Sourdough roll calculator
Do you need a recipe for a sourdough roll that you can bake in any size round pan? Would you like to make a sourdough muffaletta roll or a roll that's very similar to the rolls they serve at Schlotzsky's Deli? If yes, this calculator will help you out.
This tool will build an ingredient list to help you create a round sourdough roll to fit the size of the pan that you want to use.
Select the size and number of the pans you have and this tool will calculate how much flour and other ingredients you'll need to create the proper amount of dough for the area of that pan.
Your calculated sourdough roll recipe
This is the recipe generated by the size of the pan selected above. Scroll back up to make adjustments to the pan size or number of pans.
Note: it is most accurate to use a scale and add all ingredients based on their specified gram weight. This tool is calculating cups/tablespoons volume for each ingredient based on the gram weight and the area of each pan, but it will rarely be whole numbers. Save yourself some headache and use grams if you can. Or if you're one of those fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants bakers, just go for it, it'll probably work.
No sourdough starter? If you do not have a sourdough starter, you can still make these rolls. Look at the amount of sourdough starter that the recipe calls for, divide it in half and then add that much water and flour. So if the recipe calls for 100 grams of sourdough starter that means you need to add 50 more grams of flour and 50 more grams of water. If you are not using a sourdough starter you definitely can not skip the instant yeast. Your rolls obviously will not have a sourdough flavor without the starter but the recipe should still work.
⇡ Adjust Pan size ⇡Ingredients for a 5 circle pan
- 135.3 grams bread flour (can use all-purpose flour) (1.1 cups)
- 6.0 grams salt (0.3 tablespoons)
- 2.1 grams instant yeast (optional) (0.2 tablespoons)
- 12.8 grams sugar (1.0 tablespoons)
- 135.3 grams fed sourdough starter (0.6 cups)
- 28.6 grams butter (2.0 tablespoons)
- 75.2 grams lukewarm water (0.3 cups)
You will also need:
- olive oil or vegetable oil for greasing your pans - about 1 teaspoon per pan
- cornmeal for sprinkling in your pans - just a light dusting in each pan
- sesame seeds for topping
Suggested tools
Escali Primo Digital Food Scale
Directions:
In a large bowl or the bowl of your mixer, weigh out and add your flour, sugar, salt, and instant yeast, and stir to combine all of your dry ingredients, making sure there are no clumps. If your sourdough starter is very active, you can skip the instant yeast. Schlotzsky's uses some instant yeast in their rolls, so I put it here too, just to help speed up the process. If you do not use the instant yeast, you will need to wait on the longer side of the rise time frames.
Add the sourdough starter, butter, and the room temperature water to the dry ingredients.
If using a stand mixer, knead for 4 minutes on medium speed. If you are kneading by hand, you will need about 5 minutes of stirring after all the ingredients are incorporated together. This will be a VERY STICKY dough. At this point, you mainly just want there to be no big lumps of flour, and the dough should be somewhat smooth but sticky.
Place your dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover. Let the dough rise in a warm place for 1.5 to 2 hours. The dough should be doubled in size.
Remove dough from bowl to a lightly oiled counter and divide into [pancount] pieces. I like to weigh the dough at this point to keep them all fairly consistently sized, and I usually get [pancount] rolls out of this size batch.
Drizzle about a teaspoon of oil into each pan and, with your fingers, spread the oil into the corners and onto the inside sides of the pan. Then sprinkle a very light dusting of cornmeal on the bottom and inside sides. Both of these ingredients should help the bread release from the pan more easily after baking.
Divide the dough evenly in each pan. The dough will not reach the sides yet. You can push it down if you want, but it should rise out during the next step to fill the bottom of the pan. If you're making a very large roll (8 inches or larger) you might need to spread the dough out just a little with your hands. Smaller rolls, like 4 or 5 inches, will easily fill the pan before baking.
Once all of the dough is in the pans, place all of the pans on a baking sheet. The rolls will bake in pans on top of a sheet pan. This makes them easy to move in and out of the oven. Cover your pans with lightly greased plastic wrap or a second sheet pan flipped over on top of the pans you're using. This keeps the dough from drying out.
Let the dough rise for another hour to 2 hours until they are nearly doubled in size.
Near the end of your final proofing time, preheat your oven to 425 degrees F (220 C). Lightly sprinkle each risen dough portion with sesame seeds. We're not using an egg wash here, so a lot of the seeds will come off the bread after it's baked. Because of this, I like to lightly press down the seeds with my finger. The dough will stick a little, and that's ok, just try not to press down hard enough that you're pushing out the air in the dough.
Bake your rolls for 20 to 25 minutes, rotating the sheet pan halfway through the baking time. I typically bake for 10 minutes and then rotate and come back in another 10 minutes to see what my level of brownness looks like. At that point, your rolls should be done all the way through; you're just trying to get the tops to the color you prefer.
Remove the rolls from the oven and remove each one from its pan to a cooling rack. Do not cut for 1 hour after baking.