Sourdough Hawaiian Rolls

Soft sourdough Hawaiian rolls, sweetened with pineapple juice and enriched with butter, milk and eggs. They're so good, they'll have everyone asking for seconds!

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Keyword Flavored Sourdough, Sourdough Bread, Sourdough Rolls

Prep Time 40

Cook Time 30

Fermentation Time 12

Total Time 13 10

Servings Rolls

Calories 235kcal

Equipment

Stand Mixer
Digital Scale
Baking Tray

Ingredients

80 g Milk (whole)
40 g Butter (melted)
200 g Pineapple Juice (fresh or canned)
20 g Brown Sugar
530 g All Purpose Flour
1 Egg Yolk
5 g Vanilla Extract
100 g Sourdough Starter (fed and bubbly)
10 g Salt

Topping (optional)

20 g Butter
20 g Honey

Instructions

Add the milk, butter, pineapple juice, sugar, salt, egg and vanilla to the bowl of your stand mixer. Mix the ingredients together so that the sugar and salt are dissolved and everything is mixed through. It won't take long, like 30 seconds - you just don't want gritty sugar and salt through your dough.
Now add your flour and sourdough starter to the liquid in the bowl. Mix the flour and sourdough starter through the liquid so it just comes together.
Depending on the type of mixer you're using, you may need to add your dough hook on for the next step.
You want to knead the dough using your stand mixer until it forms a silky, slightly tacky dough.
The dough is enriched with butter, milk and egg so will be glossy. It will generally come away from the sides of the bowl when it's done. It can take anywhere from 3 to 8 minutes depending on the type of stand mixer you're using.
Bulk Ferment:
Once the dough is sufficiently kneaded you need to let it ferment and rise. You can leave it in your stand mixer bowl for this (saves washing up) or you can transfer it to another bowl if you like.
Cover the bowl with plastic or a damp tea towel and let it bulk ferment. As always, the time it takes will depend on your starter and the temperature in your home. You want it to come to just under double. (see notes)
Shaping Your Rolls:
Once your dough has risen you need to shape it into the rolls. This recipe will give you 12 rolls around 80g in weight. In the picture I've done 9 rolls at 110g each.
To shape the dough, tip it onto your counter (you won't need flour as it won't be a sticky dough).
Using a metal dough scraper, cut the dough into 12 pieces. I like to use a scale to ensure that all the pieces are exactly the same. Gently shape each piece of dough into a round ball. Arrange the dough balls into a parchment lined tin or an oiled baking dish. They need to be just touching each other in the tin.
Second Rise:
Cover the tin with a tea towel and allow the rolls to double in size. They will look puffy and squished - this is good! It will generally take around 2 hours for them to double - but of course will take longer if your house is cold.
Baking The Rolls:
Once the rolls have doubled, brush generously with butter.
Place the rolls into a cold oven set to 180C (350F) and bake for around 30 minutes. You'll know they're done when they are golden on top. Because these rolls contain milk and sugar, they are prone to burning on top so just keep an eye on them. (see notes)
Take them out of the oven and brush immediately with melted butter and honey (this is completely optional but gives your rolls a lovely sheen).
Once cooked, place your rolls onto a cooling rack to cool slightly before tearing apart and enjoying them!

Notes

Notes on Bulk Fermentation -

o not worry about leaving your dough out when it has milk, butter and egg in it. Sourdough starter bacteria is wonderful stuff and it will not go bad - even if you leave it on your counter overnight. I do this often and I promise it will be absolutely fine.

Using Sourdough Discard -

Yes you can make sourdough discard Hawaiian rolls by swapping out the sourdough starter for sourdough discard and adding 7g of instant yeast along with it. This will change the timeline though so you will need to change the rising times to suit using discard and active yeast.

Notes on Baking -

I have instructed to place the rolls in a cold oven and then turn the oven on. So your rolls will be cooking in your oven while it's preheating (total cook time is 30 minutes from when you turn the oven on).

This is to stop the rolls burning on the top (as they contain a lot of sugar with the pineapple juice).

Nutrition