Soft sourdough dinner rolls that are made with no added yeast and just a few simple ingredients are easy to make and a healthy addition to any meal. There’s nothing better than soft, buttery dinner rolls made from scratch and served alongside meat and vegetables for a healthy well rounded meal. These perfect sourdough dinner rolls are best when started a few hours before they are served. This makes them healthier because they are long fermented and also makes it really easy to get them on the table in time for dinner because they’re already mixed up and just have to be baked while you’re fixing the rest of the meal. One of my favorite things about sourdough is it’s flexibility and that most recipes can be mixed up ahead of time, which makes them quick and easy to bake up in time for a quick meal.

sourdough dinner rolls for thanksgiving dinner

Ways We Enjoy Our Favorite Sourdough Dinner Rolls

Alongside roast, mashed potatoes and gravy with a side of green beans or a salad.

With butter and homemade jam or jelly alongside any meal or even for breakfast.

We serve this sourdough dinner roll recipe at every holiday meal usually with sourdough stuffing and many other sourdough recipes, and they are always very popular!

They are also so good with homemade butter and raw honey.

Let’s be honest, any meal is better with these delicious rolls. They add a wonderful healthy and comforting element to any home cooked meal.

Why Bake With Sourdough?

It’s wise to know how to make bread and dinner rolls without having to purchase commercial yeast at the grocery store in case it is ever not available for some reason. When you bake with sourdough, you’re baking with the wild yeast that is naturally present in your environment and captured in your sourdough starter
The taste and texture of sourdough dinner rolls. Soft and buttery with that signature sourdough tang we all love. If you want less tang, you can just add more sweetener, but I like the slight hint of sourdough flavor.
These rolls will stay fresh longer on your counter without molding because they are already inoculated with beneficial bacteria from the sourdough making it harder for mold to grow. These pull-apart sourdough dinner rolls never last very long at our house however, because they get eaten so fast!
Because these rolls are made with active sourdough starter, and allowed to long ferment over several hours, they will be much easier for your body to digest and get nutrients from, just like anything made with long fermented sourdough like artisan sourdough bread. See below for more information.
Recipes made with sourdough have a lower glycemic index than other breads, making them a better choice for diabetics than yeast breads. More info on that here.
There’s more than 35 ingredients in store bought dinner rolls, including many preservatives and dough conditioners. These soft sourdough rolls are made with 6 simple and easy to pronounce ingredients that can be sourced organically and economically.
It’s less expensive to make your own rolls than purchase them at the grocery store depending on where you source your ingredients of course. Usually bread products can be made with high quality ingredients for much less and with a much higher quality and freshness.

What Are The Health Benefits Of Sourdough?

Anytime you add a fermented element like sourdough to a recipe, it becomes more nutritious because it contains live probiotics and good bacteria that help with gut health and digestion. Gluten and phytic acid are naturally present in wheat, and are usually what is to blame for people not being able to digest gluten well. When the grain is fermented through the sourdough process, the gluten and phytic acid are broken down, making it easier to digest. A lot of people that struggle with gluten intolerance (not people with celiac), can digest food made with sourdough without any issue, especially if the recipe is allowed to sit out for a few hours and “long ferment”.

In addition, phytic acid is an anti-nutrient that blocks absorption of the nutrients found in wheat. During the sourdough fermentation process, the phytic acid gets broken down and the nutrients are more bio-available to the body. This is why baking with sourdough is so important for our health.

Be sure to watch our full tutorial on how to make your own sourdough starter here.

For more of our favorite sourdough recipes, check out the sourdough portion of our website: Sourdough.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here

Simple Ingredients

Flour

All purpose flour or bread flour will make the softest dinner rolls, but you can also use whole grain flour as well. It just depends on how light and fluffy you want your dinner rolls.

Water

Sourdough starter

Learn how to make a sourdough starter here.

Fat

I like to use homemade butter because of the flavor, but you can use olive oil, coconut oil or melted beef tallow as well.

Kosher Salt

Redmond real salt from Azure Standard is my favorite, but any salt will work.

Sweetener

Honey, cane sugar or white sugar all work fine.

Tools You May Need

Stand mixer or large mixing bowl

My favorite stand mixer is a bosch and I highly suggest that you invest in one. They will last you a lifetime and hold up to making thousands of batches of bread. I’ve used one for almost 40 years and never had any issues with it.

9” x 13” baking dish or 15” cast iron skillet

Measuring cups and spoons

Tea Towel

Tips

Mix up the dough the night before if you want to serve these at noon the following day. Or mix it up in the morning if you want to serve them at night. This will give you the best results and the maximum health benefits of long fermentation. This also makes the rolls fast and easy to shape and bake before serving.
To make sourdough discard dinner rolls, just mix up the recipe using sourdough discard instead of active starter if that’s all you have. It will turn out just fine, they may just take a little longer to raise.
If you need your rolls to rise more slowly because you’ll be out of the house, you can always shape them and then let the dough rise in the refrigerator.
You can make these sourdough dinner rolls ahead of time and freeze them for up to six weeks. Just thaw, and then warm in the oven for a few minutes before serving.
Knead the dough for at least 5 minutes in the mixer or 10 minutes by hand to properly develop the gluten which will give you the softest and fluffiest rolls.
To find out if you have properly developed the gluten you can also do the windowpane test. Start by pulling up a section of the dough once it’s done mixing to see if you can “see” through it without it tearing. This means the gluten is properly developed and they will rise well.
If you want to make a smaller batch of rolls, feel free to cut this recipe in half. This is just the size that works best for my family.

How To Make Soft Sourdough Dinner Rolls

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, or in a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients.

Knead in the stand mixer bowl on medium speed for at least 5 minutes, or by knead by hand for at least 10 minutes. You want to make sure the gluten in the dough is properly developed. This is why I like to make these rolls in a mixer, because I can start it mixing and work on the dishes or cleaning up the kitchen while the mixer does the work for me.

Place the lid on the mixer bowl, or cover with a tea towel. Allow it to bulk ferment or do it’s first rise at room temperature for 8 to 12 hours or overnight.

Shape

The next day, divide the dough ball into 15 equal pieces. Shape it by rolling it around on the countertop to create tension on the dough, or shape by putting your thumb in the center of the roll and pinching the sides together. (See video below).

Place it in a greased 9” x 13” baking dish.

Cover with a tea towel and allow to rise in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours or until double. If you’re going to be away from home prior to the meal you want to serve these rolls at, you can always raise them in the refrigerator for several hours as well.

Bake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bake for 35-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Brush with butter and allow to cool a bit before serving with homemade butter, jam or honey.

Store leftovers in a ziplock bag or other airtight container for 3-4 days on the countertop or a week in the refrigerator. These rolls can also be frozen for up to six weeks.

If you try this recipe and love it, please come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @wagonwheelhomestead21

Yield: 15 Rolls