Sourdough Hoagie Rolls with Active Starter

These long sourdough rolls use recently fed, active starter for their rise. Starter strength and room temperature vary, so use the dough’s expansion and feel as your main guides. Unfed discard is not an equal substitute in this formula.

Ingredients for six rolls

• 500 g bread flour
• 100 g active sourdough starter at 100% hydration
• 300 g water
• 10 g salt
• 20 g sugar
• 30 g olive oil

Use a starter that is bubbly and reliably rises after feeding. The original version of this recipe suggested using discard interchangeably. Discard may not have enough leavening power to raise these rolls without an additional ingredient, so this method calls for active starter only.

Mix and bulk-ferment the dough

1. Stir the starter into the water. Add the flour, sugar, salt and oil. Mix until no dry flour remains.
2. Rest the covered dough for 20 minutes, then knead until smoother and elastic. It should feel tacky but hold its shape.
3. Transfer to a lightly oiled container and cover. Let it rise until airy and noticeably larger, roughly 50–75% above its starting volume. In a moderate room this may take several hours. A weak starter or cool room can take longer.

Shape, proof and bake

1. Turn out the dough and divide it into six equal pieces. Shape each piece into a tight log about 7 inches long. Place on a parchment-lined tray with space between rolls.
2. Cover and proof until visibly puffy. A gentle fingertip press should spring back slowly. Heat the oven to 425°F (220°C) near the end of proofing.
3. Score each roll lengthwise. Bake until deeply golden and baked through, beginning to check at about 20 minutes. Cool on a rack before slicing.

How to judge the dough

If the dough has hardly expanded, give it more time before shaping. If shaped rolls still feel dense, let them proof longer. If they spread instead of holding a log shape, handle them more gently next time and avoid over-proofing. The oven times are guides; dough temperature, starter activity and roll size affect the result.

Serving and related recipe

Let the rolls cool before making sandwiches so the crumb can set. For a different way to use sourdough starter, see our sourdough discard pizza dough. That recipe is designed for discard; these rolls rely on active starter for their rise.