The Best Sandwich Rolls
This recipe for sourdough sandwich rolls is practically perfect. These buns are easy, fast, and a sturdy-yet-soft vehicle for sandwiches and hamburgers. Over the years, I’ve tried plenty of recipes for hamburger buns, but I never found one that I liked more than what I could find on the grocery store shelves. My past attempts were often too dense or too crumbly (or both!) But this recipe is close to perfect (as a perfectionist, I’ll probably never rate any recipe as truly perfect.)
- Explore: Buffalo Eggplant Sandwich
Meet Rosie
During the pandemic, like many people, Sean and I made a sourdough starter. Sean has been the main caretaker of our starter which we named Rosie (Queen of Corona!). And he’s spent so many hours working towards baking an artisan quality sourdough loaf. He’s made some awesome loaves–and some stinkers because there is a huge learning curve when it comes to a pure sourdough loaf.
I have more enjoyed using Rosie to make easier sourdough discard recipes like crumpets and pancakes. And now, these sourdough sandwich rolls. The base recipe of these rolls comes from King Arthur Baking’s big batch quick dinner rolls. This recipe is heavy handed with the instant yeast to get a really quick rise.
- Shop: Instant Yeast
Recipe Rescaled
But with bread baking, a quick rise often equates to little taste. So I thought: “what if we add sourdough starter for flavor?”. Sean rescaled this recipe to include a dose of starter in addition to the heavy-handed dash of yeast. I added an egg wash, a sprinkling of sesame seeds, and changed the shaping technique to create buns instead of rolls.
The result: a flavorful and extremely fast sandwich roll. Want burger buns tonight? You probably still have time to make these rolls!
Sourdough Sandwich Rolls
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup (113g) sourdough starter 100% hydration
- 1 cup (227g) milk warmed to ~100F
- 1 ½ tbsp (23g) butter room temperature
- 1 tbsp (11g) sugar
- 1 ½ tsp (9g) kosher salt
- 1 ½ tbsp (14g) instant yeast
- 2 ¾ cup (330g) all-purpose flour
- 1 egg for egg wash
- 1 tbsp cream or half & half for egg wash
- sesame seeds for sprinkling on top of rolls
- flaky sea salt for sprinkling on top of rolls
Instructions
- Mix together the sourdough starter, milk, butter, sugar, salt, and yeast in the bowl of your stand mixer–or large bowl if you aren't using a mixer.Let this mixture sit for about 5 minutes until it starts to foam which means your yeast is working and has bloomed.
- Add the flour and mix with the paddle attachment until the dough has come together in a rough shaggy mass.
- At this point, you can switch to the dough hook and knead using the stand mixer for 5 minutes or until the dough comes together into a smooth ball. The dough will feel elastic and bouncy. Or knead by hand (this is what I like to do.) Pour the dough out onto your counter and knead for 10 minutes. I think it's fun to watch the dough change as I hand knead. It will be slightly tacky to start and that's ok. Just keep kneading until it morphs into a smooth, elastic ball.
- Spray your bowl with non-stick spray and spray the top of the dough too. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 20 minutes in a warm area of the kitchen. I like to put mine in the microwave because it's pretty toasty in there. The dough should rise during this time. It won't quite double, but you'll notice the rise.
- Remove the dough from the bowl and portion into 6, ~4.25 oz pieces. Roll these into a ball by cupping your hand over the dough and lightly rolling across the surface of the counter. Then press the dough down into about a 1-inch thick disc. This will give the rolls a good shape for sandwiches. Place discs onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper (or sprayed with non-stick oil.)
- Cover with plastic wrap and let the rolls rise for another 20 minutes. During this rise, preheat your oven to 350F.
- Whisk together egg and cream. Uncover your rolls and brush each one with a good coating of egg wash. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and flaky salt.
- Bake in the middle rack of the oven for 25 minutes until golden brown.
- Cool for at least 15 minutes. These will last for about 5 days bagged in plastic.
Notes
- Our sourdough starter is a basic recipe at 100% hydration–if you feed with equal parts flour and water by weight, you also have a recipe at 100% hydration.
- If you’d like to make dinner rolls instead of sandwich buns, during the shaping phase, portion your dough into 12, ~2 oz. pieces. Make the balls as indicated, but don’t flatten. Instead of using an egg wash and sesame seeds, bake plain and brush with melted butter when they come out of the oven. A sprinkle of flaky sea salt at this point would also be delicious.
- You will not use all of your egg wash. I keep my extra in the fridge because we bake a lot around here. If you don’t bake a lot, mix this with a couple more eggs and a sprinkle of salt. Then scramble them. Scrambled eggs would make a good topping for breakfast sandwiches on your fresh sourdough sandwich rolls!
- Shop: Flaky Sea Salt, Sesame Seeds
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Instant Pot Greek Chicken & Rice Bowls
These rolls continually impress me both on flavor and how quickly you can go from raw ingredients to having rolls ready to go.
2 questions:
1. is there a way to make this without the yeast and still have it turn out as well?
2. if starter isn’t 100% hydration, is there an adjustment for recipe or do I just start feeding starter equal flour water… and does that need to be a specific ratio to amount of starter/ discard it is added to. (I’m considering discard as once the starter rise has fallen in my starter).
Note: I am brand new to using my sourdough starter. My daughter visited for holidays and did a lot of sourdough starter and discard baking using online recipes. I’m trying to learn.
Hi, so sorry I missed this comment. I think the yeast is key to this recipe because it’s really doing the work; the starter discard is very much for flavor only since it’s weak (again the yeast is doing the work here.) Your second question would require some math and testing, but the key is that there is some amount of flour and water in the discard and that’s important to the end result.
You don’t mention the hydration of your starter. Makes a difference in the overall recipe.
Oh. Good point. We just have a very basic starter at 100% hydration. Thanks for the reminder! I’ll update that in the recipe.
I’m having trouble printing this recipe. Is there a trick to printing this recipe? I’ve tried printing from different devices. Thanks!
Hi Elizabeth. I think there was a glitch with the site when you tried printing. I just took a look and it seems to be working again, but please let me know if you run into any more trouble!
Great friggin recipe
Great friggin’ comment (truly, thank you!) 🙂
Do you feed your starter in preparation for this recipe (i.e. 8-12 hrs before)? I’m just wondering if I need to wait to make these, if I need to feed mine to make up the require starter weight. Thanks!
Hi! You don’t have to feed it before you use it. It’s there for flavor and to use up discard! The added yeast will give you all the lift you need.
I found the recipe to be rather wet. A very very wet dough that needed at least 1 cup of extra flour. Could be the humidity level difference in wherever the author is located vs where I am. Pictures of each stage would be nice.
Hi. That’s strange because I’ve successfully made this recipe lots using these instructions. I suppose it could be humidity levels but I wonder if it’s a difference between volume measuring and weight measuring. For best results, I’d weigh the flour. Next time I make these, I’ll add some more photos to show the stages.
This is the perfect, fast go to recipe for quick, homemade rolls. We decided on burgers yesterday and had no buns. So I was able to make these in record time! Great recipe! Thank you!
I’m so glad you liked this recipe. It’s so nice to have a great, last-minute bread recipe up your sleeve!
I made these and they were super soft but they don’t look like yours at all, they are very light on top and turn out very large (im not sure if there’s a way to send you a picture. But if there is I would love to send you one so I can get some tips to try making them again. I used honey instead of sugar and made my own cream with butter and milk since I didn’t have any.
Hi! None of your substitutes jump out at me as anything that would cause major differences though I wonder about the honey/sugar substitute and how the yeast might feed on those two sweeteners differently causing your dough to rise more rapidly? If you have Instagram, follow me there and DM me your photos!
Is there a way to fridge these rolls before baking? Like fridge after shaping then bring out later to bring to temp, second rise and then bake? Thanks!
I think that would probably work; the fridge is probably going to slow down the yeast. I’m not 100% sure though (because there’s a lot of yeast in this recipe), so give it a try and let us know!
Should the sourdough starter be at room temperature?
It doesn’t need to be! The yeast is doing most of the work so the sourdough starter is just for flavor here so it doesn’t really need to warm up to activate.
Are you sure that it’s 1.5 TABLESPOONS of yeast, rather than teaspoons? That seems to be an awful lot. Way over “bakers percentages’. That’s 4.5 teaspoons. I’m going to go with 2 for now.
Yes. It’s a super fast riser so the extra yeast helps with that. I’ve made this recipe as written a dozen times and it works as written.
My didn’t turn out as fluffy as the picture? Is it the starter?
It’s probably not the starter, Kat, because the starter is really there for flavoring and not leavening (which is why there’s so much yeast.) There could be two issues that I can think of:
1) Did you use too much flour? If you used volume measurements instead of weighing, you might have added more flour and that would likely lead to a less fluffy roll.
2) Is your yeast old? If you’re yeast isn’t working to it’s full potential, it would not leaven the dough enough. If you’re yeast is on the older side, it might be time for a refresh.
This is 100% true about the yeast age, I used yeast that was only expired by 2 months, I thought “what could it hurt?” It hurt a lot!
I love this recipe, so nice to be able to throw together a quick, flavorful sammy roll – great for burgers, hot dogs, beef sandwiches and dinner rolls. When there is lots of time I always opt for sourdough only as my leavening agent, but when I want something quicker, you can’t beat this! (By the way, I made this last time with only 1 tbsp yeast and let it rest for 1 hour and it still worked perfect!)
Thank you Kerry!
Aw thank you for this comment!
Love this recipe I’ve used it twice now! I was wondering if it could be used to make a hoagie style loaf?
I’m sure you could! It’s just a matter of shaping them the way you want to; it might take a little trial and error to get them exactly the correct shape! Glad this recipe is working for you! 🙂
Can I use almond milk? I need a dairy free option.
I think almond milk would probably be fine here. Though, I’m not sure how much fat is in almond milk so it might not be as soft as rolls made with the whole milk.
Can I substitute honey for the sugar? If so, how many grams? Thank you!
Hi! I’ve never tried using honey, so I’m not sure about how the change would effect the end product. Sorry!
these turned out amazing and in so little time! I think its the abundance of commercial yeast! They were super soft and had a delicious taste and perfect texture! I’ve been in search of a perfect sourdough hamburger bun and I found it! Thank you Kerry!
I’m so glad these worked for you. It’s definitely the yeast that makes these very fast! And the starter gives them a little extra flavor.
This recipe is so quick and they turn out perfectly every time! I throw everything in my bread machine and let it run through the dough cycle for about 45 minutes, or until I see it has risen to the top, then I split it into 12 pieces. I shape 6 of them into hamburger buns and 6 into hot dog buns, cover and let rise for 20 minutes, egg wash, then bake at 350 for 20 minutes. My whole family absolutely loves them.
Oh I’m so glad this is a hit with the fam! So smart making half hamburger and half hotdog buns!
How do they hold up if baked then frozen?
I haven’t tried freezing these but I can’t see why they wouldn’t be just fine!
What size sheet pan do you use?
Hi! In this photo, I’m using a small quarter sheet pan. So anything that size or larger (like a regular cookie sheet) would work!
I tried these today but they turned out more dense and chewy than I expected. They’re ‘tough’.
Any thoughts on what I might have done to have this result?
Hmmm. There are a few things I can think of that might be the case. First, if you measured by cups vs. weighted your flour, you might have scooped too much flour which could affect the texture. You might have also under or over proofed (risen) the dough. I’m curious also if your yeast could be old and that lead to underproofed dough.