Homemade buttery sourdough buns are a perfect side dish. This easy recipe is made with starter from King Arthur Flour.
I’ve had a sourdough starter in my refrigerator for months now, leftover from a bread-baking workshop I assisted in the fall. Every week on Friday I feed it flour and water and then put it away. It’s a habit. Sometimes habits create blind spots and make us forget about doing obvious things, such as actually making some sourdough bread. On Friday I was going through the motions, feeding my starter when I swear the thing looked at me and said “Are you ever going to bake me?!” Oh… right.
My starter came from King Arthur Flour, so I decided to see what new and unusual sourdough recipes they had so I could try something new. I came upon a recipe for buttery sourdough buns, which were clearly the right answer. I made them on Friday but found them to be slightly dry and lacking in salt. I made them again last night with a few tweaks and they were perfection. They’re soft but the swirl layers add a touch of crunch. The dough has just the right amount of sour (disclaimer: I like my sourdough to be noticeably sour. If that’s not your thing cut the quantity of starter down to 1/2 cup). There’s a touch of cocoa powder in the swirls, but it’s just for color. You could swap this out with paprika, which is how the recipe is originally written. I appreciate that these buns contain standard yeast in addition to the starter. Often times sourdough bread can be a multi-day process since the natural yeasts take longer to rise. It’s a time commitment which is why I probably don’t make sourdough regularly. But this recipe provides all of the rewards without the long wait.
Buttery Sourdough Buns
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup sourdough starter, fed or unfed (I used unfed)
- 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 5 tablespoons butter, room temperature
- 2/3 cup lukewarm water
Topping:
- 5 tablespoons melted butter, divided
- 1/2 teaspoon cocoa powder, for color
Instructions
- Place the sourdough starter in the bowl of a stand mixer fixed with the dough hook attachment.
- In a small bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together.
- Add the dry ingredients, egg, butter and lukewarm water to the stand mixer and turn it on low speed. After a minute or two increase the speed to medium.
- Allow the mixture to kneed for several minutes until a smooth dough has formed.
- Place the dough in a lightly greased container and cover it with a towel or plastic wrap. Allow it to rise for 1 1/2 - 2 hours, preferably in a warm, dark place (I use the attic or the laundry room on top of the dryer).
- Once the dough has roughly doubled in size, turn it out onto a clean, lightly greased work area. Gently punch down the dough and then roll it into a large rectangle.
- Combine the cocoa powder with 3 tablespoons of melted butter and brush it evenly onto the dough.
- Roll the long side of the rectangle evenly and tightly until you have one log. Using a bench scraper or knife, divide the log in half. Continue dividing evenly until there are 16 pieces.
- Place the buns swirl-side up into two greased cake pans, 8 buns per pan.
- Cover and allow to rise for an additional 60 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Brush the buns with most of the remaining butter and allow them to bake for 22-25 minutes.
- Brush with the remaining butter and carefully turn out onto a cooling rack. Serve hot or warm.
Notes
Please read my full post for additional recipe notes, tips, and serving suggestions!
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Love this post and all the detailed info about what you did, didn’t do, and how you ended up making changes til you were happy, salt, yeast + sourdough, etc. GREAT looking rolls, Jen. Pinned!
I will be trying recipe soon. I am all about exploring sourdough and this sounds yummy.
wow i am hoing to try this recipe sounds yummy
Love these buns! I made them into cheese buns by spreading butter and then cheese before rolling them up and pizza buns by spreading pizza sauce, bacon, ham, and cheese before rolling them. In both cases I added extra cheese on top before baking. I even made them with vegan butter to turn them into milk free pizza buns (without cheese of course ) Thanks for this great recipe!