Description

Wonderful homemade hoagie rolls that are soft on the inside with a nice chewy crust and the healthy goodness of sourdough, made simpler with a stand mixer (or bread machine) and french roll pan. I like to add a bit of active dry yeast to make it less sour and MUCH faster.

Ingredients

Scale

1 1/4 cups water (296 g, 10.43 oz by weight)
2 – 4 oz. sourdough starter (from the fridge or discard is fine, 57 – 113 g)
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
3 1/2 – 4 cups bread flour (507 g, 17.9 oz by weight)
4 Tablespoons grass-fed butter, slightly softened (can substitute olive oil to keep it vegan) (57 g or 2 oz. by weight)

Instructions

Put the ingredients into your stand mixer bowl (starting with 3 1/2 cups flour) and give them a quick stir to make a very shaggy dough. Using the dough hook, mix/knead for about 5 minutes, adding bits of extra flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking to the bowl.
Meanwhile, set the oven to “proof” setting (or warm it to the lowest temp and turn the oven light on, then turn off the oven). When the dough is soft and pliable, remove it from the bowl, add a little drizzle of olive oil to the bottom, then put the dough back in and roll it around to coat it in oil. Let it proof in the oven for 1 – 2 hours, until it’s doubled in size.
Cut the dough into 6 roughly-equal pieces (I cut in half, then cut each half in thirds.) Shape the hoagies by flattening each piece with your hands, then roll it up, jelly-roll style, pulling the dough towards you to push out the air bubbles.
Once you’ve completed all six rolls, then take each roll and roll it the other way. To do that, rotate it so it’s pointing away from you, then roll it up from the end nearest you to the end pointing away from you. This will essentially make it into a log shape again. Repeat this process 2 – 4 times, letting the rolls rest, covered, a couple minutes between each session. This builds tension in the dough and releases the air bubbles.
Next, take a roll, and working from one end to the other, take your thumb on the side facing you and 2nd/3rd fingers on the side facing away from you. Grab onto the bottom edge with your 2nd/3rd fingers and gently pull the dough upwards and over, towards you and then use your thumb to pull the dough upward from the bottom to the top away from you. So you’re kind of pulling the dough from the bottom up and over and making the roll longer and thinner in the process. Move from left to right, repeating this action, until the roll is thin and looks like a fully-cooked puffy breadstick.
Set the dough with the pinched side up on your oiled pan, then flip so the pinched side is down and the top is nicely oiled. Repeat with the other five rolls. Let rise, covered, in a warm oven for another 45 minutes or so or until almost doubled in size and looking close to the right size for a sandwich. If you’re feeling brave, slash with an oiled bread lam before baking.
Bake at 375 F. for 15 – 25 minutes or until golden brown on the top AND the bottom. Check at 15 minutes and if they are getting too brown on top, cover with foil. Once they are browned on both sides and not squishy when poked on the side, they are done. Let cool on a rack a bit before cutting and enjoy.

Notes

If using a bread machine, use the “dough” setting in place of step 1 and 2. If hand kneading, knead for 8 minutes.

If you don’t want all six rolls right away, you can do initial shaping, then put the rolls in a covered container in the fridge. When you’re ready to cook your rolls, pull them out of the fridge and let the dough warm for about an hour. Oil your pan and set the shaped buns on there. Do a little pinching on the bottom to lengthen and thin the rolls to about breadstick size, then flip, cover and let rise until the buns are good and puffy, but not overflowing the edges of the pan and bake.

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