Same-day Crusty Sourdough Rolls using 100% sourdough starter and freshly ground whole wheat. These simple bread rolls are really easy to make! This recipe yields soft and chewy rolls perfect for dinner or sandwiches. My family devours these rolls!
Homemade Sourdough Rolls
These Sourdough rolls are the perfect round individual loaves of bread for eating with a Spaghetti Meat Sauce dinner or making delicious sandwiches. They also go great as a side to anything like soup, hamburgers, and anywhere else you’d like a chewy and crisp piece of bread. I love that these homemade sourdough rolls are made without commercial yeast and all whole grains!
You might think sourdough is hard, and I get it; patiently waiting for the wild yeast to do its job can take a little longer, but it’s not as complicated as it seems.
Same-day sourdough bread recipes are a great start for beginners, and this recipe is just that! When working with a live and active starter, fermenting the grains takes much faster. This speeds up the process of naturally rising the bread, which is key for things to get going.
You could also ferment these sourdough rolls overnight in the fridge for longer fermentation and more gut health. Remember that these hard rolls might have a tangier taste the longer they cold ferment.
My Baking Schedule as a Busy Mom:
I like to whip up the dough around lunch and have the rolls ready for dinner on the same day. This recipe is so easy! I also like having a sourdough baking day, where I whip up all my favorite recipes every week and freeze them for later use. So, usually, I’ll take out my starter from the fridge and feed it early in the morning. When my starter is active at noon, I’ll make all of my bread for the day. Usually, it’s my Whole Wheat Sourdough Sandwich Loaves and whatever other breads I have going.
Benefits of Sourdough
Phytic acid is found in grain kernels and breaks down during the fermentation process of sourdough. If you are milling grain, all phytates and phytic acid are present. Breaking down the phytic acid with lactic acid fermentation makes the nutrients more bio-available and helps increase digestibility. It is best to get into sourdough baking if you make a lot of whole-grain recipes!
Sourdough Rolls Ingredients:
Home-milled flour is quick and easy to make using an electric grain mill. I like to weigh the grains using a kitchen scale. Another handy tool for baking sourdough bread is a heavy-duty mixer to work the gluten out beforehand. These sourdough bread rolls require some kneading, but then you don’t have to do stretch-and-folds later; it’s super easy!
- Active Sourdough Starter- I like to feed my starter the morning of baking. Make sure it is active and bubbly.
- Whole Wheat Flour—Fresh milled whole grain is a favorite! I also like to use hard white wheat berries for a mild wheat-flavored bread.
- Water- filtered and warm.
- Honey—My husband is a beekeeper, so we enjoy raw honey. Instead, you can use granulated cane sugar or maple syrup.
- Salt- a good quality sea salt is ideal. I purchased mine from Azure Standard.
How To Make Sourdough Rolls:
This Sourdough rolls recipe is much chewier and crustier than sourdough dinner rolls. Consider a chewy Kaiser roll if you want to use them for hamburger rolls. These are very simple to make and similar to yeast sandwich rolls minus the commercial yeast.
- Hydrate the whole wheat flour by combining the active starter, water, and honey in a mixer bowl and letting it stand for 30 minutes. This Autolyse step is crucial when working with whole grain recipes, as it soaks the grains, allowing the dough to come together nicely.
- Add the salt and knead for 15 minutes over low using a dough hook attachment.
- The dough will look tacky and stretchy. Cover with a beeswax wrap or cloth and let it rest until doubled, about 90 minutes. I like to set the bowl before a sunny window to get things going.
- Transfer dough onto a silicone pastry mat, requiring no additional flour. Divide dough into eight wedges and form into balls.
- Line an 18x13 sheet pan with parchment paper and dust it with cornmeal. Place the balls of dough over the cornmeal-dusted pan.
- Rub the tops with flour and slash across the tops using a razor blade.
- Allow rolls to rise until doubled and puffy (about one hour).
- Meanwhile, place a 13×9 pan filled with 1 inch of hot tap water onto the bottom rack of the oven. Preheat the oven to 450°F. This creates steam in the oven and helps with a chewy crust.
- Bake rolls for 15-17 minutes, until golden brown.
Storing Whole Wheat Sourdough Rolls:
Whole wheat sourdough rolls are best fresh out of the oven. To retain that crispiness, you can slightly par-bake and freeze them once cool. I usually bake them regularly, cool them, and freeze them on the baking day, as they keep fresh this way. They are delicious, thawed from the freezer, and very chewy cold. Keep stored in a bread bag or Zip-Loc at room temperature for up to 3 days.
What Goes With Crusty Sourdough Rolls:
Sourdough rolls from the starter and steam effect create an incredible crust in these rolls. The chewy texture in these rolls reminds me of delicious breadsticks, hoagie rolls, ciabatta bread, or any hard roll sold at a bakery. Chewy and crusty bread makes a delightful side or starter before a meal. You could enjoy it plain or smeared with butter. Here are serving ideas;
- Serve with a side of Creamy Alfredo Pasta or Ravioli
- Place rolls in a bread basket lined with a kitchen towel and serve it with softened butter and Jam. This makes a great appetizer for a crowd!
- Turn these into hamburger buns by placing a patty inside or top with your favorite deli meats to make a sandwich. Open-faced pizzas are always a great way to use up leftovers.
- Make an Olive Oil Dipping Sauce to dip into.
- Turn leftovers into bread crumbs or croutons by drying them in the oven.
Tips for Making Homemade Sourdough Rolls Using Freshly Milled Wheat:
- If refrigerating, allow the dough to rise for 1-2 hours after kneading and put it in the fridge for cold fermentation.
- This recipe works best with a fed starter. Feed your starter in the early morning to make the bread dough at noon. I usually feed mine around 6:00 AM and start the dough around lunch.
- Don’t over-ferment rolls at room temperature! If they sit too long on the counter (usually past 8 hours), the dough can release a liquid called lactic acid and become a sloppy mess to work with later. I also find the rolls to flatten out when they have overrisen.
- I feed my sourdough starter with King Arthur flour. Using unbleached bread flour strengthens my starter.
- This dough is wetter than some sourdough yeast rolls, making it exceptionally soft and chewy!
- Using a pastry mat is so handy for most of my sourdough breads. It allows you to skip the flouring step and makes a super soft crumb in bread.
- Bake these the same day for quick and easy sourdough rolls. Begin your dough in the morning to get a head start, and finish it in the evening. This is best if you don’t like tangy bread.
- If using a discard starter, you may want to add additional yeast to get things going.
- Shape these into ciabatta or sub rolls! These would make fantastic soup bread bowls too!
- Use a hard wheat variety for proper gluten development.
More Sourdough Recipes Using Freshly Milled Flour:
Try our soft focaccia pizza dough recipe or my crescent rolls breakfast pockets, we love to make freshly milled flour recipes delicious!
Sourdough Rolls with Freshly Milled Flour
Equipment
- 1 Heavy-duty Mixer (I use a Kitchen-aid)
- 1 large silicone pastry mat (for shaping)
- 1 18x13" sheet pan
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 260 grams active sourdough starter (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 200 ml warm water
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 1/2 tsp sea salt
Instructions
Directions:
Combine the starter, freshly milled wheat flour, water, and honey in the stand mixer bowl. Let it rest for 30 minutes.- Add the salt and knead for 15 minutes over low speed. The dough will be tacky.
- Let dough rise until doubled (about one hour).
- Divide dough into eight wedges and form into balls. Use a pastry mat; no flour is needed for shaping.
- Place the dough balls onto a parchment-lined sheet pan dusted with cornmeal. Rub the tops with flour and slash across with a razor blade or knife. Rise for another hour or until doubled.
- Preheat the oven to 450°F. Place a 13x9 pan filled with 1 inch of hot tap water onto the bottom rack of the oven and let heat up with the oven.
- Bake rolls for 15 minutes.
Notes
- For longer fermentation, place the dough in the fridge one hour after the first rise. This dough can be kept in the fridge for up to three days.
- Don't over-ferment the dough; this dough rises exceptionally fast.
- You can mix and match any hard wheat variety. If you wish to add a lower-gluten grain like Spelt or soft wheat, add about one-fourth of a part.
- For soup bread bowls, divide dough into four balls and bake in small Dutch oven pots.
