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Light, soft, and super fluffy, these Sourdough Discard Dinner Rolls deliver big buttery flavor with minimal effort in 2 hours. With just one rise and a super quick prep, they’re the ideal recipe for busy nights or holiday meals.
While these rolls are a quick version of my Sourdough Dinner Rolls recipe, they do not miss out on flavor or texture. The discard adds the sourdough flavor, and the yeast helps the rolls rise much quicker than naturally leavened rolls. This is a great recipe if you are in a pinch or forgot to feed your sourdough starter ahead of time.
If you are short on time, try these other sourdough discard recipes Sourdough Discard Hawaiian Rolls, Sourdough Discard Sandwich Bread, and Sourdough Discard French Bread.
Why you will love this recipe
- Ready in under 2 hours – With the help of commercial yeast, this sourdough discard dinner roll recipe is ready in a super short timeline, just like my Sourdough Discard Cinnamon Rolls.
- Only 1 rise – Typically, breads have 2 rises, but this recipe only has one, which makes it an easy, no-fuss recipe.
- Great flavor and texture – These delicious rolls are super soft and fluffy and filled with buttery flavor.
Important Ingredients and Substitutions
- Milk- Use warm milk, about 115°F, to help activate the yeast and also shorten the rise times. For a dairy free option use full-fat coconut milk.
- Sugar – Using sugar helps feed the yeast and also balances out the flavors. You can swap for honey by replacing the sugar with 60 grams of honey and reducing the milk by 40 grams.
- Sourdough discard- Use room temperature discard to help keep short rise times. You can use discard straight from the fridge but keep in mind the rolls could take longer to rise. You can also use active starter in place of discard. If you do not have a sourdough starter, learn how to make a sourdough starter from scratch!
- Bread flour – I prefer to use bread flour when baking sourdough because it has a higher protein content and absorbs liquid better than all-purpose flour. However if you use all-purpose flour just note you may need to add a little extra flour.
- Yeast – I like to use instant yeast so that I can add it with the rest of the ingredients at one time. If you are using active dry yeast, be sure to read the instructions on how to activate it.
See all the ingredients and amounts in the recipe card below.
Instructions to make Sourdough Discard Rolls
Step 1: Add all of the ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment or Bosch mixer and knead together for about 8-10 minutes, or until it can pass the windowpane test. Perform the windowpane test by pulling a section of the dough thin enough to see light through without it tearing. Alternatively, you can also knead by hand.
Step 2: Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and divide into 15 equal pieces, and then shape into dough balls. To shape, flatten out each piece of dough and pull the corners to the middle. Pinch the seams together and then roll over the dough ball. With your hand in a cupping shape, rotate the ball on the countertop, creating tension, until it is a smooth ball.
Step 3: Place the dough balls in a greased 9×13 baking pan and cover.
Step 4: Let the dough rise in a warm spot until the rolls have doubled in size and are puffy, about 1 hour at 85-90℉. At cooler temperatures, this will take longer.
Step 5: Add an egg wash on top of your rolls for a golden brown exterior and then bake the rolls in a preheated 400°F oven for 17-18 minutes until the rolls are browned on top.
Remove from the oven and brush the tops of the rolls with 1 Tablespoon melted butter. Sprinkle the tops with flaky sea salt.
Recipe Tips
- Keep the dough in a warm place such as the oven with the light on, above the refrigerator, or near a heating vent to help the rolls rise quickly. You can use a bread mat (use code country10 for 10%) or proofing box if your house runs cooler.
- If you need the rolls to rise much quicker, you can increase the amount of yeast in the recipe to up to 2 Tablespoons. Also, be sure all ingredients are at room temperature.
- Use a kitchen scale to measure the ingredients in grams. This helps give precise measurements.
- Make sure to let the rolls rise and puff up before baking. If you bake them too early, the rolls will crack open and will be pale in color.
Sample baking schedule
This schedule can vary but as a general rule of thumb here is what you can expect if your dough is kept in a warm spot. If the dough is at a cooler temperature or you use cold sourdough discard expect longer rise times.
| Step | Time |
| Mix dough together & shape | 3 pm |
| Let dough rise in a warm spot 85-90℉ until doubled in size | 3:30 pm-4:30 pm |
| Bake | 4:30 pm |
Storage Instructions
To store the sourdough discard dinner rolls, let them cool completely and then store them in an airtight container or cover with plastic wrap for up to 4 days. The dinner rolls will also freeze well. Let them cool completely, and then add them to a freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months. To thaw, remove them from the freezer and let them defrost on the counter.
You can also freeze unbaked dinner rolls. To freeze the unbaked rolls place them on a sheet pan after shaping and place them in the freezer for a couple hours until frozen. Then place them in a freezer-safe bag. When you want rolls remove them from the freezer and place them on a greased pan and cover. Leave them in a warm spot to defrost and rise. Once doubled in size and puffy, bake. I recommend only freezing for 2-3 weeks for best results.
Recipe FAQ
I recommend using bread flour, but in a pinch, you could substitute all-purpose flour. Keep in mind that all-purpose flour does not absorb liquid as well, so you may need to add a little extra flour to the dough.
Yes, if you would like to make these rolls dairy-free use canned full fat coconut milk instead of regular milk, and plant based butter in place of regular butter.
Yes! You can swap the sugar for 60 grams of honey and reduce the milk to 200 grams.
More sourdough Discard Recipes
Soft Sourdough Bread Recipes
Sourdough Discard Hawaiian Rolls
Sourdough Discard Recipes
Sourdough Discard French Bread
Sourdough Discard Recipes
The Easiest Sourdough Discard Sandwich Bread Recipe (Dairy-Free)
Same Day Sourdough Recipes
Sourdough Flour Tortillas
Tried this Sourdough Discard Dinner Rolls or another recipe from the site? I’d love to hear about it! Drop a star rating and share your thoughts in the comments—can’t wait to see what you’re baking!
Sourdough Discard Dinner Rolls
Ingredients
- 240 grams milk, warm (115°F), 1 cup
- 57 grams butter, melted, ¼ cup
- 1 large egg, room temperature, 50 grams
- 100 grams sugar, ½ cup
- 10 grams salt, 1 ½ teaspoons
- 120 grams sourdough discard, room temperature, ½ cup
- 560 grams bread flour, 4 cups
- 9 grams instant yeast, 1 Tablespoon
Egg wash
- 1 egg
- 1 Tablespoon water
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment or Bosch mixer and knead together for about 8-10 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic. You can also check to see if passes the windowpane test by pulling a section of the dough thin enough to see light through without it tearing. Alternatively, you can knead by hand.240 grams milk, 57 grams butter, 1 large egg, 100 grams sugar, 10 grams salt, 120 grams sourdough discard, 560 grams bread flour, 9 grams instant yeast
- Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and divide into 15 equal pieces, and then shape into dough balls. To shape, flatten out each piece of dough and pull the corners to the middle. Pinch the seams together and then roll over the dough ball. With your hand in a cupping shape, rotate the ball on the countertop, creating tension, until it is a smooth ball.
- Place the dough balls in a greased 9×13 baking pan and cover.
- Let the dough rise in a warm spot until the rolls have doubled in size and are puffy, about 1 hour at 85-90℉. At cooler temperatures, this will take longer.
- Add an egg wash on top of your rolls for golden brown exteriors and then bake the rolls in a preheated 400°F oven for 17-18 minutes.1 egg, 1 Tablespoon water
- Remove from the oven and brush the tops of the rolls with 1-2 Tablespoons of melted butter. Sprinkle the tops with flaky sea salt.
Notes
- If you use cold sourdough discard just note that the rise time will likely be longer.
- Keep the dough in a warm place such as the oven with the light on. You can also use a bread mat (use code country10 for 10%) or proofing box.
- If you need the rolls to rise much quicker, you can increase the amount of yeast in the recipe to up to 2 Tablespoons. Also, be sure all ingredients are at room temperature.
- Use a kitchen scale to measure the ingredients in grams. This helps give precise measurements.
- Make sure to let the rolls rise and puff up before baking. If you bake them too early, the rolls will crack open and will be pale in color.
- If your rolls bake up dense make sure #1 that you are using fresh, non-expired yeast and #2 that the rolls are rising in a warm spot. If the rolls are not warm enough they will take longer to rise so before baking make sure the rolls have visibly increased in size.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
the dinner rolls were so easy to make and tasted wonderful!
The first time I made the dinner rolls, they were fantastic! Fluffy, delicate, delicious.
The second time, I made a double batch for Thanksgiving (on Thanksgiving day) and not only did they not rise over the course of 3 hours, they were dense bricks what were burned on the bottom and raw at the middle and top. I was so upset at all the wasted ingredients. I made a 3rd batch for Thanksgiving and they turned out okay but still dense and not as fluffy. I followed each recipe exactly. Same scale, same KitchenAid, same oven and pan. I had to buy a new bag of bread flour and bought the King Arthur Organic bread flour. Please help. I want my first batch of these delicious rolls back! 😩 Brand new yeast too. Batches 1+2 were less than a week apart and 2+3 on the same day. Nothing was missed.
Hi Katie,
Oh no, that’s such a bummer, especially for Thanksgiving. The most common reason, and what may have happened here, is a change in temperature. If the times you made it your house was cooler or you kep the dough in a cooler spot it likely needed longer to rise. Finding a really warm spot ideally keeping the dough at 85-90 will ensure a fast rise. A few ways to do that is to put the rolls in the oven with the light on or place the rolls on a warming mat or in a proofing box.
If the rolls were really warm and they were not rising, then it is likely a problem with the yeast. Did you use different or older yeast? Old or expired yeast loses its effectiveness which can cause the rolls to be dense or not rise.
these rolls are great,, thank you for the recipe
So happy to hear that thanks!
These rolls were so easy to make and were delicious!
Thanks so much Betsy!
When you change the multiplier so that you can make 2x or 3x the American measurements do not change with it, only the metric….. that needs to be fixed
I always recommend baking bread with a scale using the gram measurements as it is much more accurate. I manually add the cup measurements for anyone who prefers them, but the recipe card software I use doesn’t support having two sets of numbers that scale together. That means when you double or triple the recipe, only the grams adjust automatically, not the cups.
Since the cups are added in manually, they stay the same no matter how you scale the recipe. I wish I could change that, but it’s just a limitation of the system. So if you prefer using cups and want to increase the batch size, you’ll need to convert the measurements yourself.
Thanks for understanding!
The his is the first time measuring in grams on a scale and it was a BREEZE! It’s so much easier this way. Thanks for including this way of measuring.
So glad you are converting to a scale! I agree so much easier!
These sourdough discard dinner rolls are so easy with just an hour rise! They are great for a quick dinner roll in under 2 hours.