Super simple, quick rolls leavened with yeast to use up discard on a short timeline! These are the fluffiest little pillow rolls you'll ever eat!
My mom, and aunts all used and shared this roll recipe for decades, but it used ingredients that we don't eat anymore so I've adjusted and tweaked it over the years to perfect it without the vegetable oil and with discard. I usually prefer to ferment my breads, but this is my go to when I simply didn't prepare and don't have time! If you're looking for easier to digest rolls, you can use sprouted or fresh milled flour and they'll be more gentle and more nutrient dense!
My kids will eat an entire pan in one day!
While this recipe doesn't provide the benefits of sourdough fermentation, it does provide incredibly soft, melt in your mouth rolls in just under 4 hours. No more Thanksgiving hockey puck rolls from Aunt Geraldine (we all have one)! The key to their fluffiness is STICKY DOUGH. I know it can feel wrong and be kind of scary, but sticky dough makes soft bread! You'll want to weigh your ingredients (I promise its worth it!) and be careful not to add too much flour!
If you need a sourdough starter heres a link to my FREE starter making guide: https://www.southworthsourdough.com/product-page/how-to-make-a-sourdough-starter
I also have a guide that teaches my entire artisan sourdough process. It teaches everything you NEED to know! https://www.southworthsourdough.com/product-page/southworth-sourdough-guide
Fluffy sourdough discard rolls
Ingredients
You'll need:
10g active dry yeast 2 1/4 tsp
312g whole milk (warmed) 1 1/4 c
86g granulated sugar (sub for maple or honey) 1/3 c
2 large eggs
100g sourdough discard 1/2 c
575g all-purpose flour 4 - 4 1/2 c
12g fine sea salt 1 tsp
55g butter (softened) 1/4 c
DIRECTIONS:
In a small saucepan, warm the milk to about 95 F then pour into the bowl of your stand mixer. Add the sugar, and yeast. Stir just a bit then cover the bowl for 10 minutes. Yeast mixture should become frothy and bubbly.
Into the bloomed yeast add the eggs and discard, mixing just enough to break up the eggs.
Pour in half the flour and all of the salt and mix until fully incorporated. Then gradually add the remaining flour- stop adding when the dough is just a bit tacky.
Add the softened butter one pat (roughly a tablespoon) at a time. It will get messy, but eventually will come together. You want this dough to be sticky. Cover and rest for 5-10 minutes then knead until windowpane. (Windowpane is when you can stretch the dough thin enough to see light through it without it tearing).
Pull the dough out onto a clean surface and knead by hand to bring the dough together. I like to use the slap and fold technique for this, but traditional kneading works too! (I teach the slap and fold technique in my Learn to Leaven course)
Form dough into a tight ball, place in a bowl, cover with plastic or a damp towel and proof until double in size. About an hour depending on the temperature of your kitchen.
Once doubled, punch down the dough to knock out the gas and stretch to a rectangle about 9x13 in. Use a rolling pin to make sure it’s even in thickness. Then use a bench scraper or knife to cut down the middle, into 32 even rectangles. Like this:
Once cut, fold each piece in half, pinch together and place on a parchment lined baking sheet baking sheet. Repeat until all rolls are shaped. Cover and proof until the rolls pass the poke test. (If you poke the corner of a roll and the indent stays it’s time to bake. If it pops back it needs more time).
Preheat the oven to 350 F while the rolls rise.
Once they pass the poke test pop them into the hot oven for 12-20 minutes or until golden brown and reach an internal temp of 195F.
Brush the hot rolls with butter and cool for 5-10 minutes before removing from pan.
Store in an airtight container at room temp for 3-5 days or in the freezer for 3 months.
NOTE: You can shape these into balls if you prefer, but I love how fast these are, and they pull apart perfectly for buttering or for leftover turkey sandwiches!
