Buttery Sourdough Dinner Rolls #BreadBakers

Soft, fluffy and tender, these buttery sourdough dinner rolls are perfect to accompany your holiday meal and for making leftover turkey or ham sandwiches. 

The holidays are approaching quickly and my Bread Baker friends and I know that for many, a festive table is not complete without some dinner rolls. So we are here to help, sharing several wonderful recipes we hope you’ll love. Make sure to scroll down to find the links. 

My buttery sourdough dinner rolls remind me of the brown-n-serve rolls my grandmother used to buy and finish baking at home, but with a little more flavor. They are a little bit bigger than your average dinner roll which makes them great for turkey or ham sandwiches as well. 

 

Buttery Sourdough Dinner Rolls

We want lots of springy fluffiness for these soft dinner rolls so while the sourdough starter is there for flavor, I use active dry yeast as well to make sure these puff right up.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups or 360ml milk

1/3 cup or 80g butter

1/4 oz or 7g (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast

1/2 cup or 113g sourdough fed starter 

1 egg, at room temperature

1/4 cup or 50g sugar

2 teaspoons fine sea salt

5 cups or 625g flour, plus extra for kneading and sprinkling on before baking

1/8 cup or 30g melted butter for brushing on after the rolls are baked

Method

Put the milk in a large microwaveable vessel and add in the butter. Microwave until the butter is mostly melted, about 3-4 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes.

Put the yeast in your mixing bowl and pour in about a cup or 240ml (no need to measure exactly) of the warm milk/butter mixture and set aside for about 10 minutes. You are hoping that the yeast activates and gets all bubbly. If it doesn’t, you need to buy some new yeast and start over.

Now add the rest of the milk/butter, the sourdough starter, the egg and the salt along with 3 cups or 375g of flour to your mixing bowl and mix on medium speed until all of the flour is incorporated.  

Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula to mix in any flour left there. It’s a very runny batter at this point.

Continue mixing and add the remaining flour by spoonfuls until all is incorporated. Now it should be wet and soft sticky dough but that’s what is needed for soft and tender rolls.

Now mix for 3-4 minutes, changing to the dough hook, if necessary, to help develop the gluten.

Cover the bowl with cling film and allow the dough to rise in a warm place for about an hour or until it doubles in size. If it's cold in your kitchen, you can partially fill the sink with hot tap water and put the bowl in it for warmth.

Meanwhile, line your baking pan with parchment paper, a silicone mat or grease it liberally with oil or butter.

Once the first rise is done, punch the dough down and knead it briefly on a floured surface. Cut the dough ball into halves, then cut the halves into half again. Cut each piece into four to make large bread rolls or six to make more reasonably sized ones. Hint: the bigger ones are better for sandwiches.

Roll the dough pieces into balls, pinching them from underneath to stretch the tops so they are nice and round. 

Put the balls, side by side, pinched side down, in your prepared baking pan. Sprinkle the tops of the rolls with flour.

Put the whole baking pan in a clean, new garbage bag, capturing some air before you clip it shut, so that the bag doesn’t touch the top of the bread rolls. Allow the rolls to rise in a warm place for about an hour.

About 15 minutes (or however long your oven takes) before the second rise is completed, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Bake the dinner rolls in your preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until they are golden brown all over.

Brush with the melted butter and serve warm, if possible. 

They are still great cooled but I think we can all agree that warm rolls are the best!

Enjoy!

Check out all the delicious roll recipes my Bread Baker friends are sharing today! Many thanks to our host, Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen.

• Butternut Corn Dinner Rolls from A Messy Kitchen
• Buttery Sourdough Dinner Rolls from Food Lust People Love
• Garlic and Herbs Dinner Rolls from Ambrosia
• Garlicky Dinner Rolls from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• No Knead Dinner Rolls from Sneha’s Recipe
• Savory Monkey Bread from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Soft Homemade Dinner Rolls from Palatable Pastime
• Soft Potato Rolls with Rosemary from The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Sourdough Crescent Rolls from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Pumpkin Shaped Pumpkin Rolls from The Magical Ingredients

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin these Buttery Sourdough Dinner Rolls!

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Yemeni Kubaneh - Buttery Rolls #BreadBakers

A traditional bread, made from dough spread liberally with butter or margarine, Yemeni kubaneh bakes up light and fluffy. It’s perfect with your morning coffee or an afternoon cup of tea.

There appear to be as many recipes for Yemeni kubaneh as there are Yemeni mamas and grandmas.

When our international bread theme was chosen for this month’s Bread Bakers, I immediately started to research for an unfamiliar bread to test and bake. We were supposed to choose a bread from a country that is not our own but I decided to take that one step further and choose a recipe I'd never heard of before. In my search, I came across kubaneh first on Food52, and it was beautiful. Seriously, go have a look. Theirs is much prettier than mine.

The instructions, however, seemed a bit challenging to follow without step-by-step photos or a video. So down the rabbit hole of YouTube I went. So many recipes and so many methods! And different spellings: Kubane, kubaneh, kubana, kubani, kubneh. What they all seem to have in common is using lots of butter or margarine to create layers of thinly rolled or hand stretched dough before baking.

Although I didn’t follow the instructions or measurements exactly, this YouTube video (in Italian – the presenter - and Hebrew – the baker) was my best guide. You might find it helpful to watch as well. I gathered, from my faulty Italian (which is really just a mix of Portuguese and Spanish, since truth be told, I don't speak Italian) is that Yemeni kubaneh was originally part of the main family meal, which in Yemen is served in the middle of the day, rather than in the evening.

According to references, including Wikipedia, kubaneh is a Yemenite Jewish bread, found in many varieties throughout Yemen. And if the YouTube video and website ItaliaEbraica are any indication, Italy as well. I'm going to hazard a guess to say you'll probably find it being baked anywhere people of Jewish Yemeni heritage are living. Kubaneh was traditionally baked long and slow, in the embers of the evening fire, to be eaten the next day on the Sabbath. Nowadays, in all the YouTube videos I watched, it seems normal ovens are used.

Yemeni Kubaneh

This traditional Yemeni bread can be slightly sweetened by a sugar glaze, as this version is, or can be served with a tomato sauce.

Ingredients
For the bread dough:
1 1/4 cups or 300ml warm water
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons quick yeast
4 cups or 500g flour
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup or 75g butter, softened, plus some for the baking pan

For the sugar syrup:
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup or 60ml warm water

For garnish (and flavor):
1 teaspoon sesame seeds and/or 1 teaspoon nigella seeds (I used both.)

Method
In the bowl of your stand mixer or a large bowl, combine the sugar, yeast and warm water. Leave to proof for a few minutes.

When the foam and bubbles form, sift in the flour, baking soda and salt. According to the video, this eliminates the bugs and foreign objects.

Add in 1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk, reserving the second egg yolk. Mix till well combined and then knead until you have a stretchy bouncy dough.

Drizzle in 1 tablespoon of olive oil and form the dough into a ball, turning it to coat with the oil.

Cover with a cloth and set in a warm place to rise for 40 minutes.

Oil your clean work surface with the rest of the olive oil and turn the dough out onto it. Wet your hands and use them to divide the dough into 8 equal pieces.

Set your softened butter by your clean work surface. Use your hands to spread one of the dough pieces into a thin square. Top this with bits of butter, spreading it around. Don’t be shy with the butter. The dough may tear a little. Just pat it together again.

Repeat with a second piece of dough.

Then gently lift the second dough square and put it on top of the first one. Press them both out even larger.

Roll the dough up into a log, starting from end farthest from you. Set the log aside and continue the process with the other six pieces of dough.

You should now have four dough logs. Line a baking pan with baking parchment which you have rubbed with softened butter.

Using a sharp knife, cut the dough logs into 8 pieces each and fit these into the prepared pan, cut side up.

Drizzle a few drops of water into the reserved egg yolk and whisk to combine. Use a pastry brush to coat the dough with egg yolk. Sprinkle with the sesame and nigella seeds.

Cover with cling film and leave to rise in a warm place while you preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Bake in the oven for 38-42 minutes, covering the pan with foil if the bread starts to brown too quickly.

Meanwhile, make the sugar syrup by dissolving the 2 tablespoons of sugar in 1/4 cup or 60ml hot water.

Remove the Yemeni kubaneh from the oven. Use a spoon to drip the sugar syrup glaze all over the bread.

Pop the pan back in the oven for another 5-6 minutes, watching it carefully so it doesn’t burn. Turn it midway through if your oven doesn’t heat evenly.

Allow to cool a bit before serving because apparently, the best way is to let everyone help themselves and pull a piece (or three) off.

Enjoy!

Many thanks to our host today, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm for this great theme, and for all of her behind-the-scenes work. I am always delighted at the opportunity to learn something new and this Yemeni kubaneh was definitely that!

Check out all the other international breads we are sharing today:

• Apfelpfannkuchen (Apple Pancake) from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Auvergne Crown from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Bauernbrot from All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Onion and Poppy Seed Bialys from Spill the Spices
• Boule from Bread Therapy
• Chilli and Coriander Scones from Sizzling Tastebuds
• Dutch Tiger Bread (Tijgerbolletjes)from Baking Sense
• Epi di Pan - Wheat Wreath from Sara's Tasty Buds
• Franzbrotchen - German Cinnamon Rolls from Gayathri's Cook Spot
• German Soft Pretzels (Laugenbrezel) from Hostess At Heart
• German Soft Pretzels from Herbivore Cucina
• Kardemummabullar - Swedish Cardamom Rolls from Ambrosia
• Pita Bread from Sneha'sRecipe
• Pletzel - Onion Poppyseed Flatbread from Cook's Hideout
• Pretzel Bites from My Cooking Journey
• Savoury Kugelhopf from The Mad Scientist's Kitchen
• Slovak Bread Rolls (Rozky) from Mayuri's Jikoni
• Whole Wheat Pita Bread from Sonlicious
• Yemeni Kubaneh - Buttery Rolls from Food Lust People Love

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the #BreadBakers home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin it!

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Feta Olive Knots #BreadBakers

Feta olive knots are made with salty feta cheese and olives baked in a soft dough, making them the perfect accompaniment to any meal. 

This month our Bread Bakers group is being hosted by Deepti of Baking Yummies. She’s challenged us to bake rolls so make sure you scroll down to see the link list of all the lovely dough, both sweet and savory, that we’ve kneaded, shaped and baked for you today.

In my growing up family, we often had rolls at big family dinners for Thanksgiving or Christmas but they were more than likely those bake and serve ones that come in their own little foil baking pans. Man, I loved those things. All soft and buttery and melt in your mouth. I liked to mash them into small balls so they became almost like dough again and nibble on them.

I’m a grown up now and my tastes have changed. Not that I would reject a soft white roll, but I’m looking for something a little stronger in flavor, something that can stand up to a tasty bowl of soup, for instance. These feta olive knots are perfect! The feta gives the dough a little tang and each bite with an olive delivers a small burst of saltiness.

Ingredients 
1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup or 180ml warm water
About 2 3/4 cups or 345g all-purpose flour start with 2 1/2 or 312g
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 oz or 50g feta
1 egg yolk (save white for brushing on rolls)
1/2 cup or 70g pitted, sliced olives (color of your choice)
Olive oil for bowl

For glaze:
1 egg white
1 tablespoon water

Method
Put the warm water in a bowl with the yeast and sugar and leave to prove. The yeast should turn foamy if it’s active. If not, go buy some more yeast and start again.

Assuming you’ve got foam in your bowl, add in the 2 1/2 cups or 312g of the flour and the salt. You can knead by hand but this will be easier with a dough hook if you have a stand mixer.

Add in the crumbled feta and keep kneading with the dough hook until it’s incorporated.

Now add the egg yolk and knead again with the dough hook until it is incorporated. It's kind of like adding butter to brioche dough or eggs to choux pastry. These ingredients loosen the dough and it looks like they'll never mix in. Just keep mixing and they do!

Turn your dough out onto a floured surface and knead for a few good turns by hand, adding just a little more of the flour if necessary.

Press the dough out into a rectangle and spread the sliced olives all over it.

Worst rectangle ever. I straightened it out after I took the photo, I promise. 

Fold one third in from the right and then fold the other third in from the left. Turn the dough so it is horizontal to you again, and press it out slightly. Repeat folding it over in thirds.

Make one more turn so it is horizontal to you and press it out again. Repeat folding it over in thirds. In other words, you are going to do the "fold, fold, turn" three times. The olives should be fairly evenly distributed by now.

Oil your mixing bowl and put the ball of dough in. Turn it over to coat with oil. Set aside in warm place until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.

Punch the dough down and turn it out onto a floured surface.

Cut it in quarters and then cut each quarter in three equal pieces to make 12 rolls. Roll each piece out until it’s about 8 inches or 21cm long. Cross the ends of each piece and tuck one end through the loop.

Place the knots on baking pan lined with parchment or a silicone mat. Whisk the egg white with the water and use a pastry brush to glaze the knots.

Leave in a warm place to rest for about 15-20 minutes and preheat your oven to 375°F or 190°C.

Bake in your preheated oven 18-22 minutes or until they are puffy and lightly browned all over.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool a little before serving.

Enjoy!

Such beautiful rolls, we've baked for you this month!

• Anadama Rolls from Passion Kneaded
• Bulochki (Russian Sweet Yeast Rolls) from Mayuri's Jikoni
• Cinnamon Rolls from Bakingyummies
• Crescent Rolls from Sara's Tasty Buds
• Feta Olive Knots from Food Lust People Love
• Flax Oat Wheat Dinner Rolls from Cook's Hideout
• Einkorn Parmesan and Garlic Rolls from The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls from A Baker's House
• Hokkaido Milk Rolls from Baking in Pyjamas
• Kahvalti – Turkish-style Breakfast Buns from A Shaggy Dough Story
• Masala Bread Rolls from Sneha's Recipes
• Mini Cheddar Bialys from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Oatmeal Dinner Rolls from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Pesto Rolls from Veg Nation
• Raspberry Sweet Rolls from Kylee Cooks
• Savory Cheddar Rolls from Magnolia Days
• Stuffed Vegatable Masala Buns from Spill the Spices
• Twisted Knotted Mint Garlic Rolls from Gayathri's Cook Spot
• Wholewheat Low Fat Stuffed Cinnamon Rolls from Sizzling Tastebuds

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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Soft and Tender Dinner Rolls #BreadBakers

If there is any bread more delicious than a soft and tender white dinner roll, brushed with melted butter, I’d like to meet it. Because I don’t think there is one.

My grandmother was a fabulous cook – actually, they both were – but in this instance I’m talking about my maternal grandmother. Thanksgiving and Christmas were usually celebrated at her house and she put on quite the spread. I honestly don’t remember if she baked them every time, but I remember eating those soft white bread rolls that came in the foil (or was it some sort of weird cardboard?) pan, ready to bake. And they were wonderful. Not too yeasty that a child might object, brushed with butter and so soft and smushy that you could make a dough ball out of them, perfect for nibbling as you waited your turn to fill your plate with the other beautiful dishes. Those rolls were what I was hoping to recreate here for our Bread Bakers Thanksgiving event, where we have been challenged by our talented host, Holly of A Baker’s House, to bake bread fit for a special occasion.

I started with this recipe from All Things Delicious and made a few alterations to the ingredients and the method but I followed Hannah’s instructions for making the dough into classic round dinner rolls. (She shows several different ways of shaping the dough into special rolls so make sure to go have a look if you need some ideas.)  I have no idea if my Red Star yeast was more active than whatever was used in the original recipe, but I ended up with monster rolls. Beautiful, soft and tender but so big! Next time I will roll them half the size to get the rolls of my childhood memories. But I will definitely be baking these again.

If you are looking for a special bread to bake for your holiday table, make sure to scroll on down to see the list of 21 recipes we are sharing today. Many thanks to Holly for hosting!

Ingredients
2 cups or 475ml milk
1/3 cup or 80g butter
1/4 oz or 7g yeast (one sachet – I used Red Star Quick Rise Yeast.)
1 egg
1/4 cup or 50g sugar
2 teaspoons salt
5 cups or 625g flour, plus extra for kneading and sprinkling on before baking

1/8 cup or 30g melted butter for brushing on after the rolls are baked

Method
Put the milk in a large microwaveable vessel (I use the biggest silicone measuring cup* from this set. It was a gift from my cousin years ago and I love it!) and add in the butter. Microwave until the butter is mostly melted, about 3-4 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes.

Put the yeast in your mixing bowl and pour in about a cup or 240ml (no need to measure exactly) of the warm milk/butter mixture and set aside for about 10 minutes. You are hoping that the yeast activates and gets all bubbly. If it doesn’t, you need to buy some fresh yeast and start over.

Now add in 3 cups or 375g of flour, the egg and the salt to your mixing bowl and mix on medium speed until all of the flour is incorporated.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula to mix in any flour left there. It’s a very runny batter at this point.

You can see the bubbly yeast/butter/milk there on the left. That's what it should look like!

Continue mixing and add the remaining flour by spoonfuls until all is incorporated. Now it should be wet and soft sticky dough but that’s what is needed for soft and tender rolls.

Now mix for 3-4 minutes, changing to the dough hook, if necessary, to help develop the gluten.

The finished dough

Cover the bowl with cling film and allow the dough to rise for about an hour or until it doubles in size.

Meanwhile, line your baking pan with parchment paper, a silicone mat or grease it liberally with oil or butter.

Once the first rise is done, punch the dough down and knead it briefly on a floured surface. Cut the dough ball into halves, then cut the halves into half again. Cut each piece into three to make very large bread rolls, or six to make more reasonably sized ones.

Roll the dough pieces into balls, pinching them from underneath to stretch the tops so they are nice and round. Put the balls, side by side, pinched side down, in your prepared baking pan.

Sprinkle the tops of the rolls with flour and put the whole baking pan in a clean, new garbage bag, capturing some air before you clip it shut, so that the bag doesn’t touch the top of the bread rolls. Allow the rolls to rise for about an hour.

About 15 minutes (or however long your oven takes) before the second rise is completed, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Bake the dinner rolls in your preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until they are golden brown all over.

Brush with melted butter and serve warm, if possible.

Enjoy!

Tender, soft and fluffy. Just as a dinner roll should be. 

Our celebratory breads, for your enjoyment!

• Brown Butter Sage Biscuits by Sophia at Sweet Cinnamon & Honey 
• Butterflake Rolls by Anshie at Spice Roots 
• Buttermilk Rolls by Renee at Magnolia Days 
• Cast Iron Parker House Rolls by Veronica at My Catholic Kitchen 
• Cheese & Mustard Pull Apart Bread by Laura at Baking in Pyjamas 
• Classic Anise Dinner Rolls by Kathya at Basic N Delicious 
• Gruyère Gougères by Nicole at The 2nd 35 Years 
• No Knead Dinner Rolls by Heather at Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks 
• Parker House Rolls by Tara at Noshing With The Nolands 
• Parmesan Garlic Knots by Lauren at From Gate to Plate 
• Pumpkin and Rosemary Bread by Rocío at kids&chic 
• Pumpkin Pani Popo by Kelly at Passion Kneaded 
• Pumpkin, Sage & Cheddar Pull Apart Rolls by Mireille at Chef Mireille's East West Realm 
• Overnight Rosemary Rolls by Holly at A Baker’s House 
• Skillet Cornbread by Sandra at Meadows Cooks 
• Soft and Tender Dinner Rolls by Stacy at Food Lust People Love 
• Sourdough Cornbread Rolls with Sage by Karen at Karen's Kitchen Stories 
• Sweet Potato Rolls by Cindy at Cindy's Recipes and Writings 
• Tomato Herb Loaves by Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Camilla 
• Zopf - Braided Swiss Milk Bread by Carola at En la Cocina de Caro

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme.  Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.

*This is an Amazon affiliate link.