fbpx

Heart's Content Farmhouse logo

You are here: Home / Bread Baking / Crusty Sourdough Rolls

Crusty Sourdough Rolls

Modified: About 4 minutes to read this article.

Jump to Recipe·Print Recipe

Learn how to make crusty and chewy sourdough rolls using a a small amount of yeast and a special steam technique in your oven. These are great as dinner rolls and a simple way to use your sourdough starter!

This post contains affiliate links, meaning that if you purchase something after clicking on a link in the post I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. Heart’s Content Farmhouse is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for website owners to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

These rolls are my new favorite bread to make. They are NOT authentic, artisan style sourdough. But these crusty rolls ARE delicious, beautiful, and foolproof.

There is a time and a place for artisan sourdough involving many tools with French names. This is not it. This recipe is for when you just want some really good rolls.

They have a crisp crust, soft interior, and good flavor. There is a slight sourdough tang, but it is totally undetectable by my kids. More of just a depth of flavor.

This is an easy recipe, but a few notes before you begin

Ready to start bread baking?

Get a one page beginners guide to join in the fun

    Powered By ConvertKit

    I highly recommend weighing the ingredients if you have a digital scale. If you don’t, I’ve included volume measurements as well.

    My starter is a thick, pourable liquid the consistency of pancake batter. If yours is thicker or thinner, you will need to adjust the amount of water, so start with a lesser amount and add more slowly if needed.

    If you are used to baking artisan sourdough, the dough will probably seem very dry to you. Since we are forming it into rolls, it needs to keep its shape. So the texture is more like a traditional bread dough.

    It only took me a million different tries to get this recipe right. I really hope you like them.

    Helpful tools:

    New to sourdough and not sure what I’m talking about?

    Here is a good introduction from King Arthur flour.

    There are many benefits to sourdough baking, but this recipe is a quicker one that doesn’t have a lot of the health benefits. (But it’s still delicious!)

    Ready to have crisp and chewy dinner rolls tonight? Here are step by step photos and a printable recipe:

    Weigh out your ingredients with a digital scale and add everything except the yeast and salt to a bowl

    weighing ingredients for sourdough rolls

    Stir with a spoon to form a rough, slightly dry looking dough

    dough for sourdough rolls during autolyse

    Allow it to rest, covered, at room temperature, for 20-40 minutes, then come back and add the salt and yeast.

    Knead the dough by hand, bread machine, or stand mixer with dough hook until smooth and slightly sticky. Look for transparent “windows” in the dough. (If you’re using a stand mixer, this post will help walk you through exactly how to knead with the dough hook.)

    kneading sourdough rolls
    windows in dough showing gluten is developed

    Place the dough in a clean, lightly oiled bowl and cover.

    dough for rolls in bowl waiting to rise

    Allow to rise for 1 hour in a warm place, such as a slightly warmed but turned-off oven, until doubled in size

    Then divide and shape into 8 rolls, placing them on a parchment- lined baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal.

    Cover with greased plastic wrap and allow to rise for 45- 60 minutes at room temperature. Halfway through the rising time, preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Put an empty, rimmed baking sheet on a lower rack.

    When the rising time is up, the rolls should be puffy.

    Pour 1 cup of water on the empty baking sheet to create steam.

    Bake for 17-21 minutes until browned. The baking time varies widely with this recipe because of the steam. The steam lowers the oven temperature and depending on how quickly your oven gets back up to temperature, some ovens will bake much faster than other.

    Cool on wire rack.

    sourdough rolls fresh out of oven

    Printable Recipe and video tutorial:

    If you make this recipe, please leave a rating and comment below and let me know how it went!

    Print

    Crusty Sourdough Rolls

    ★★★★★

    4.3 from 3 reviews

    These simple sourdough rolls are perfect for dinner or making sandwiches.  If you are not ready for artisan loaves, give these a try!  They freeze well too,

    • Author: Katie Shaw
    • Prep Time: 40 minutes
    • Cook Time: 18 minutes
    • Total Time: 58 minutes
    • Yield: 8 rolls 1x
    • Category: bread
    • Cuisine: American
    Scale

    Ingredients

    • 7 oz. of thick liquid pourable starter (1 1/4 cups)
    • 13 oz white bread flour (2.5 cups)
    • 6.5 oz of water (3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon)
    • 1/2 teaspoon of sugar
    • 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
    • 1/2 teaspoon of yeast

    Instructions

    1. Combine the starter, flour, water, and sugar in a large bowl. Stir to combine. The mixture should be a slightly sticky dough. Cover and allow to rest for about 20-40 minutes.
    2. Add the salt and yeast on top of the dough, and transfer it to whatever you are using to knead. If using a bread machine, set it on the dough cycle. For a stand mixer, set it on low about 5 minutes. If kneading by hand, knead for about 10 minutes (with a 5 minute rest halfway) without adding any additional flour.
    3. When the dough is kneaded, cover it and put in in a warm place to rise between 60-90 minutes. If using the bread machine, let it complete the cycle and leave it in the machine a bit longer.
    4. When the dough has completed its first rise, dump it onto the counter or a cutting board. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or oil and flour. Dust the top of the parchment with cornmeal. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. I use a scale and aim for a tad over 3 ounces for each.
    5. Shape the pieces into rolls by pinching the bottoms. Place on the cornmeal dusted parchment. Rub the tops with flour. Slash, if desired, using a lame or sharp knife. Cover with heavily greased plastic wrap and allow to rise again at room temperature for 30-45 minutes.
    6. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Place one rack in the center, and one in the lower middle area. Place an empty baking sheet on the lower rack to get hot while the over heats.
    7. When the oven has heated and the rolls are risen, pour 1 cup of water on the hot baking sheet to create steam. (It may buckle, this is ok.). Place the rolls inside and bake for 17-21 minutes, until browned outside. Cool rolls on wire rack.

    Notes

    To freeze:  Cool completely and place in plastic bag.  Will store well up to 2 months.

     

    Keywords: sourdough rolls, crusty sourdough rolls, sourdough dinner rolls

    Short Video tutorial:

    Storing the rolls

    These crusty sourdough rolls freeze very well. After cooled to room temperature, pack them up in a freezer bag and they will keep fine for at least a month.

    To reheat rolls without drying them out, defrost for a minute or so in the microwave at the defrost setting. Then wrap them in foil and place them in a warm (not hot!) oven for 5-10 minutes.\

    Not into sourdough?

    I also love these French rolls, a bit simpler to make

    These brioche buns are great for sandwiches too.

    Or try these super soft dinner rolls, a great beginner recipe.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Annie says

      This recipe is great, thank you! I was a little worried about how little the rolls rose before baking, but they baked up beautifully with lots of lovely air pockets inside. I served the rolls as a side with a turkey wild rice soup and my family loved it!

      ★★★★

      Reply

    2. Ann Harris says

      These rolls were delicious. Lightly chewy on the outside but soft on the inside. Lovely flavor. I live in the desert, so my flour is always dry, and everything takes more liquid. I started out as recommended, but used 1.25 c. starter rather than 7 oz. Also I don’t have bread flour so I used all-purpose. All great until time to knead. This was seriously — how do you knead dough without adding flour? I tried. Picture my hands dripping with dough, the cutting board gripping tightly, a big sloosh, sloosh as I attempted to ‘knead’ this dough-that-is-more-like-batter. Probably my error. Eventually gave up and scraped all the dough together and added flour and kneaded properly. All else went perfectly. I did use the convection setting on my oven and would drop the temp if I did like that again … just thought the steam was important, but could drop the temp to 425 after putting the rolls in. Anyway, really delicious and wanted to say thank you and share my geographic issues.

      ★★★★

      Reply

      • Katie Shaw, Heart’s Content says

        Hi Ann, I’ve found that for some reason with this dough it looks dry at first and then gets wetter over time, which is kind of weird! I’m glad it all worked out for you in the end and thanks for letting me know.

        Reply

    3. Johnna says

      I was wondering if I can use the metal bowl for my stand mixer. I know metal is no good for the starter but can I use it for kneading the dough?

      Reply

      • Katie Shaw, Heart’s Content says

        Yes that is absolutely fine, I would just transfer it to different bowl for rising (although to be honest I think that would be fine too)

        Reply

    4. scott kenyon says

      I live in Colorado at a little over 5000 feet above sea level and I’m going to try this recipe on Sunday. Do you think I need to make any adjustments for my altitude? Also, thanks for your educational tips.
      I never knew what a lame was and now I am going to get one.

      Reply

    5. Geri says

      OMG, I have been making sourdough bread for a number of years, some good, some not so. THIS recipe and method are so awesome, THANK you for all your efforts and for sharing you recipe!!! I made one small change because I love the sour flavour, I subbed 1/4 t citric acid as part of the salt…AWESOME!!

      Reply

      • Katie Shaw, Heart’s Content says

        Geri this comment makes me so happy!! So glad you enjoyed it and I love the tip about the citric acid!

        Reply

    10. stmarthaslens says

      At some point I am going to have to jump on this sourdough wagon. I love bread, and those rolls look a little too perfect to eat… who am I kidding perfection has NEVER stopped me from eating!

      Reply

      • Katie Shaw, Heart’s Content says

        Ha! Love it. I love sourdough, and I don’t care about the health benefits. I am just a bread lover too.

        Reply

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published.

    ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆