These Crusty Sourdough Dinner Rolls are amazing. They are perfectly crusty without being tough, and the crumb is soft and fluffy. Best of all, they are no-knead! Tear one apart to dunk into soup or stew, or use it to cradle a veggie burger. Or just slather on some vegan butter and take a bite. A vegan, soy-free and nut-free recipe.
My sourdough starter had been sitting for a while in the refrigerator because it's been crazy-busy at work these past few weeks, and I have had no time to bake bread. So when I pulled the starter out to take a look at it this week I was a little worried. It was rather dry, but otherwise looked okay.
Warm weather is a good time to get anything yeasted going, and once I'd poured some distilled water into the dry starter and gotten it back to workable consistency, I was pretty confident that the unfed starter would make some great, crusty sourdough dinner rolls.
These sourdough dinner rolls are incredibly simple: you need three ingredients, really -- salt, sourdough, and flour. And since sourdough is just flour and water, make that two ingredients. There is an overnight rise involved, so that you get amazingly flavorful rolls, but other than that you don't need to do much work or any heavy-duty kneading. Mix your ingredients, punch down the dough and shape after the first rise, and bake after the second rise. Easy peasy.
There is no need to add any yeast to this recipe. The yeast in the sourdough is quite enough, thank you. Be careful when you score the rolls after the second rise-- this is the only part of this recipe that requires some care, or you could deflate your rolls. I use a serrated knife and I've seen others use razor blades. Whatever you use, make sure it is sharp.
On to the Crusty Sourdough Dinner Rolls now. If you make them, be sure to let me know.
Looking for more vegan sourdough recipes made with a sourdough starter?
- No-knead Sourdough Bread
- The Best Sourdough Sandwich Bread, no yeast
- Vegan Sourdough Biscuits
- Vegan Sourdough English Muffins
Crusty Sourdough Dinner Rolls, No Knead, No Added Yeast
Crusty Sourdough Dinner Rolls, no-knead and no added yeast
Ingredients
- 3 ½ cups bread flour
- 1 ¼ cups warm filtered or distilled water
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup sourdough starter (made using my recipe-- link below. If using sourdough with a different hydration, you will need to adjust the amount of water)
Instructions
- Place all the ingredients in a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix until a consistent dough forms.
- Cover with cling wrap or a tight lid and let it stand overnight on the countertop, if warm, or in a cold oven with the light on.
- In the morning, punch down the dough and shape the dough into 12 equal-sized balls. Use flour on your palms to roll, if the dough feels sticky. Place the rolls 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Sprinkle some flour on top of the rolls, cover with a kitchen towel, and set aside to rise for 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 425° F.
- When the rolls have risen, score the top of each roll using a sharp knife. Make the cut fast, to prevent the roll from deflating. Scoring gives the gases that form in the bread escape while baking and helps the rolls rise.
- Place the rolls in the hot oven and bake 25-28 minutes or until the rolls are a light golden-brown. Remove from the oven and continue cooling on a rack.
Recipe notes
Love these crusty sourdough rolls? Check out more vegan sourdough bread recipes on Holy Cow!
LEAH
Hi its not my first time doing it and it is delicious we all love it!!!! Can I freeze it after baked??
Wendy
Hi! I’ve made your no knead sourdough bread and it is so yummy! I want to make these rolls and wondered if I could freeze the dough after the overnight rise and do the 2 hour rise when thawed and ready to bake at a later date?
Thank you!
Vaishali
Yes, that's fine!
Sylvia
Thanks Lorrie I will try these buns
Mina
Hi! I'm a newbie to bake with starter. Thanks for sharing your recipes, my question is if I can use all purpose flour instead of bread flour (since I can't find at stores yet) thanks!
Vaishali
Yes!
Mina
Thank you so much for replying!! I'll go ahead and give it a try.?
Anonymous
I bake alot and also can't find bread flour anymore, but I did find a huge bag of vital gluten at a reasonable price on Amazon. You can add a tbs of that for every 2-3 cups of AP flour and make your own bread flour. If you end up with a 4lb bag like me, you can also try your hand at making seitan from the gluten.
Karla
Hi! I'm a newbie to bake with starter. Thanks for sharing your recipes, my question is if I can use all purpose flour instead of bread flour (since I can't find at stores yet) thanks!
Vaishali
Yes, absolutely.
Camille Shelton
My rolls are a little dense. Wondering if the starter should have been used right after feeding, or if it should have been the discarded portion? I did the discard, assuming that was standard, and it’s still dense.
Vaishali
You need a well fed starter for this one--discard won't have the strength needed to give the rolls a good rise.
Kacey
Hello! I was hoping to do a cold proof for the 2nd rising (you offer 2 hours as sufficient). How long would a cold proof need to be for that rising?
Vaishali
About eight hours.
Becky Paris
Greetings from NZ. I made these yesterday and although the centers are perfectly acceptable, my ‘crusty’ crust was hard. Someone mentioned in an earlier comment (that I now can’t find ?) about their crust being hard and the bottoms split. Bingo, that’s my experience. I didn’t knead the dough much at the beginning (maybe not enough but I am new to sourdough and I have read a lot about ‘light’ handling). Thank you.
Vaishali
Did you slash the rolls on top. That should prevent the bottoms from splitting. The gases in the sourdough need an outlet when they are in the oven.
Anonymous
Do they freeze well?
Vaishali
Yes!
Norm
Thanks for this recipe. They turn out great. For those that may feel that they burn the bread easily I put another pan underneath with water to allow for steam and keep moisture. Worked great. FYI I did leave that water pan as I heated the oven to give an initial steam.
Vaishali
Great feedback, thanks!
Stefany Mohebban
My starter is consistent of half a cup of water, and a little over 3/4 cup of flour... how do I adjust the recipe (amount of water) to match my starter?
Robbert
Great recipe! Made a few minor adjustments. Added more flour until the dough wasn't sticky anymore. Made 8 buns and baked in 2 batches for 20 minutes each. Thanks!
Vaishali
Great to hear it worked for you! Do keep in mind that if you add too much flour your rolls could turn out dense--you need more hydration for an airier roll.
Anonymous
Can this be done in a cooker. I don't have an oven. Can we add little sugar to thus. Thank you.
Ashley Vaksdal
So delicious, no problem with them rising nor being too gooey HOWEVER... Both batches I have made burn on the bottom... I moved the oven rack up to see if that helped but it didn't... Any tips or thoughts?
Thanks for the wonderful recipe!!.
Vaishali
Hi Ashley, ovens are temperamental and it's possible yours is heating too much. Always bake the bread in the middle rack. You could try reducing the oven temp to 375 for the last 10 minutes.
Darlene
What do you consider a hot oven. I did not see a bake at temperature
Vaishali
It's in step 5--425 degrees F
Jimmy
A few other tips you could try:
1) place an additional oven rack in the slot directly underneath the rack you are cooking your rolls on; then place a baking pan (or two together) on that rack to deflect some of that heat from underneath you baking pan.
2) use multiple layers of parchment paper and/or coat that bottom of the pan with coarse cornmeal — if you don’t want that rolls to have the cornmeal baked in (put it under a layer of parchment)
Joan
Try putting corn meal on the bottom of pan then a piece of parchment paper put your rolls on that and give it a try. Get a thermometer for your oven to make sure it’s heating to the right temperature. If not and depends on your oven you might need to calibrate it to the right temp .
Tami
I made these for Easter dinner. I think my starter hydration is higher, as the dough was very wet and needed more structure. Although they came out a little flat, I will make again and adjust the flour, as they were delicious!!
INGRID VAN DER HEIJDEN
Mine came out amazingly with my starter, but as above were a bit flat. The crust and texture is astounding, thanks!
Tammy
I love finding no knead recipes!
I proofed mine in the IP, which is 4 hours on the yogurt setting. So I started around 8:30 am, and they were ready for 3 pm Easter dinner. Followed the rest as stated, and delicious! Loved the crust.
eof
What proofing temperatures would you advise?
Dominique
my overnight dough resembles slime- what went wrong?!!
Vaishali
Your starter could have had too much hydration or you didn't knead long enough.
Lia
I had a similar problem, it was probably a combination of higher hydration and not enough mixing/kneading. If you could edit the recipe to have a little more detail on what a "consistent dough" looks and feels like that would be super helpful to know whether flour amount needs to be adjusted. Thanks!
eclecticdeb
Most likely it's over-proofed. Depending on the temperature in your house, overnight may be too long if it sits out on the counter.