These Sour Cream Chive Sourdough Dinner Rolls are perfect for when you want an ultra-deluxe roll. The tangzhong paste and sour cream in the dough give them the best soft and fluffy texture, and the chives added during shaping (not to mention the sprinkle of salt and pepper before baking) give them such amazing savory flavor.
Sometimes you want a roll recipe so simple you could make it in your sleep - like these sourdough Parker House rolls, or these sourdough crescent rolls, or these crusty sourdough rolls. And sometimes you want a recipe that pulls out all the stops. That’s where these come in!
Quick Look: Sour Cream Chive Sourdough Dinner Rolls
- Recipe Name: Sour Cream Chive Sourdough Dinner Rolls
- Ready In: 14 hours
- Serves: Makes 24 rolls
- Calories: 125 calories per roll
- Main Ingredients: all purpose flour, active sourdough starter, sour cream, chives, whole milk, egg, sugar
- Why You'll Love It: Super savory dinner rolls with the BEST soft and fluffy texture. They’re fun to make and the dough is so nice to work with. They feel so special with any holiday spread, and hold up really well to loaded leftover sandwiches!
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These aren’t the simplest roll recipe on the site, but they are still easy and fun to make! There’s a tangzhong paste, there’s kneading, there’s an egg wash. But the payoff makes all that work worth it! These are so soft, rich, and flavorful.
Jump to:
- Quick Look: Sour Cream Chive Sourdough Dinner Rolls
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Key Ingredients
- Easy Substitutions + Variations
- How To Make Sour Cream Chive Sourdough Dinner Rolls
- Expert Tips
- Sour Cream Chive Sourdough Dinner Rolls FAQ’s
- Storage and Make-Ahead Tips
- More Savory Sourdough Recipes You’ll Love
- Sour Cream Chive Sourdough Dinner Rolls
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- A tangzhong paste that’s so easy! No seriously, you’ll do it in the microwave in under 2 minutes. No need to stand and whisk for 5-10 minutes straight! (But if you prefer to do it stovetop, I have directions for that as well!)
- The BEST texture - The sour cream and the tangzhong paste in the dough work together to give these such amazing texture. Some of the softest, fluffiest rolls I’ve ever had!
- Really amazing savory flavor - The chives add a very subtle hint of onion. I would compare it to a toned-down everything bagel, but in a roll.
- A flexible schedule - You can make these straight through as written, OR prep and shape them the day before and let them rise overnight in the fridge. Either schedule will give you freshly baked rolls the day of!
- Good fresh from the oven AND left over - These are amazing straight out of the oven (of course!), but leftovers stay so soft thanks to the tangzhong paste and sugar in the dough. Plus, these are amazing for sandwiches!
Key Ingredients
Sour cream - Sour cream adds richness and color to the rolls, plus tenderizes the dough and takes the sour tang up a notch. Be sure to use full fat!
Butter - There’s butter in just about every step of this recipe. You’ll add softened butter to the dough during kneading, very generously butter the baking dish before arranging the shaped rolls in it, and brush melted butter over the baked rolls. Altogether, you’ll need a stick of butter for these.
Salt + pepper - There’s salt in the dough (of course!), and also flakey salt and freshly ground black pepper are sprinkled over the tops of the rolls after brushing on the egg wash before baking. It really takes these up a notch!
Sugar - Just a smidge of sugar in this recipe to balance out the sour notes, increase shelf life, and add color.
Egg - These are (very) enriched rolls, so of course they include egg in the dough! Egg will add richness, tender texture, and help these to brown. There’s also an egg wash brushed on right before baking, which is part of why these have such nice color.
Chives - You can most definitely use fresh chives here, but I have the hardest time finding fresh chives in the quantity needed here for a reasonable price! Typically, I use a container of partially dried chives found in the refrigerator section of the grocery store. Their shelf life is far better than the fresh variety, plus they’re already washed, dried, and chopped. Quantities for both options are in the recipe card!
Easy Substitutions + Variations
- Fresh OR lightly dried chives - Either will work here! If you use fresh, be sure to dry them very well before adding them. Amounts for both options are in the recipe card below.
- Bread flour - I love the texture of these just with all purpose flour, but if you prefer to use bread flour, it will work as well!
- The butter - Unsalted butter is listed in the recipe, but feel free to use salted butter if it’s what you typically have. You may want to reduce the salt in the dough a smidge, and go a little lighter when sprinkling salt over the tops of the rolls.
How To Make Sour Cream Chive Sourdough Dinner Rolls
Expert Tips
- Don’t skip the butter in the pan - 2 tablespoons will seem like a lot, but it melts as the rolls bake and leaves you with the best buttery, slightly crispy texture on the bottoms and sides of the rolls. It’s so good!
- Use a kitchen glove to butter the pan - A paper towel will absorb a lot of the butter. Use a kitchen glove for the easiest time getting the butter into all the nooks and crannies of the pan, and to prevent the butter from melting on your fingers. They’re non porous so no butter will get absorbed!
- Remember to watch the dough rather than the clock - The times listed in the recipe are what work for me in my kitchen. Depending on where you are in the world, how strong your starter is, what temperature your ingredients are, etc. it might be different for you. Use the times in the recipe as a rough estimate, and let your dough tell you when it’s ready for the next step.
Sour Cream Chive Sourdough Dinner Rolls FAQ’s
Yes! You can shape these the day or night before, cover well, and refrigerate overnight. Take them out to finish rising at room temperature for a few hours, until they’re adequately puffed up, then proceed with baking.
I don’t recommend it! Chives give these a subtle, muted onion flavor that reads as super savory in the baked rolls. Plus their very small size allows them to easily incorporate into the dough during shaping and become practically unnoticeable once the rolls are baked. Green onions have too strong a flavor, too big a size, and too hearty a texture to be a good substitute here.
Hand kneading here will be tricky and slightly messy for a bit since butter is added during kneading, but you can do it if you’re up for it! It may take slightly longer than in a mixer, but once the dough is looking smooth, you’re ready to let it rise.
Storage and Make-Ahead Tips
- Storage - Leftover rolls can be stored in an airtight container or ziplock bag at room temperature for up to 3 days. Depending on what salt you use on the tops, it may absorb into the dough (I’ve found a super flaky salt like Maldon takes longer to absorb), but the rolls will still be delicious. Reheat in the oven or microwave before eating.
- Making ahead - You can shape the rolls the day before, cover well, then let them start the second rise in the fridge. If they haven’t puffed up much in the fridge, let them finish rising at room temperature for 3-4 hours before baking.
More Savory Sourdough Recipes You’ll Love
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Sour Cream Chive Sourdough Dinner Rolls
Ingredients
For the Tangzhong
- 150 grams whole milk
- 50 grams all purpose flour
For the Dough
- 200 grams active sourdough starter
- 100 grams sour cream
- 50 grams sugar
- 1 egg
- 450 grams all purpose flour
- 12 grams salt
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
For filling and topping
- ½ cup finely chopped fresh chives (see note)
- 1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water
- Flaky salt (such as Maldon)
- Freshly ground black pepper
- For brushing: 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Directions
- Make the tangzhong paste: Whisk together the milk and flour in a medium microwave safe bowl. Microwave in 30 second intervals, whisking between each, until mixture is the consistency of mashed potatoes. This takes a total of 90 seconds for me. Set aside to cool slightly until it feels like a comfortable bath water temperature. (I spread mine thinly in the bowl and place it in the fridge while I prep the rest of the ingredients.)
- Mix the dough: Scrape the tangzhong into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the starter, sour cream, sugar, and egg. Mix to combine. Add the flour and salt and mix on LOW until no dry flour remains. The dough will be on the drier side at this point - it will come together during kneading!
- Knead the dough + the first rise: Switch to the dough hook and begin kneading on LOW (not past 2 on a KitchenAid). Add the butter a few small pats at a time. Once they’re fully incorporated, add another. It will take 3-4 minutes to add all the butter. Continue kneading for 5-6 minutes more, until dough begins to look smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Total kneading time will be 8-10 minutes. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and shape into a ball. Place inside a clean bowl, cover well, and let rise at room temperature for 8-10 hours, until roughly doubled in size.
- Shape into rolls + second rise: Coat a 9 by 13-inch metal pan with 2 tablespoons of butter and set aside. This will be a very generous coating to prevent sticking and to add lots of flavor and good browning to the rolls as they bake. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll into a 12” square, adding more flour as needed to prevent sticking. Sprinkle chives over the dough, then roll into a loose log and press into a rectangle. Roll out again, this time into an 16 x 6-inch rectangle. Use a pizza cutter, bench scraper, or sharp knife to cut into an 8x3 grid. This will leave you with 24 squares of dough, each roughly 2” square.Shape each dough piece into a roll and place in a 6x4 grid in the prepared baking pan. Cover well and let rise until puffed up, about 2-3 hours.
- Bake: Toward the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.Brush tops of rolls with the egg wash, then sprinkle generously with flaky salt and freshly ground black pepper.Bake on the middle rack for 25-30 minutes, until cooked through to 200 degrees and golden brown. Brush with the melted butter immediately after taking them out of the oven. Let cool 5 minutes in the pan before serving. You can serve these in the pan or slide them onto a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
- Lightly dried chives - these are much easier to find in the store year-round, and already come washed, dried, and chopped, so they’re ready to add to the dough with no prep work. You’ll want 1 (0.35 ounce) container for this recipe. You can find them in the refrigerator section of the grocery store next to the fresh herbs.
- Fresh chives - Be sure to dry them well after washing, otherwise they can add too much moisture to the dough.
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