Looking for Sourdough? 
Sourdough Hawaiian rolls are everything you ever dreamed of! These amazing, pull-apart dinner rolls are sweet, fluffy, buttery, and so easy to make.
They are delicious served with your Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner or make them into easy ham and cheese sliders for parties!
Who doesn't love sweet Hawaiian rolls with dinner?? I know we sure do! Now you can easily make these classic dinner rolls with your sourdough starter.
Just like our soft sourdough dinner rolls, sourdough sweet potato rolls or sourdough ciabatta rolls, this recipe comes with step by step instructions to make it as simple as possible!
Ingredients needed
This dough has a few added ingredients versus our other sourdough recipes. That's because in order to get that deliciously unique Hawaiian roll flavor, we need to sweeten things up a bit.
- bread flour
- pineapple juice
- milk
- butter
- sugar
- salt
- egg
Equipment needed
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Sample baking schedule
The following is an example of how you can structure your baking schedule to make these sourdough Hawaiian rolls fit into your life perfectly.
Because the dough is enriched with butter, sugar and pineapple juice, the rising times will be a little longer than usual.
The night before
7 PM - Feed your sourdough starter.
The next morning
6:30 AM - In a small saucepan, melt the butter, pineapple juice, milk, sugar and salt together over low heat. Pour the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer and allow it to cool down to room temperature.
7 AM - Add the flour and active sourdough starter to the bowl and stir with a spatula until the ingredients are combined and there are no dry bits left in the bowl. Cover the bowl and allow to rest at room temperature for 1 hour.
8 AM - Using the dough hook attachment, mix the dough on the #1 speed for 8 minutes. Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rise until it has risen by 50% in size.
1 PM - Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and divide it into 12 pieces, approximately 74 grams each. Shape each piece into a ball by gathering up the sides and pinching them together. Turn the dough over so that the seam side is down on the work surface and gently form a smooth ball. Arrange them in a lightly greased glass baking dish. Cover the dish with a tea towel and let rise for 3-4 hours or until puffy.
4 PM - About 20 minutes before you are ready to bake preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C). Brush the top of the dough with the lightly beaten egg. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until they are golden brown on top. The internal temperature of the rolls should be 190°F when fully baked.
How to store it
Store the rolls in a bread bag, a beeswax cloth or wrapped in a clean kitchen towel at room temperature for up to 3 days. Heat the rolls in the microwave for 15 seconds to soften them up.
The baked rolls can be frozen for up to 3 months.
Common questions
A stand mixer makes this recipe easy, but you don't need one in order to still achieve great results. All you need to do is give the dough 3 sets of stretches and folds after the dough has rested for one hour in step 2 of the recipe. Allow it to rise by 50% and move on to shaping!
You can, but it's definitely not strong enough to give you the full pineapple sweetness you'd expect. I recommend looking for canned pineapple juice instead.
If using a tin baking dish, increase the oven temperature to 400°F (204°C). Rolls can also be baked in a muffin tin for 23-25 minutes.
If you'd like to prepare the dough and bake the rolls at a later time, after shaping the rolls in step 4, cover the dish with plastic wrap and store in the fridge for up to 36 hours. When ready to bake, allow them to have the second rise at room temperature until puffy and proceed with baking.
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Sourdough Hawaiian Rolls
EQUIPMENT
- 9" x 13" glass baking dish
INGREDIENTS
Ingredients to make ½ cup (100 g) of Active Sourdough Starter
- 1 tablespoon (15 g) sourdough starter
- ⅓ cup + 1 tablespoon (50 g) all-purpose flour
- 3 ½ tablespoons (50) water
Dough Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons (28 g) butter
- 1 cup (240 g) pineapple juice
- ¼ cup (60 g) milk
- 3 tablespoons (36 g) sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons (8 g) salt
- ½ cup (100 g) active sourdough starter
- 3 ⅔ cups (440 g) bread flour
Egg Wash
- 1 large egg (lightly beaten)
INSTRUCTIONS
Feed Your Starter
- 12 hours before you plan to mix the dough, add the ingredients to make ½ cup (100 g) of active sourdough starter to a clean jar. Stir until combined, loosely cover the jar and let the starter rise at room temperature. (The ingredients will create a total of 115 g active starter but, because some of it will stick to the sides of the jar during the transfer, we are making a little more than needed.) The sourdough starter is ready to use when it has doubled in size and there are plenty of bubbles on the surface and sides of the jar.
Make the Dough
- Melt butter: In a small saucepan, melt the butter, pineapple juice, milk, sugar and salt together over low heat. Pour the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer. Allow the liquid to cool down to room temperature.
- Mix the remaining dough ingredients: Add the flour and active sourdough starter to the bowl and stir with a spatula until the ingredients are combined and there are no dry bits left in the bowl. Cover the bowl and allow to rest at room temperature for 1 hour.
- Stand Mix and First rise: Using the dough hook attachment, mix the dough on speed #1 for 8 minutes. Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rise at room temperature until it has risen by 50% in size. (See notes.)
- Shape: Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and divide it into 12 pieces, approximately 74 grams each. Shape each piece into a ball by gathering up the sides and pinching them together. Turn the dough over so that the seam side is down on the work surface and gently form a smooth ball. Arrange them in a lightly greased glass baking dish.
- Second rise: Cover the dish with a tea towel and let rise for 3-4 hours or until puffy.
- Bake: About 20 minutes before you are ready to bake preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C). Brush the top of the dough with the lightly beaten egg. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until they are golden brown on top. The internal temperature of the rolls should be 190°F when fully baked.
NOTES
- It's very important to take the ambient temperature of your kitchen into account when working with sourdough. Our recipes are tested in a kitchen that is 68°F (20°C). Both the first and second rise took about 4 hours each. If your kitchen is warmer, you will need to reduce your rising time in the first and second rise to avoid over-proving the dough.
- If you'd like to prepare the dough and bake the rolls at a later time, after shaping the rolls in step 4, cover the dish with plastic wrap and store in the fridge for up to 36 hours. When ready to bake, allow them to have the second rise at room temperature until puffy and proceed with baking.
- If using a tin baking dish bake rolls at 400°F (204°C). Rolls can also be baked in a muffin tin for 23-25 minutes.
PREVIOUS
Diana says
Loved this recipe! Is it possible to freeze the rolls for baking later?
Gayle Schneider says
I would like to know this as well, I have made these in the past and they are delicious. Would love to pop them in right before eating them.
Doreen says
I don't know what I did wrong, but my batter was runny. Any ideas?
Amy says
Hi Doreen, did you use a scale to measure your ingredients? It sounds like there is too much liquid in the dough. Was it runny right away or after it sat at room temperature for the first rise?
Linda says
These rolls were delicious! I did leave them in the refrigerator after the first rise and baked them the next day. Amy, I need to reduce the sodium in my sourdough recipes. If I lower salt to 1% ratio compared to the flour, would I need to adjust any of the other ingredients? Thanks for sharing your delicious recipes!
Amy says
Hi Linda, no you do not need to adjust the other ingredients. 🙂
Ashley says
Hi!
Looks yummy! I’m wondering if the first rise/fermentation be in the fridge over night?
Thanks!
Amy says
You could do that but it will be slow so you may still need to let it rise at room temperature when you take it out of the fridge if needed.
Paul Schmitt says
Rolls turned out great. Very soft and good tasting. Used orange juice instead of pineapple. Didn’t use stand mixer or knead. Mixed ingredients, let dough sit on counter overnight. Height doubled. Made dough into rolls, let them sit 3-4 hours until rolls expanded to touch each other and sides of pan, then baked. Next time will try pineapple juice.
Sandra says
Hello Paul, That sounds so incredibly AWSOME Such a sweet infused flavor!! Do you think it matters what form of juice to use? Like frozen or premade from the store or shelf stabled juice?? You could try the best of both worlds and use pineapple orange juice the combination I think seems it would taste great. Hope you have a wonderful and Happy Easter and stay healthy.🇺🇸 🔔 💖 🤟 From Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin United States of America
Jenny says
This looks delicious! Is it possible to make this with all purpose flour?
Amy says
Yes you can
Danny says
Amy this is a great recipe can I substitute honey for the sugar
Amy says
Hi Danny, yes you can! 🙂
Natalia says
Amy, how would you modify the recipe if you were to make it into a loaf? I was thinking the bake time would be longer. Thanks
Amy says
I would bake it in a loaf pan for 45 minutes at 375°F (190°C). You may need to add about 25g more milk as well.
Christine says
Wonderful recipe. My children have to have as little gluten as possible and all breads made with our sourdough starter works well with them so I’m so glad we now have a sweet bread recipe they can enjoy. They eat them any time of day. The rolls don’t last long in our house! Thank you.
Laura Porter says
I was wondering if this can be made with Einkorn flour ?
Amy says
I haven't made them with einkorn flour so I'm not sure.