These buttery sourdough rolls are the perfect addition to your holiday menu but are definitely delicious year round. They can be served with breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I will be breaking this recipe down by the day to avoid confusion. When I make these rolls, it is a 3 day process since I like to cold proof them. If you choose not to cold proof, it would only be 2 days.

Unlike my no knead sourdough bread recipe, you will need a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment for this recipe.

Day 1

Preparing your leaven.

To prepare the leaven for this recipe, you need to feed your sourdough starter the night before to ensure its activity. You will need 50g of starter (fed or unfed), 100g of flour, and 100g of room temperature water.

Mix them all together in a bowl and cover with some plastic wrap or a beeswax wrap, and place in a warm place in your kitchen overnight. This is your leaven for the rolls.

Note: If you have active starter prepared already you can just use 180g of this instead of preparing the leaven separately.

Day 2

To your stand mixer with the dough hook attachment, add all of the following ingredients EXCEPT the water.

1 cup (about 180g) leaven (active sourdough starter)
4 cups (480g) all purpose flour
1/4 (90g) cup honey or maple syrup
1/2 cup (113g) melted butter
1 1/2 (10g) tsp salt
1 cup room temperature water

Mix on a low setting while slowly adding water. You may not necessarily use the full amount of water. That is why you do it slowly, paying attention to the dough. You want a dough consistency that is not too wet and does not stick to the sides, but is not too dry and powdery.

If you accidentally add too much water, you can just slowly add in some more flour until you get that perfect dough consistency. And vice versa, if you add too much flour, just slowly add a bit of water.

Knead the dough for 15 minutes. It should be smooth and stretchy by now.

Remove the dough ball from your stand mixing bowl and place in a large buttered bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow it to double in size. This will depend on the warmth of your kitchen. It will typically take between 4-6 hours.

After mixing and adding to buttered bowl.

Once the dough has about doubled in size, remove it from the bowl and divide into 16 equal parts on a clean floured surface.

To be very accurate, I like to get the total weight of my dough and then divide that by 16 so I can make sure I get a uniform size. For instance, my entire dough ball weighed 1080g, so 1080/6= 67.5g. I aimed for 67-68g rolls. Using my bench scraper I divide the dough and weigh it on a little plate on my food scale before shaping them. If you are not using a food scale yet, I HIGHLY recommend doing so. It is so much more accurate than measuring cups and it will improve your baking.

Shape the pieces into little roll shapes, with the pretty side up. Place the rolls into a buttered baking dish. 2 9×13’s or a larger cookie sheet will do.

Cover the rolls and refrigerate to cold proof them overnight. These can proof from 8-24 hours.

Day 3

Preheat your oven to 375º F. Once the oven has reached temperature, bake the rolls for 30-40 minutes. Keep an eye on them the first time you bake these, different ovens can bake slightly different. They should have a nice golden color when they are done. Allow them to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Optional: Beat 1 egg and brush the tops of the rolls to create an egg wash for a browner and more golden crust. I never skip this step since I like the glossy brown crust. A sprinkle of salt on top of the egg wash is a tasty addition.

Serving Suggestions

Topped with butter and jelly for breakfast.

Sliced in half and used for making sandwiches.

Served with a roast. They are SO good dipped in gravy. These are a Thanksgiving dinner favorite.

Serve them with soup. Great for dipping.

My Sourdough Baking Favorites