Soft, fluffy bread rolls made with whole wheat, sourdough starter, and a touch of maple syrup. These are perfect for burgers or just as a dinner roll.
I wanted to make bread rolls this past weekend, and the recipe I came up with sounded like a winner before I had even started: Maple Sourdough Rolls. And here's the clincher: it's partly whole-wheat and wholesome with the nutty goodness of flax.
Maple and sourdough might sound like a strange combination, but these rolls are neither sour, nor do they taste cloyingly sweet. They have just the lightest kiss of maple flavor and the sourdough is only there to help make these rolls tender and give them a great rise. You won't taste it at all.
This recipe makes a lot of rolls-- 24-- so they are great if you are expecting guests -- or an army-- to feed. I shaped them in a spiral for a little cuteness, but you can just roll them into smooth rounds or in crescents.
They would also make great slider buns-- halve the size of the rolls and you'd get 48 slider buns out of this recipe.
More sourdough bread recipes
- Sourdough English Muffins
- Vegan Sourdough Biscuits
- Crusty Sourdough Dinner Rolls
- No Knead Sourdough Bread
- Soft Sourdough Rolls
Whole-Wheat Maple Sourdough Rolls
Ingredients
- 2¼ teaspoon active dry yeast
- 2 ½ cups warm water
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup flaxmeal
- 1 cup sourdough starter
- 3 cups whole-wheat flour
- 3-4 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Mix the yeast, maple syrup and warm water in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Let it stand 10 minutes or until the yeast starts to froth.
- Add 1 cup of whole-wheat flour and 1 cup of all-purpose flour. Mix and let stand for about 15 minutes.
- Add the sourdough, flaxmeal, salt, oil, and baking soda. Add the flour, a cup at a time, alternating the whole-wheat and all-purpose flours, until the dough is no longer sticky.
- Continue to knead for eight minutes on medium speed or by hand. Shape the dough into a smooth ball and place in a large, oiled bowl for an hour or until doubled in size.
- Punch down the dough and divide it into 24 pieces. At this point you can shape the rolls any way you want to. I rolled each roll into a long cylinder, rolled it, and then tucked the end underneath. But you can shape them into burger buns or crescents.
- Let the rolls rise about an hour or until they have doubled in size. Preheat an oven to 370 degrees.
- Bake the rolls for 23 minutes until golden-brown. Remove them to a rack and let cool for another 10 minutes. Remove the rolls from the baking sheet and continue cooling them on a rack.
- These taste great warm from the oven, but you can also freshen them up later by popping in an oven for a couple of minutes.
Vera Stepenski
The rolls turned out to be great, I made 21 rolls 100g each. I shaped them and left them overnight in the fridge, baked straight from the fridge in the morning.
The only request to the author is to please provide measurements in grams, not in cups. Cups are highly inaccurate...and require too many containers to measure and then wash. I'm an experienced baker, but measuring in cups caused me anxiety about the outcome.
Joann
First of all thank you so much for your inspiring recipes! Considering that in these troubled times I cannot find instant yeast in the shops, is it possible to omit it completely?
Vaishali
Yes, but the rise times will prob be much longer. Just let it rise until the dough doubles, should take prob four hours or thereabouts.
Galina Dubova
I wonder if the active yeast can be left out from the recipe at all thinking of all those benefits of a sourdough starter? Some sources also mention that sourdough starter is a healthier version of active yeast. I've just started experimenting with sourdough starter and found your recipes very inspiring. Thank you 🙂
Denise
Hi,
I am in the process of making the starter as you explained, being on day 5. Thank you for writing out easy instructions, on some sites it sounds so complicated. Would it work to use instant yeast in this recipe, and if so, can you tell me how?
Thank you for all the awesome sourdough recipes on your site. I have so many of them saved up but this would be my first one for Canadian thanksgiving.
Blessons!
Vaishali
Reduce to 2 tsp instant yeast and add along with the flours. You don't need to let the yeast stand.
Winnie
A question regarding your sourdough starter, is it a stiffer starter or more liquid one? I have two starters, a 100% hydration (equal amounts water and flour) and a 50% hydration (half as much water by weight as flour). The 100% hydration is about the same thickness as pancake batter and the 50% hydration is about like bread dough for thickness. Just wondering which one most likely compares to yours. Thanks so much.
Vaishali Honawar
Hi Winnie, mine is like pancake batter. Cheers.
jodye @ chocolate and chou fleur
I'd love to make my own sourdough, but I supposed I'd need a starter first! The addition of maple here sounds fantastic! I'll have to find time to make these!
Tiffany
I just came across you site and am so glad that I did. Your bread recipes look especially amazing. I have been missing crescent rolls for a while. I will have to give it a go.
Kumudha
Your work-place sounds so much fun!
Those rolls look so YUM!
Mints!
My office is extremely dog friendly and my current team has almost 4-5 dogs who come to office on a very regular basis. One of which was from 'Raise a puppy' program and just left for puppy college.
It makes stressful environment very pleasant to work in. Most of my coworkers have dog treats at the desk and dogs do know who have the best treats 🙂 and they tend to go and beg for more 😀 One of them was sitting here at my desk few minutes ago 🙂 Of course owners know that we have treats and they are okay with that.
I look forward to playing with them. We do take care of dogs when owners have to go to different buildings for meetings.
Chitz
Sourdough is something new to me.. They look soo inviting, that I feel I shud bake this soon !
Manasi
I wish they had an office environment like that when I was working in India.. would have made it so relaxing and fun.
Those rolls look so soft and wonderful. I wish you were my neighbor!
Vaishali Honawar
Would love to have you for a neighbor, Manasi! 🙂
maesti
I am in the middle of making these (and don't need an urgent response!!) but realized that going through the directions no mention is made of when to add the oil.
I had just finished the kneading process and so I added the oil to the kneaded dough a bit at a time until it was all absorbed.. think it would have been easier I guess if the oil was added with the sour dough etc. But in case you would like to update the directions... :).
Will be eating these for supper tonight with a nice bowl of veggie soup - we are the middle of winter here in South Africa!
Vaishali Honawar
Maesti, I add the oil with the flax and other ingredients-- I've added it to the recipe now. You should have been fine adding the oil when you did. A bowl of veggie soup sounds wonderful. Stay warm!
maesti
They turned out great! Just finished supper and the rolls were totally delicious!! Thanks for the recipe :).
Vaishali Honawar
Maesti, that's lovely! So happy you tried these.
Priya Suresh
Never baked with sourdough,rolls looks stunning..
Vaishali Honawar
Hi Priya, Sourdough changed my outlook on breadmaking.
Mel
What a perfect work environment you have! It must be lovely to be in the presence of like minded people as well as the furry friends. I've been fortunate to be working from home for the past 3 years so I have my cat Monty visiting me in the study throughout the day and Ollie to take for a walk on my lunch break. I don't think Ollie would handle being in an office environment - he has so much energy during the day!
Your rolls look amazing - maple syrup and sourdough sounds like an interesting combination.
Vaishali Honawar
Thanks, Mel. Monty and Ollie sound so adorable. Must be nice for them too to have you around working from home.
Karen Faivre
Those rolls looks super delisioso! We don't bring our pets to work but keep dog biscuits at the counter for when our customers bring their dogs in (which we encourage). We do have pictures of our cats on the wall.
Vaishali Honawar
Karen, that sounds like a fun work environment. And my office is plastered with photos of my kids. 🙂
Vaishali Honawar
Hi Nupur, they definitely make the office a better place to be in. 🙂 I just realized the other day that I never spend a moment too far from a cat or dog-- and I feel perfectly blessed for that.
Nupur
I'm smiling thinking of having a furry friend to snuggle with as I sit in my chilly cubicle! My workplace is animal-friendly per se, although I've seen pets being brought to offices on occasion, and we are across the street from a vet school so there are cute pets all over the place.
I wish we had an official policy that we could bring pets in on Fridays, say. A nice balance between enjoying pets and being distracted by them.