Easy to make and flavored with a slight sourdough tang, these soft pull apart dinner rolls will be a welcome addition to any meal and a great use of your sourdough discard!
6tablespoons(89grams)unsalted butter, at room temperature
2tablespoons(30grams)granulated sugar
1½teaspoons(4grams)instant yeast, or rapid rise, see Recipe Notes
1½teaspoons(7grams)kosher salt
Instructions
Combine all the ingredients together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook or paddle attachment (or a bread machine on the dough cycle). Mix and knead on medium speed until a soft, slightly sticky dough forms, adding flour or water in 1 tablespoon increments until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. If you don't have a stand mixer, you can mix this dough by hand with a large wooden spoon or a rubber spatula.
Keep the dough in the mixer and knead for an additional 2 minutes or by hand on a lightly floured surface. The dough will be soft and tacky.
Lightly spray a large bowl with canola oil spray. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil. Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rise in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours or until double in size. An oven with the light on works wonderfully.
Spray two 9-inch round cake pans with canola oil spray. You can also bake the rolls in two 9-inch square baking pans, a 9- ×13-inch baking pan, a cast iron skillet, or on a half sheet baking pan lined with a Silpat silicone mat or parchment paper.
When the dough has risen, knead it gently to deflate it. Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces with a bench scraper. Shape each piece into a smooth ball, then place 8 in each prepared baking pan, spacing them out evenly.
Cover the shaped rolls and let then rise until they're puffy, about 1 hour. Meanwhile, adjust the oven rack to a lower third placement and preheat the oven to 350 °F.
Bake the rolls for 20 to 25 minutes or until they're golden brown on top, rotating the pan halfway through. If the tops of the rolls are browning too quickly, loosely cover the pans with aluminum foil.
Remove the pans from the oven and allow the rolls to cool for a few minutes before serving.
Storage instructions: These rolls can be stored, covered tightly, for 2 to 3 days at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. For longer storage, freeze the rolls for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator or at room temperature, then reheat as desired.
Make-ahead instructions: You can let the dough have its first rise in the refrigerator overnight. Cover the dough tightly and place in the refrigerator for up to 12 hours. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow to fully rise for 2 more hours before portioning and shaping. This will allow the dough to develop even more flavor.
You can also shape the rolls before refrigerating them overnight. Remove the rolls from the refrigerator and let them rise, still covered, on the counter for about 1 to 2 hours before baking.
Recipe Notes
Use any type of milk you have on hand, be it whole, low-fat, non-fat, or even an unsweetened plain non-dairy milk. If you prefer, you can substitute 1 cup hot water (227 grams) and ¼ cup nonfat dry milk (37 grams) for the milk.If you use Active Dry yeast, then you might want to sprinkle yeast on to the warmed water with a teaspoon of sugar and allow it to sit for a few minutes before proceeding with the recipe. Letting it foam "proves" the yeast is active and ready to go to work.If you don't want to use commercial yeast in this sourdough dinner roll recipe, replace the yeast with ½ cup (114 grams) of active, fed starter, and reduce the amount of flour by about ½ cup (57 grams) and water by about ¼ cup (57 grams). The rising time will be longer (about double) for both the first and second rises.