some of the prep, you could make the dough the day before and refrigerate overnight. You could also freeze the finished rolls – simply let them cool completely after baking, then wrap air-tight in plastic wrap and foil, then place in a zipper freezer bag. More ‘prepare ahead’ info can be found here, including how to par-bake the rolls.

I hope you will find this information helpful.
Happy baking and Happy Holidays!

Meadow | 10/7/2022 Reply

I am so impressed with this recipe.. it was so easy and these rolls are PERFECT! I only made a few changes.. I divided the dough into only four rolls so they were bigger, and I preheated my pizza stone in the oven at 420* and transferred the rolls to the stone using parchment paper, baked at 420* for 10 minutes, then turned the rolls (my oven cooks unevenly) and lowered the temp to 400* for 12 more minutes. I brushed them with butter straight out of the oven. They are chewy, fluffy, soft, moist, and so flavorful. Absolutely superb!

Nina S | 6/3/2022 Reply

I have an old healthy sourdough starter I have used for years. If you want a more pronounced sourdough flavor in your baked goods, I would suggest adding a teaspoon of citric acid to the dry ingredients… adds a nice tang to the flavor!

NIna T. | 4/24/2022 Reply

I could not find the bread machine method recipe. Where is it?

Red Star Yeast | 4/25/2022 Reply

Hi Nina – Here’s the link: https://redstaryeast.com/recipes/bread-machine-sourdough-sandwich-rolls/
Happy baking!

RogueSoaper | 11/21/2021 Reply

I made these today and they came out perfect! Lovely color, nice semi-open crumb, and smell so good! I am going to freeze them and bring them to my daughter’s for turkey sandwiches after Thanksgiving.

Betina Jessen | 6/30/2021 Reply

I used this recipe to make several smaller rolls (like other reviewers have recommended)! The texture of these rolls is incredible! For some reason, despite my healthy sourdough starter, they don’t really seem to have much of a tangy flavor, but it’s most likely due to an error on my part! Great and relatively easy recipe to follow.

Brooke | 12/28/2020 Reply

Not only did this dough make great sandwich rolls, but it worked wonderfully for cinnamon rolls and pizza crust. It freezes well, too. I’ll be making this again and again!

Sourdough Rolls | The Spiffy Cookie | 3/30/2020 Reply

[…] Source: Adapted slightly from Red Star Yeast. […]

Monica | 3/4/2019 Reply

Love these rolls! Super flavorful…I’ve experimented with other recipes and none compare. I make them using my sourdough discard every couple of weeks.

Sadie | 6/5/2017 Reply

Excellent rolls! The crumb is soft and moist but sturdy. I used unfed starter that was actively bubbly after being at room temperature for about 4 hours. I used a stand mixer to combine the starter, dry mixture and liquids, then hand-kneaded for about 10 minutes, adding flour until the dough was soft and tacky but not sticky, and passed the windowpane test. I used 3 1/2 cups of flour in total. The dough rose quickly in both rises and had great oven spring. The buns had a lovely hard crust when they came out of the oven, but the crust softened as they cooled. They were baked in 15 minutes (internal temp 202°).

Leisa | 4/4/2016 Reply

These rolls are amazing. I have ‘infant’ starter, so the sour is not fully developed. Nevertheless, I’ve been experimenting with different recipes to use the ‘discard sponge’. I’m loving the mild taste that this new-starter discard has.

Thank you for this website and all of the good information. I purchase RedStar yeast in the large package at my warehouse store. It is a reliable product that I enjoy using.

Morris | 3/5/2016 Reply

You know, I have all the equipment and then some so I understand the reason for all the different instructions. However, after discovering their wonders, I abandoned the appliances. I still make my bread entirely by hand-wooden spoon, bread board for kneading with my hands, dough scraper for clean up. It would be really nice if I didn’t have to read between the lines in order to figure out the simple way.
p.s. This dough was so alive! The force was strong with this one. It wanted to phone home while I was kneading it.

MrsClayA | 9/22/2014 Reply

Excellent and a crunch to boot

I used half-rye sourdough starter. 2nd rise took 2.5 hours and could have gone to 3 hours. I shaped into baguettes, scored the tops and cooked at 400 for 13 minutes. They have a little crunch and are great.