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Soft pull-apart wheat rolls, with sourdough starter or active dry yeast

by:
December 16, 2010
4
9 Ratings
  • Serves 30
Author Notes

This is based on the recipe I use for challah, but scaled up to produce 30 perfect dinner rolls risen and shaped in two 9x13 pans. I use about 1/3 whole wheat flour to make them a little wholesome, but they're still soft, light, and rich with honey and butter. The benefit to pull-apart rolls is that they stay fresher longer because there's less exposed surface area. You can make these up to three days in advance and pull them apart just before serving--or let your guests pull them apart themselves--and they'll still be optimally soft and fresh. I use a sourdough starter, but I've adapted this recipe to work with either a sourdough starter or active dry yeast. - smargot —smargot

Test Kitchen Notes

These lovely pull-apart rolls are quite delicious, exceptionally tender and very simple to make. They melt in your mouth and would be a lovely accompaniment to any meal! – Victoria —The Editors

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Ingredients
  • Using Sourdough Starter (100% hydration, or 1:1 flour:water)
  • 1 cup refreshed sourdough starter
  • 1 cup milk
  • 3 cups all purpose or bread flour
  • 2 1/3 cups whole wheat flour
  • 3 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup melted butter, plus a little more for greasing the pan
  • 1/4 cup canola oil or other neutral cooking oil, plus a little more for coating the bowl
  • 3 eggs (2 in dough, 1 for brushing)
  • Using Active Dry yeast
  • 2 packets active dry yeast (4 1/2 t.)
  • 1 2/3 cups warm milk (100-110F)
  • 1 tablespoon white sugar
  • 3 2/3 cups all-purpose or bread flour
  • 2 1/3 cups whole wheat flour
  • 3 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup melted butter, plus a little more for greasing the pan
  • 1/4 cup canola oil or other neutral cooking oil, plus a little more for coating the bowl
  • 3 eggs (2 in dough, 1 for brushing)
Directions
  1. If using active dry yeast, heat the milk in the microwave or saucepan. If you don’t have a thermometer, test it by dabbing a bit on your wrist—it should feel hot to the touch, but should not burn. Whisk in the sugar and yeast and let sit 5-10 minutes or until frothy.
  2. Combine all of the ingredients except the 1 egg reserved for brushing and stir until the dough begins to come together.
  3. Knead for 10-15 minutes. If the dough is too sticky to knead, let it rest for 10 minutes underneath the mixing bowl to let the flour absorb more of the moisture. Then, continue, adding bread flour 1/4 cup at a time just until it sticks to itself more than it sticks to you.
  4. Coat a mixing bowl with oil. Place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a towel and let rise for 1 1/4 hrs (active dry yeast) or between 4-12 hrs (sourdough starter). You can tell when it's risen when it's roughly doubled in size and you can make an indentation in the surface and it doesn't heal automatically.
  5. Butter two 9x13 pans. Divide dough into two equal pieces, and divide each of those into 15 equal pieces. If you have a kitchen scale, you can weigh the dough and divide. For me, each roll usually ends up being between 50-55 grams (1.75-2.00 oz). Cover the dough you're not working with a piece of plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out.
  6. Once you've divided the dough into 30 pieces, shape each one by pressing it onto a clean surface to form a small disk. Then, gather the edges together to form a ball and pinch them together to seal it. Place each ball, pinched-edge down, in the prepared pans about 1" apart. They should be arranged in rows--3x5.
  7. Cover the pans and let the dough rise for another 1 1/4 hrs (if using active dry yeast) or 2-9 hrs (if using sourdough starter). Again, they should double in size and when fully risen, an indentation will not "heal" automatically.
  8. Preheat the oven to 375 for 20 minutes. Just before placing the rolls in the oven, beat the last egg slightly and use it to brush the tops of the rolls.
  9. Bake for 20 min, or until the tops are golden brown and the interiors are between 190-200F.
  10. Let cool on wire racks for 5-10 minutes. Then, turn the rolls out of pans gently, leaving them attached. Serve warm or let cool completely on wire racks (at least 3 hrs) and store in a an airtight container--supersized (2 or 2 1/2 gallon) zip-top bags work well.
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45 Reviews

Write a Review
Gail W. November 27, 2024
I’ve made these many times and shared the recipe link with both friends and family. I bake with sourdough, Bob’s RM flour and 100% WW starter. I have never had a problem. I do use an active starter and have counter lights that warm the dough if I leave them on. I use a mixer to knead the dough for the prescribed time. I have never had to add flour during the kneading process. Just let the mixer run and it will come together perfectly. Too much flour is the enemy of great rolls. Maybe there is a hint in there as to why mine work and others had trouble. This recipe works and, more importantly, is delicious! Thank you SMARGOT.
qdara212 November 27, 2021
This is the third year in a row that I have made these with sourdough starter for thanksgiving. This is the best recipe!! I love it and so does my family!! Thank you!!
qdara212 November 27, 2020
This is the second year I made these for Thanksgiving. I used sourdough starter and they turned out great! Don’t pay attention to all the naysayers, they really don’t know what they are talking about. If you know how to use a starter and have a good one these rolls are amazing!!! Thanks for the great recipe!!!
Dayle W. September 14, 2020
I had the same issue as alot of people on here using Sourdough starter, the dough is very dense and mine didn't rise much at all, I'd like to see a video of these being made to be like the ones in the photo using a Sourdough starter.

I did decide to make them just for the sake of it and they do have a nice taste, unfortunately i wont be makimg these again.
Amanda B. May 23, 2020
I almost never leave reviews but I felt I obliged to do so with this one. These don’t work with sourdough. I have tried them three times because I was determined to make them work. I went to culinary school and majored in baking and pastry. I have been making sourdough bread for 20 years. They will not rise, granted I did not leave the bulk dough out on the counter because I didn’t feel safe leaving egg and milk based dough out for that long. Even with a 24 retard in the fridge, there was no activity. The rolls will never look like the picture because I’m sure the rolls in the picture are using Commercial yeast. I was so disappointed because the flavor is great and I wanted and nice enriched sourdough roll.
Bern November 28, 2019
I made these rolls with 100% starter. I let them rise overnight for 15 hours and was a little skeptical because the dough barely rose to double in size and was dense. I shaped them and put them in two round cake pans to rise another 5 hours. I baked them as stated and they came out perfect!!! My starter is only 40% hydration and it worked wonderfully!!! My kids loved them as part of the thanksgiving dinner! Thank you very much!!!
Amanda B. May 26, 2020
I really think the key is a stiff starter.
Victoria S. November 27, 2019
100 hydration starter is done by equal parts flour and water by weight, is this how you made your starter? It would be great if you could do the whole recipe by gram weights instead of volume. Going to try them today but worried about the long rise people have mentioned, I was thinking of also adding the commercial yeast to the sourdough recipe to cover all my bases, let it rise overnight, then form rolls in morning. Our dinner is a 3pm.
Go
smargot November 27, 2019
I don't use a scale, so one thing I've learned in the last decade is not to claim I have any clue what percent hydration my starter is. I feed it equal parts water and flour by volume, e.g. 1 cup water + 1 cup flour, which means it's roughly 2x as much water as flour, by weight.

When I'm in a hurry, I add 1 teaspoon packaged yeast per 9x13 pan, even when using my starter. So for the full recipe above, I'd usually add 2 teaspoons, and since I'm usually making 60 rolls, I typically add 4 teaspoons.

Sorry to those whose haven't risen. They've been reliable for over a decade to me. Best of luck finding one that works for you!
Victoria S. November 28, 2019
My rolls came out perfectly, beautiful 1st rise in oven with light on for warmth, from 5 to 3;30 am, then fridge till 5;30 am, 12 hours. 2nd rise was 2 hours in oven with light on.
I increased my milk to 2 1/2 cups as Smargot's starter is more liquid, roughly 2x as much by weight as mine which is equal parts by weight, and as I was just guessing, I had to add a bit more flour, but I really fluffed it up before I measured the original amt as in recipe.
Beautiful golden rolls for Thanksgiving!
A April 18, 2019
These are HORRIBLE! (I did the sourdough no dry yeast version) The dough has the consistency of lead. I gave it max time to rise and it only rose a little bit (my starter is active I bake bread with it all the time). There is not enough hydration. The ingredients ratio is faulty. They taste bad, too. Zero out of five stars.
Katie September 21, 2018
I made these, the sourdough method, with wholemeal spelt. The 1st prove was about 16 hours, the second was about 8. They turned out fabulously!
Kay July 2, 2018
I’ve been trying to make sourdough dinner rolls but can not get them to rise. I’m new to making bread and have a really nice sourdough starter, very active, smells great. But I believe I’m not getting the kneading technique down. Do you have any tips for first timers and I see where people are talking about increasing sourdough by 50%. Excuse me for the asking but what do they mean. I went out and bought all the ingredients and looking forward to making these rolls. And one more thing do you add all the whole wheat flour and all purpose flour at the same time. Thank you in advance.
smargot July 3, 2018
1) kneading: I don't know of any special technique. I just kind of grab one end, fold it over the middle, and push down, and then repeat, starting from a different end. Easier to demonstrate than to describe, but if you google "youtube kneading dough," you'll find lots of video tutorials that may be helpful.
2) increasing sourdough: I can't speak for other people because I use the recipe as written above, but I'm guessing they mean they're using 1 1/2 cups of sourdough starter instead of 1 cup (and probably reducing the amount of water and flour--if I increased the starter by 1/2 cup, I'd reduce the flour and water by 1/3 cup each.
3) flours: yes, I add the whole wheat and all-purpose at the same time

Julie P. November 22, 2017
Just pulled these babies out of the oven, and they are divine! Next time I make them, I may increase the starter by 50% as it took a full 24 hours for each rise in my chilly kitchen. Or, I could've put them in the oven or some smart thing like that. I used 100% whole wheat, a mixture of soft and hard white, and other than the slow rise they are a success! I cheated and ate one before they were cool and it wasn't too sour--the taste is lovely. I made a double batch and they wouldn't all fit in the oven, so I put one pan in the convection oven. It baked up nice and brown, but the big-oven pans are a little on the pale side. Oh, I also forgot the egg brush, but I brushed melted butter on them when they came out and popped the three back in the oven for a tiny bit of browning. Thanks for the beautiful recipe!
Jackie C. August 2, 2017
I made them. I started yesterday about noon and tonight, we had them for dessert! My sourdough had a very slow rise, but the wait was worth it. Thank you for sharing! I served them with unsalted butter and black sea salt from Maui. Yum!!
Ballardhonu May 29, 2017
This may seem like a strange question given that a lot of people are making this bread with the long rise, but should there be any concern about the milk and the eggs being used since it is such a long rise. My first rise took 9 hours and second rise, which I should have added another hour or two, was 4 hours. We had a cool day so i let rise in the oven with the light on.
Jim J. December 22, 2016
Maybe use measurements that aren't complete garbage? No one in the world will be able to make the same rolls as you using these garbage customary volumetric units.
Sigrid H. December 1, 2016
So my question at this point is: did anyone actually managed to make this following the sourdough starter instructions? I did and as for others, after 6h bulk and 8h cold proof my buns haven't grown a bit. I assumed that the author knows what she's talking about but besides the fact that my dough needed more liquid (I had to add between 1/4 and 1/2 c water in order to get an actual decent supple dough) as time passes my conviction that this recipe is not well written and the whole procedure desperately needed a polish grows. Will update if I ever get to bake these buns (which I doubt).
Sour December 1, 2016
Recipe worked perfect for us as written on the first try. Was exactly as stated in the review at the top of the page, "lovely pull-apart rolls are quite delicious, exceptionally tender and very simple to make. They melt in your mouth and would be a lovely accompanomens to any meal!" First rise was 10h long overnight. Second rise was 8h through day and buns were done just before supper. Temperature were dough rose was 23 C (73 F).
We will definitely be making these often.
Noushka November 17, 2016
I just tried this recipe (using sourdough starter) but the rolls turned out way too sour like almost inedible (although the sourdough bread I baked that same day with the same starter turned out delicious) and the rolls didn't really rise. Itdid after the first rise, it definitely doubled the size. So what could possibly have gone wrong so that the taste got so sour?
bbrowning November 16, 2016
Started these yesterday and after the first rise shaped the rolls and placed them in the refrigerator overnight. Finished rising and baking today. The best soft wheat rolls I've made to date.
Janet November 15, 2016
I followed the recipe and the ball of dough seems dense and is having problems rising (doing the sourdough method). I'm wondering if the flour, milk, honey, and starter should be added together and fermented first and then later add the salt, butter, and oil. I haven't had problems with sourdough baked goods before.
Calmyogi October 12, 2016
I tried making these with my wild yeast starter and they don't seem to be rising. Would it be possible to add more of the starter? My bread recipe calls for 2 cups of it and it seems to rise with my current starter so I was wondering if I just need more of my starter.
Lynn S. May 2, 2016
I notice a difference in the flour measurement, from 3 cups all purpose with starter, to 3 2/3 cups for active dry yeast. Is this a typo?
smargot May 2, 2016
No. There is flour in the starter.