Olive Oil Sourdough Dinner Rolls

Wonderfully tender dinner rolls made with sourdough starter, olive oil and flaked sea salt. 

These rolls, a recipe carefully crafted after months of testing and retesting, are the dinner roll form of a warm, freshly baked flatbread, dipped first in olive oil then dabbed a bit of flaky sea salt. 

Recipe Ingredients 

Fed starter or active: the starter should have doubled in size after feeding some 6 or so hours prior. You’ll use it at the stage you would if you were making a loaf of sourdough. 

Olive oil: There’s olive oil in the dough, spread between the layers and brushed onto it so this is when you use something that’s very good tasting! I use Costco’s Organic Olive Oil. 

Greek Yogurt: Plain (no flavor); either full or 0% fat will work fine. If you are using a non-greek yogurt the dough will lack some structure. 

Honey: There’s not much of it, unless you want to drizzle some over the finished rolls when you are done, and it mainly serves to help activate the yeast and give the rolls a hint of sweetness. 

Flour: All purpose flour, of at least 11% protein content. Bread flour makes the rolls a bit too chewy. 

Yeast: I use active dry but you can swap with instant if that’s all you have. No adjustments necessary (the dough might rise a little faster). 

Flaked sea salt: This is for the topping, it gives the rolls the taste of fresh bread being dipped in olive oil and salt which is really wonderful. It can also be used between the layers before you roll the strips for added flavor. 

Making the Dinner Roll Dough 

Some six to 12 hours before you are going to make the dough, feed your starter. We want to use it while it’s active. 

All the ingredients go into a mixer and the dough will be kneaded until it comes together in a tacky ball. 

How do I know when the dough is done kneading? 

It’s going to be quite ‘shaggy’ when you begin kneading but as the gluten develops and the dough is worked, it will form into a sticky ball. 

Can I knead this dough by hand? 

Yeah! It’s not as sticky as many of my other doughs and with the olive oil it is fairly easy to work with especially toward the end. 

How do I know when it’s done rising? 

It should be doubled in size, this can take 1-3 hours depending on the temperature of your kitchen (it takes about two in mine which is usually around 75 F). 

How to shape Sourdough Dinner Rolls 

1. Prep the baking pan: just a little bit of olive oil will do. Use metal, not glass or ceramic as those take longer to heat and longer to cool. 
2. Flour the countertop, roll out the dough into a large rectangle. 
3. Spread olive oil over the dough 
4. Slicing: you’ll slice it first in half so you have two longer rectangles, then each of those will be sliced into 1-2” strips. 
5. Roll up the … rolls! Into a coil, then place onto the prepared pan. 

How do I know when the dinner roll dough is ready to bake? 

Do the poke test: if the rolls bounce back from a gentle index finger poke, they aren’t ready. If they bounce back slowly but there’s still an indentation, they are ready to be baked. 

Olive Oil Sourdough Dinner Rolls Recipe

Olive Oil Sourdough Dinner Rolls

Wonderfully tender dinner rolls made with sourdough starter, olive oil and flaked sea salt.

Yields: 12 rolls

5 from 2 votes

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Ingredients

• 120 g fed active sourdough starter fed 6-12 hours before making this dough
• 360 all purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 25 g honey
• 80 g greek yogurt
• 120 g warm water
• 1 ½ tsp active dry yeast
• 25 g olive oil plus more for topping
• Flaked sea salt

Method

• In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the warm water, yeast and a small squeeze of honey (about 5g). Stir together.
• Fit the mixer with the dough hook and add the fed starter, the flour, 20g of the honey, greek yogurt, salt and the 25g of olive oil. Turn the mixer on low.
• Work up the speed to medium and knead the dough for 5-7 minutes, until it comes together in a soft ball.
• Set it in a bowl greased with olive oil and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for about 2-3 hours, until doubled in size.
• Spread a thin layer of olive oil around the bottom and sides of a 9x13” cake pan.
• Roll the dough out to about 10 x 12”. Spread a thin layer of olive oil on the dough, sprinkle on some flaky salt, then use a pastry cutter (or pizza roller or knife) to slice it in half lengthwise so you have two longer rectangles. Use the pastry cutter to slice the rectangles thin 1” strips (see the video below for guidance).
  
• Roll each strip up into a coil. Set them on the greased pan, leaving space between each coil. You should have about 15 rolls (you can wrap two of the edges that are smaller/thinner together to make one slightly larger roll).
  
• Cover with a tea towel and let rise for another hour, until you can press the dough and it doesn’t immediately spring back. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
  
• Bake the rolls for 25-30 minutes, until golden all over.
• When they are out of the oven, brush with more olive oil and sprinkle on some sea salt.
• Serve warm!

Notes

Makes 15 dinner rolls.

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