I love my no-knead recipe for crusty sourdough dinner rolls but for those of you who prefer a softer crust, here is how to make soft sourdough rolls. They need no added yeast, just a well-fed sourdough starter. Serve them for breakfast, lunch or dinner. They are particularly great for the holidays!
If you are a lover of fluffy vegan dinner rolls, these pillow-soft sourdough rolls are sure to become a dinnertime favorite.
I've loved baking with sourdough for as long as I can remember, but in past years I found it challenging to keep my sourdough starter alive and as a result I'd end up discarding batches after long periods of neglect. All that changed the more I learned about sourdough and how it is not easy to actually kill the starter. Even if you've neglected it for a bit, it's possible to bring it back to life so long as it isn't moldy.
This bread roll needs a well-fed, active starter, so be sure to use one you that is ripe and has been fed up to six hours before you start making the bread dough.
Top tips
- Feed the sourdough starter the night before or the morning of -- at least six hours before you start making the dough.
- For the perfect crust you need aquafaba (chickpea brine) in this recipe, and a nondairy milk, to add softness and lightness. I use almond milk, but you can certainly use any other non-dairy milk if you'd rather be nut-free.
- I use unbleached all purpose flour for these rolls. Sourdough keeps this bread healthy, by digesting complex starches before you put the bread in your tummy. But if you want to make them healthier, you can sub half the flour with whole wheat.
- Because we are making the rolls without any added yeast, the rise time for these rolls is on the higher side, about four hours for each of two rises. You can also do an overnight rise for the first rise, in the refrigerator.
- If you want your bread to rise faster, add some yeast to the recipe -- one and a half teaspoons of active dry yeast should do the trick. If using yeast, mix it with the nondairy milk first and make sure it blooms.
- The proportion of nondairy milk in this recipe works perfectly for me, and I add in all the ingredients all at once to the bowl and then mix. But bread dough tends to behave differently in different climates. So if you'd rather, you can mix all the ingredients except the milk first and then drizzle in the milk until you get a smooth dough. You may need more milk if you're working in an especially dry climate.
- You don't need to knead this dough much -- just enough to make it soft and smooth and pliable. You can do this in a stand mixer or by hand.
- This recipe makes 12 sourdough rolls. You can bake them in two round cake tins or in a rectangular 12 by 13 baking pan.
- These bread rolls need to cool in the pan for at least 20 minutes after baking, and you can then remove them from the pan and continue cooling them on a rack. It is not hard to get them out of a well-oiled pan, but you might need to help them with a spatula. Otherwise, sprinkle on some cornmeal on the baking pan before you place the rolls in it, which should make unmolding them a breeze.
Ingredients
- Sourdough starter. I use a starter with a 1:¾ ratio of flour to water.
- Unbleached all purpose flour. You can use bread flour, but all purpose will give you less crusty rolls.
- Aquafaba (chickpea brine). This and the milk give the rolls the soft crust.
- Sugar. Just a little, to help feed the sourdough.
- Vegetable oil
- Non-dairy milk. Use any non-dairy milk of choice.
More sourdough recipes
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Recipe card
Soft Sourdough Rolls
Ingredients
- ½ cup sourdough starter (recently fed)
- 2 ½ cups unbleached all purpose flour
- ¼ cup aquafaba (chickpea brine)
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt (can adjust to your taste)
- 2 tablespoon sugar
- 6 tablespoon avocado oil or any neutral oil
- ½ cup nondairy milk (I used almond, but use any nondairy milk of your choice)
Instructions
- Place all the ingredients except the nondairy milk in a bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Drizzle in the milk as needed until the dough comes together. Knead it just until it's soft and pliable and smooth.
- Form the dough into a smooth ball and place in a bowl to rise, turning over the dough once to coat the top with the oil. Cover the bowl with a tight lid or cling wrap and let stand in a warm place for four hours or overnight in the refrigerator, until the dough has doubled. This dough won't rise as fast or as much as a bread dough with added yeast would, but that's fine.
- If you placed your dough in the refrigerator, and it hasn't doubled overnight, let it stand in a warm place in your kitchen until it does.
- Knead the risen dough, and divide into 12 portions. Shape each into a smooth ball by stretching the dough and tucking the sides underneath. Place in a well-oiled 13 X 9 inch baking pan. The rolls won't touch at this point but that's okay because they will as they rise and bake.
- Cover the pan with a kitchen towel and place in a warm spot, like the oven with just the pilot light turned on, for four hours or until they are all puffy and are touching each other.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (make sure you remove the rolls from the oven if they are rising in there while the oven preheats)
- Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake 30 minutes until the rolls are golden-brown on top. Let them stand on a rack 20 minutes, then remove from the rack and continue cooling.
Nutrition Information
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Tiffnee says
I made these for thanksgiving. I’m not vegan but dairy free so I swapped the Aquafaba for an egg. The best rolls I’ve ever had. I made them with discard so they did take a bit longer to rise. But over all so good, probably one of the best rolls I’ve ever made
Sherry says
I have a whole wheat starter and I am not getting a light fluffy roll mine are more like a biscuit. My starter is established and strong.
I’m doing everything exactly as you. Am I not kneading long enough when I mix my ingredients? I’m fixing to make my third batch because I really want these to work. I also subbed out half for wheat flour the second time I made them.(the first time I didn’t) They are delicious but I want the light pillow soft roll you show in the picture.
Also it’s taking forever for them to rise (15+ hours) and they didn’t double either time. I just ended up doing the poke test and cooking them. Could it be my starter because it’s whole wheat?
I’m at a loss. Please help
Vaishali says
Hi Sherry, are you using the milk instead of water? That should make these soft. The dough not rising is purely because of the sourdough starter- maybe it's cold where you are? You don't need to knead these much. Also don't sub with whole wheat flour until you have mastered these rolls, because that will make a big difference to the rise - whole wheat doesn't have as much gluten as all purpose flour. Are the rolls rising further in the oven? They should, even if they don't double during the second rise. Also make sure you follow rise times accurately - it is okay to put the rolls in the oven even if they haven't doubled after the second rise because if the starter is strong they will get an "oven spring".
Anonymous says
Yes I am using milk (oat milk)but it’s cold when I put it in. (I’m going to try again and warm the milk). It’s about 70 in my house.
This first time I made these was with all all purpose flour. They did the same thing. My dough is dense and after 15+ hours they did not double. Are you saying only let them rise 4 hours?
The dough just mainly relaxed and spread in the bowl not much of rise at all for the first rise. When I went ahead with them and made the rolls they didn’t double even when cooked.
I am also letting them rise in the oven with the light on.
Another thing I’m doing it I’ve been strengthening my starter the last few days. It is established and it was doubling but it had been asleep for a while.