Soft Sourdough Dinner Rolls Recipe

A simple overnight recipe for making soft and fluffy pull-apart sourdough rolls. Grace the dinner table with these sweet rolls made from scratch.

Long fermented with no commercial yeast, these rolls with a slight sourdough tang is the perfect addition to any home-cooked meal.

The overnight sourdough rolls recipe calls for five simple healthy, natural food ingredients. I begin the process the evening before, mixing all of the ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer and using a dough hook; the mixer kneads for 10 minutes. The bread proofs overnight, and the next day, I begin making rolls.

Don’t have a sourdough starter? Here’s a recipe for a homemade sourdough starter. If you’re making it from scratch, you’ll need to feed it for 5 to 7 days before it is ready to be used for baking.

Easy Sourdough Pull Apart Dinner Rolls

These soft sourdough dinner rolls are simple to make. They are large, fluffy rolls with a tender crumb making them perfect for a pat of butter and a drizzle of honey.

When it comes to baking bread, I enjoy using simple bread recipes that don’t require a lot of hands-on time. I often refer back to my recipes like homemade buttermilk biscuits or our homemade yeast rolls.

Lately, I have been using a lot of overnight, long-fermented sourdough recipes. Sourdough bread is more nutritious than regular bread. The lactic acid bacteria found in sourdough bread helps degrade phytates, which increases mineral absorption. This is one way in which sourdough bread is more nutritious than conventional bread. (Source)

Sourdough is fermenting grains, allowing the natural yeast in the dough to rise the bread and break down the naturally occurring phytic acid in the grains. Phytic acid breakdown helps increase some nutrients, like folate. Fermenting grains help lower the amount of gluten and improve digestibility.

Tips for Making Fluffy Sourdough Dinner Rolls Recipe

• Some sourdough starters are more sour or tangy than others. My sourdough does not have a strong tany taste, therefore there is not a strong taste of sourdough tang in these rolls. If you find these rolls are too tangy, use less sourdough starter. If you use less sourdough starter, use less flour.
• Lay out the butter so that it is at room temperature.
• Heat the milk at a very low temperature, until it reaches around 105 degrees. Then, add the butter and allow it to melt into the warm milk.
• Start with the lowest recommended amount of flour that the recipe calls for. Then, gradually add 1/4 cup of flour at time until the sticky dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Every time I make bread, the amount of flour that I use will vary.
• Use an active, bubbly sourdough starter for this recipe.
• Using a kitchen scale to measure the dough into equal pieces. This ensures that all the rolls are the same size, therefore, allowing them to bake evenly.
• The time that it takes the rolls to double in size will depend on the climate, activity of the starter and so many other factors, so be sure that they have doubled in size before baking.

Kitchen Essentials for Fluffiest Sourdough Rolls

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Readers can find my favorite kitchen essentials can be located in my Amazon storefront. While I often try to link to the exact products you see in my photos and videos, my pieces are usually vintage and often thrifted. However, I try to find and link replicas as much as possible, made in the USA or by other small shops, as I believe in supporting hardworking American families.

These are the essential kitchen tools that I used to make sweet honey pull-apart rolls.

• Kenmore Elite Mixer:
• Large Mixing Bowl: Made by hand in Texas, these bowls come in a size of 10″, 14″ and 16″. The bowls are meant to last a lifetime and become family heirlooms, being passed down from generation to generation.
• Small Pan
• Cooking Thermometer
• Cast Iron Skillet: The perfect way to get the best results for crusty sourdough rolls is to use a cast iron skillet as a baking pan.
• Linen Tea Towel: A staple in our kitchen – useful for many things but beautiful enough to be on display.

Ingredients for Sourdough Pull-Apart Dinner Rolls

• 2 cups fresh active sourdough starter
• 1 1/2 cups milk, warm around 105 degrees
• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup honey
• 6-7 cups of white organic flour

How to Make Soft Sourdough Dinner Rolls

For this easy recipe, I detail the process that I went through to make the best homemade sourdough dinner rolls. This recipe requires a bit of planning that starts the day before baking or serving the soft sourdough rolls.

Step 1: Feed the Starter

At 7:00 A.M.
Mix equal amounts of flour, water, and unfed starter. Using a wooden spoon, stir ingredients together. Set the mixture in a warm spot and let the dough double in size with many noticeable bubbles.

Step 2: Add Ingredients

At 7:00 P.M.
Using the recipe, mix active starter, all-purpose flour, warm milk, butter, and honey in a stand mixer with a bread hook. Start by adding 6 cups of flour to the mixing bowl, then add 1/4 cup of flour at a time until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Once the dough pulls away from the bowl, allow the mixer to knead the dough for 10 minutes on medium speed.

Step 3: Cover and Proof

Transfer dough from the mixer bowl to a large mixing bowl. Cover the bowl and leave it on the countertop work surface overnight in a warm place to proof for the first rise for 8-12 hours. The following day, the dough should be double in size.

Step 4: Form Rolls

The following day, around 8:00 A.M.,
Pull off a small amount of bread dough, and using a kitchen scale, measure the dough to 3.5 ounces. Punch the dough down and turn the dough several times in the bowl. Form the roll by pulling the dough from the top to the bottom center to create the perfect, smooth dough roll.

Place seam side down of roll in cast iron skillet or another form of a baking dish, leave a small amount of space between each roll to allow space for rising. Cover with a damp tea towel and let the dough go through a second rise at room temperature until doubled in size.

The rising time for the rolls to double in size will depend on the climate, activity of the starter, and other factors, so be sure that they have doubled in size before baking.

Step 5: Bake

Bake rolls at 375 degrees in preheated oven. Bake for 25-30 until the tops are lightly golden brown. Remove from oven, and cool in the skillet before removing.

Step 6: Serve

Remove rolls from cast iron skillet, brush the top of the dough lightly with melted butter or serve with soft butter and honey.

Sourdough Bread Recipes

• Sourdough Sandwich Bread
• Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
• Artisan Sourdough Loaf

Printable Recipe Card for Sourdough Roll Recipe with No Yeast

This amazing recipe has become a well-loved dinner roll recipe in our home. It took multiple tries to get the recipe right, but I finally feel like it’s one we all love. I hope it is one that your family will enjoy just as much.

this post was modified and updated on July 11, 2021

Thank you for sharing!