Everyday Seeded Sourdough Rolls

These seeded sourdough rolls are the perfect balance of hearty and light. They use a bit of yeast to help speed up the rising process, but still have plenty of sourdough flavor. I like this hybrid version because they’re ready in one afternoon, but if you’d like to use sourdough starter only, they’ll work just as well, but each rise will take about four hours.

The trick with these rolls is to hydrate your seeds before mixing with the dough. This will help your rolls stay nice and tender on the inside instead of being dry and dense. And don’t skip adding water to the hot baking sheet. The steam will help give your rolls a nice crust.

Ingredients and Tools You’ll Need

Adding yeast to the starter helps speed this up. But if you really want to do it without yeast, you can. Just give each rise about 4 hours. You can add whole wheat flour to the bread flour for a denser roll. Use 10 ounces of bread flour and 3 ounces of whole wheat flour. 

Make sure your baking sheets are heavy-duty, especially the one for the steam. Use an oven-safe metal pan; glass can shatter.

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This will make 8 rolls. If you’d like to double or triple this recipe, or use metric measurements, you can make adjustments in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Equipment

• Large mixing bowl
• Parchment paper
• Baking Sheet
• Wire cooling rack

Ingredients

Multigrain Mix (about 1/3 cup total)

• 2 tablespoons rolled oats
• 1 tablespoon flaxseeds or ground flaxseed
• 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds or hearts
• 1 tablespoon millet or chia seeds
• 1 tablespoon water

Sourdough Base

• 7 ounces (1 ¼ cups) active sourdough starter 
• 13 ounces (2 ½–3 cups) bread flour
• 6 ounces (¾ cup) water
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• ½ teaspoon yeast (you can leave it out, but each rise will take 4 hours)

Seed Topping (optional, 2-3 tablespoons)

• Equal parts sesame seeds, poppy seeds, and sunflower seeds

How to Make Seeded Sourdough Rolls

Step One: Getting Started

First things first – grab your multigrain mix ingredients and toss them in a bowl with a tablespoon of water. Just let that sit for about 10 minutes while you get everything else ready. The seeds need to soften up a bit so they don’t steal all the moisture from your dough.

Step Two: Make the Dough

Now dump in your sourdough starter, flour, and water. Don’t stress about it being perfect – just stir until everything comes together. It’s going to look a little sticky, and that’s FINE. That’s what we want.

Sprinkle your salt and yeast right on top, then start kneading. If you’re doing this by hand, plan on about 8-10 minutes of good kneading. Stand mixer? About 5 minutes and you’re done. The dough should feel smooth but still have a tiny bit of stickiness to it. If it’s fighting you too much, add a splash more water. If it’s a goopy mess, add a little flour.

Step Three: Rise

Cover that bowl and let it sit somewhere warm for about an hour to an hour and a half. You want it almost doubled. Don’t overthink this part – sourdough is forgiving.

Step Four: Shape

Turn your dough out onto a floured counter and cut it into eight pieces. Here’s the thing – don’t get all fancy with weighing each piece. Just eyeball it and cut them roughly the same size.

For shaping, I just pinch the bottom of each piece to make the top smooth and round. Nothing complicated. Plop them on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Step Five: Toppings

If you want the seed topping (and honestly, why wouldn’t you?), brush the tops with water and sprinkle on your sesame, poppy, and sunflower seeds. Press them down just enough so they stick.

Cover with some greased plastic wrap and let them puff up for another 45 minutes or so.

Step Six: Baking

Crank your oven to 450°F and stick an empty baking sheet on the bottom rack while it heats up. When you’re ready to bake, pour a cup of water onto that hot pan – it’ll create steam and give you a better crust.

Bake for about 17-21 minutes until they’re golden brown. Don’t open the oven door for the first 15 minutes, or you’ll lose all that good steam.

Let them cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before you dig in. I know it’s hard to wait, but hot bread is gummy bread.

Serving & Storing

These are perfect alongside ham and bean soup or white chicken chili.

These rolls stay fresh at room temperature for 2-3 days in a paper bag. Or you can freeze them in a freezer bag for up to 3 months.

To reheat, sprinkle with water and warm in a 350°F oven for 5-7 minutes.

Make It Your Own

Change up the seeds and grains however you like.

• Switch up the grain mix based on what you have: rye flakes, quinoa, or barley all work well.
• If you don’t like some of the seeds, double up on your favorites instead.
• Brush the tops with butter right after baking instead of adding the seed topping.
• Shape these larger and flatter before the final rise to make sandwich buns

More Sourdough Breads and Rolls

Keep it simple or get fancy.

• Sourdough French bread is your simple, everyday bread – just four ingredients and a Dutch oven are all you need.
• Serve anything in sourdough bread bowls, and everyone will be impressed.
• This pretty strawberry sourdough bread is so delicious!
• These sourdough dinner rolls are super soft and fluffy. Perfect for holiday dinners.

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