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
Nutrition
Love these crusty sourdough rolls? Check out more vegan sourdough bread recipes on Holy Cow!
Kalena
Hi! I’m wondering if I can use this recipe to make a sandwich buns. I wanted to make individual muffulettas so I don’t want the texture of hamburger buns. Can I just split this up in to say six or eight balls versus the 12?
Vaishali
Hi Kalena, you can make sandwich buns with this recipe, and yes, make six balls. I think this would work perfectly for muffulettas.
Teri
I just made these this morning, only the second sourdough recipe I tried and OMG, they are delicious! Nice and soft and crusty and such a great sourdough flavor. I will be making these again and again! Thank you for such a great EASY recipe!
Vaishali
So happy you loved them, Terry!
Rhona
Can I substitute all purpose flour for bread flour? How will that affect the outcome?
Vaishali
Should be fine. They may not be as crusty.
Lynn
So do we use just fed starter? Are starter that was fed and is ready for the next feeding?
Jen
My rolls turned out beautiful looking, but taste like straight-up beer. I didn’t realize the starter needed to be fed before using it, oops!
Vaishali
Heheh, sourdough can work in mysterious ways, which makes it all the more fun! 🙂
Joe
Hi Vaishali. Thanks so much for this recipe. Thanksgiving was my first time trying to make sourdough dinner rolls, and of the 3 recipes I made, this recipe was the favorite. I'm planning to make them again for tomorrow's Christmas dinner. I'm drawing a blank, however. Can I use SD discard or does it need to be active starter. I'm thinking I used active last time, but now I can't remember - or does it even matter? Regarding a few of the comments above, the first time I made this recipe, I did overproof it (too many hours) and they were more disc like rather than dinner rolls. Made them the next day with shorter 1st proof and they were perfect! Thanks again.
Vaishali
Hi joe, thanks for the great tip. And best to use a strong, recently fed starter for these!
Joe
Thanks! Looking forward to another batch of these delicious rolls!
Andrew
I've had really good luck using starter discard and adding somewhere between 2t and 1T of dry yeast. Its great flavor in a pinch if the starter isn't active. Its a nice cheat to get the flavor in a faster process. This recipe has become a requested favorite and fast go-to in our house. Thank you.
One other trick is upping the hydration slightly. They are a bit harder to shape, but the crumb is spectacular. We have doubled this amazing recipe & made bread bowls for soup too!
susan
Not sure what happened but my rolls didn't rise. They rose when I left them overnight, but in a warm kitchen the next day the shaped rolls did not rise at all. I slashed the tops, perhaps too late in the rising process that didn't happen. My starter was very active and I use it a lot, so I still am perplexed and caught short here on the eve of Christmas Eve dinner trying to figure out if I serve them or not.
Vaishali
Hi Susan, there can be many causes for sourdough bread not rising. It's possible that the bread overproofed during the first rise, especially if it was very warm. Or it could be that your dough was not wet enough, depending on the starter you used. Or it could be that you didn't wait long enough--depending on the weather and the strength of your starter, rise times can differ dramatically.
Caralyn
Hey! I modified this and I mixed the dough (minus salt and about a tablespoon of water), let it rest for 20-30 mins, mix in salt and remaining water by squeezing dough together.
For the first two hours, fold dough every 20-30 mins. and then once in an hour. Check proofing stage with indent test. Then divide dough into halves, tighten into two rounds, and let sit for 45 mins, then divide into 4-6 rolls per half (8-12 total yield), and gently tighten these into rounds. Let oven preheat to 500, and put dutch oven in for 15-20 mins before rolls go in at temp. Put rolls in dutch oven, score them, and place cover on. Reduce heat immediately to 450 and cook covered for 13 mins, and then uncovered until they reach desired color (for me about 13-15 minutes.
This variation has yielded consistently beautiful rolls for me.
Sheila
Wanting to try these with my refrigerated week-old fed 1:1:1 starter. Was going to do first rise overnight but after reading through comments, may try first rise early (6am) and then second rise at 4pm. Cold DC weather but seems like so many have the experience of no Sri be rise? Stay tuned....
Melanie
I just made the dough and will bake them in the morning. I would like to keep some for Christmas morning. Do they freeze well?
Vaishali
Yes they do!
Elyssa
How did shorter time work for you?
Martha
My dough doubled over night but didn’t rise on 2 hour rest. They’re tasting and chewy but they didn’t “puff” up. Any suggestions? Thanks!
Jody
I would love to try this but can you please advise on what are the proportions used for your starter? what amount starter to water to flour please? is it 1:1:1? or 1:2:2? thanks
Dave
Tried twice... both times rolls are more disk-like than rolls. They dont seem to rise again after punch down in the am. Any tips? Shorter first rise perhaps? Great flavor but no rise! Thx
Vaishali
Hi Dave, yes, try a shorter first rise. It's possible that the dough is overproofing during the first rise. Also use a starter that's been recently fed--up to 8 hours ago.
dave
Thanks I'll try again with shorter rise... first time i let it go 12 hours or so and they were disks. 2nd time I rose first for 8 hours and they were great texture and taste but still about half round. I'll try a 4-5 hour first rise. Starter is well fed and making great 1 rise boules, maybe it's just a fast riser...
Sherri G
I have a question about your sourdough rolls. Trouble figuring out the hydration level. My starter was 1/4 c to 1/4 c. Your sourdough starter was 1 c flour to 3/4 c water. How do I adjust your recipe?
Omega Kyte
Your web site is just one of my top features for useful tips. Thanks for sharing
Vaishali
Thanks so much!
Lesa
Hi... I just found your site and I’m starting my “starter” today with the hopes of serving for Thanksgiving. My question is, can I make 24 rolls (double batch) easily? Can I cook the day before and warm them... just worried I won’t have the oven space and or the time before the big feast. I have never made bread before that didn’t come in a box, but I do a ton of home cooking... is this over my head?
Vaishali
Hi Lesa, yes, you can easily double the batch by doubling ingredients. And yes, you can cook them the day before and warm them before serving. If you are a new baker I'd say start out with something simpler than a sourdough bread--one of the wonderful things about sourdough is its unpredictability, which can be a source of joy for someone used to sourdough baking but it can be bewildering to a new sourdough baker. If you absolutely want to make these for your guests, do a test run first with a smaller batch. If you're looking for a great non-sourdough bread recipe to impress guests with, you can't go wrong with these crescent rolls.
kathty
Can these be frozen after shaping and before baking? I bake sourdough loaves at least twice a week, and sourdough biscuits that I make from discard. I mix, cut , and freeze them airtight and bake when wanted. They always turn out great, can I do that with these?
Vaishali
Yes, certainly.
Shari
Should I freeze the small balls of dough before or after the second rise?
Julia
I have made these twice now. Very easy and they come out great. I added dill to the second batch and oatmeal for a different texture.
christelle
Hi Julia, how many hours do you let them proof overnight?
Barbara Curren
Hi there. My rolls didn't brown very much. A bit pale, but they are done, anymore and they would be rocks. What would cause them not to brown enough? I assume the denseness is not enough hydration? Can you post a video of what the dough should look like?
Anonymous
I've made these weekly now for a few weeks and they're delicious and super forgiving. I'm new to sour dough baking and living in the south with 90 to 100 degree temperatures, I couldn't commit to the duration of oven time for a sour dough loaf of bread...will try that in the cooler weather this fall. I use a 12 ct muffin tin to bake these in with a 12 ct muffin tin below it with hot water to provide some steam.
Janice
Can I use AP flour instead of bread flour?
Vaishali
Yes!
Jennie
They came out great!! Very simple recipe, but lets the flavor of your starter shine
Like Rochelle, my rolls spread kind of wide when they were rising, but once I popped them in the oven they poofed right up.
I only cooked my for about 25 minutes then let them cool completely- the one I ate right of the oven was pretty tasty though.
Admittedly I gave mine an egg wash (I'm a non-vegan) which gave them a beautiful golden brown glow. I believe there are other vegan alternatives that will give the same effect (read soy powder and water?)
Rochelle
I have a starter that takes 10 hours to peak. My dough doubled overnight but when I shaped the rolls and let them proof for 3 hours they spread wider instead of rising. Is this because of my starter or something to do with hydration?
Stephanie
My anniversary was tonight and I couldn’t do an overnight...but since it’s SO HOT out and I was in a pickle, I went for it! Used fed starter, super bubbly, but same quantity. I only let it rise for a few hours, and I did some cool folds periodically...then I formed the rolls. Super sticky, but I Floured my hands and made 12 and formed them almost like little loaves (smooth tight top, pinched bottom together - I put chopped up jalapeños in half of them). I Placed them in an olive-oiled muffin tin let them rise again 2 hours, and then I split the tops, out olive oil and everything bagel seasoning on the non-jalapeño ones...baked at 425 for 25 minutes IN THE TIN and the rose and browned beautifully. They were amazing. I’m thrilled! Next time I’ll put in fridge overnight, but they were super flavorful and popular. Wish I could add a pic!!
Vaishali
So great to hear, Stephanie! Happy they turned out great for you.