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Home » Sandwiches » Sourdough Sandwich Rolls
April 19, 2021 by Kerry

Sourdough Sandwich Rolls

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Sourdough Sandwich Rolls | A Perfect Sourdough Discard Recipe
Sourdough Sandwich Rolls | A Perfect Sourdough Discard Recipe
Sourdough Sandwich Rolls | A Perfect Sourdough Discard Recipe

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
Our Sourdough Starter--Rosie, the Queen of Corona
Our Sourdough Starter–Rosie, the Queen of Corona

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 | A Perfect Sourdough Discard Recipe
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4.41 from 5 votes

Sourdough Sandwich Rolls

Sourdough sandwich rolls are a perfect, easy home-baked sandwich roll or hamburger bun. They rise fast with a combination of sourdough discard and instant yeast. You can have a batch of buns ready within 90 minutes!
Course Bread
Cuisine American
Keyword Baking, Bread, Quick & Easy, Sourdough
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes
Servings 6

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.)
    Shaping Sourdough Sandwich Rolls
  • 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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Category: Appetizers & Snacks, SandwichesTag: Baking, Bread, Quick & Easy, Sourdough
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sean the Taster

    April 19, 2021 at 4:53 pm

    5 stars
    These rolls continually impress me both on flavor and how quickly you can go from raw ingredients to having rolls ready to go.

    Reply
  2. Doughnut

    April 22, 2021 at 5:45 am

    4 stars
    You don’t mention the hydration of your starter. Makes a difference in the overall recipe.

    Reply
    • Kerry

      April 22, 2021 at 2:49 pm

      Oh. Good point. We just have a very basic starter at 100% hydration. Thanks for the reminder! I’ll update that in the recipe.

      Reply
      • Elizabeth

        January 25, 2023 at 2:48 pm

        I’m having trouble printing this recipe. Is there a trick to printing this recipe? I’ve tried printing from different devices. Thanks!

        Reply
        • Kerry

          February 6, 2023 at 5:30 pm

          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!

          Reply
  3. R

    July 29, 2021 at 11:08 am

    5 stars
    Great friggin recipe

    Reply
    • Kerry

      July 29, 2021 at 2:44 pm

      Great friggin’ comment (truly, thank you!) 🙂

      Reply
      • Kevin

        June 7, 2022 at 5:54 pm

        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!

        Reply
        • Kerry

          June 7, 2022 at 5:59 pm

          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.

          Reply
          • Leah

            June 13, 2022 at 2:42 pm

            3 stars
            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.

          • Kerry

            June 13, 2022 at 7:46 pm

            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.

  4. Cassy

    February 10, 2022 at 2:40 pm

    5 stars
    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!

    Reply
    • Kerry

      February 10, 2022 at 3:43 pm

      I’m so glad you liked this recipe. It’s so nice to have a great, last-minute bread recipe up your sleeve!

      Reply
  5. nunu

    July 10, 2022 at 6:44 am

    Should the sourdough starter be at room temperature?

    Reply
    • Kerry

      July 11, 2022 at 4:48 pm

      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.

      Reply
  6. Tucson

    January 8, 2023 at 8:56 pm

    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.

    Reply
    • Kerry

      January 8, 2023 at 9:06 pm

      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.

      Reply

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Hi! I’m Kerry, a life-long food and cooking enthusiast. I’m drawn to bold flavors, global ingredients, and recipes with a little twist. Welcome to my kitchen!

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