Sourdough Dinner Rolls w/ Herb Butter
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These sourdough dinner rolls are so soft they melt in the mouth. They’re all naturally leavened, which makes them even better—made with one of my favorite baking techniques, tangzhong.
Table of contents
Recipe Run Through
I like to bake these soft sourdough dinner rolls in my Challenger Bread Pan at 375°F/190°C for 15-20 minutes. The interior of the pan measures 11.5 x 9 inches, which is the perfect size for this recipe!
Place the shaped dinner rolls in your Challenger Bread Pan and cover with the lid to prevent the dough’s surface from drying out while proofing.
Tangzhong
Tangzhong is a Japanese baking technique that I often use in my recipes. It involves pre-cooking a portion of the recipe’s flour and liquid, causing the mixture to thicken and gelatinize. In my experience, the Tangzhong causes the bread to remain softer with an extended shelf life. All you need is:
- Whole milk
- All-purpose or bread flour
How to make Tangzhong:
- Add milk and flour to a small pot. Heat over medium heat while stirring with a whisk. Once the mixture has thickened and reached 150°F/65°C, it is ready.
- Transfer the tangzhong to a clean bowl. Cover with plastic wrap that is touching the entire surface of the tangzhong. Cool to room temperature.
Garlic and Herb Butter
- Unsalted butter
- Garlic
- Fresh herbs, e.g., thyme, rosemary, parsley
- Pinch of salt
How to make Garlic and Herb Butter:
- Melt butter in a small pot over medium heat, add minced garlic, and heat up. Add fresh herbs + a pinch of salt and stir to combine.
- Brush the Herb and Garlic Butter over the baked dinner rolls. Serve warm.
If you don’t have fresh herbs at home, don’t worry! These sourdough dinner rolls are so good on their own that a simple brush of melted butter after baking is almost just as good.
Watch Me Bake
Soft Sourdough Dinner Rolls
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Soft Sourdough Dinner Rolls (Tangzhong Method)
Equipment
- Digital kitchen scale
- Stand mixer
- Challenger Bread Pan
Ingredients
Levain
- 40 g active sourdough starter 100% hydration, white
- 40 g all-purpose or bread flour
- 40 g water at 77-80°F/25-27°C
Tangzhong
- 100 g whole milk
- 20 g all-purpose or bread flour
Main Dough
- 320 g bread flour 11-13% protein
- 20 g granulated sugar
- 120 g whole milk cold
- 1 egg room temperature
- 120 g tangzhong
- 120 g levain
- 7 g salt
- 50 g unsalted butter softened, cut into cubes
Garlic And Herb Butter (Optional)
- 2-3 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh herbs e.g., thyme, rosemary, parsley
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
Levain
- Add all the ingredients to a mixing bowl and stir to combine using a rubber spatula or spoon. Cover the bowl and place it in a warm spot (around 78°F/26°C) to rise for 4 hours or until the levain has doubled/tripled in size.
Tangzhong
- Add milk and flour to a small pot. Heat up over medium heat while stirring with a whisk. Once the mixture has thickened and reached the temperature of 150°F/65°C, it is ready.
- Transfer the tangzhong to a clean bowl. Cover with plastic wrap that is touching the entire surface of the tangzhong. Cool to room temperature.
Main Dough
- Gather all your ingredients. Add them all, except salt and butter, to the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Mix until just combined. Cover the bowl, and rest/autolyse for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, add the salt and knead at medium speed for 5-10 minutes.
- Slowly add in the cubed, softened butter, one cube at a time.
- Once all the butter is added, scrape down your dough hook and the bowl's sides using a rubber spatula.
- Continue kneading at medium speed for 15-25 minutes until the dough passes the Window Pane Test*.
- Place the dough in a clean, lightly oiled bowl. Cover and proof for one hour at around 76°F/24°C. Perform one coil fold*—cover and proof for another hour. Total proof time: two hours.
- Transfer the dough to the fridge overnight.
Shape
- Next morning: take the dough out of the fridge and divide it into 12 equal pieces (around 65g each). Shape the pieces into seamless rounds and place them in your Challenger Bread Pan or a baking pan/cast iron skillet of similar size (11,5 x 9 inches).
- Cover and proof for 6-7 hours at around 76°F/24°C until doubled in size.
Bake
- Preheat your oven to 375°F/190°C. Bake the dinner rolls for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Meanwhile, prepare the Herb and Garlic Butter:
Herb and Garlic Butter
- Melt butter in a small pot over medium heat, add minced garlic, and heat up. Add fresh herbs + a pinch of salt and stir to combine. Brush the Herb and Garlic Butter over the baked dinner rolls. Serve warm.
Hi Elise, can I mix 20-30% whole wheat flour?
Go for it! Only thing to keep in mind is that the addition of whole grains will speed up the fermentation and the flavor + texture will be a bit different.
Great, thanks so much. Love all your recipes:)
My son is gluten free. Would this work if I used gluten free flour? He was this and thought it looked so good!
Hi! I have never tried making this recipe with GF flour, so I am unfortunately not sure about that.
Absolutely amazing recipe!
Cooking sourdough when living in a tropical country like Thailand is always a challenge.
However I gave this recipe a try and I’m stunned by the result… Very elastic dough before the night proofing at low temperature, very easy to shape and the small bums placed in the baking pan had 4 times their size after just about 4 hours.
Shame I can’t post a picture of the resulting marvelous buns.
Thanks Élise!
I love this recipe!! Would you be able to refridgerate longer? Like 36 hours? Like between step 3 & 4 before the shape??
(Planning out my Christmas dinner and I think it would be easier if I could make them a day earlier)
Thank you! 🙂
Thank you! I haven’t tried leaving them in the fridge for 36 hours. But I would assume they’d end up tasting pretty sour. Let me know if you end up trying it – would be interesting to hear how they turn out!
Can these be frozen after being baked/cooled?
Yes.