Sourdough Hoagie Rolls
Sourdough Hoagie Rolls! Hoagie, hero, sub, grinder, whatever you call your sandwich, this is a great roll for building your masterpiece.

Table of contents
Why these are is the best Sourdough Hoagie Rolls
Whatever you call it, there is no doubt that the key to a great sandwich is the perfect long roll.
The perfect sourdough hoagie roll should have a thin, crisp crust and a light, soft, slightly chewy crumb. This recipe makes the perfect sourdough hoagie roll.
By the way, if you don’t have a sourdough starter, you can make Hoagie Rolls with commercial yeast.
How to make Sourdough Hoagie Rolls
See the recipe card for detailed measurements and instructions.

- After mixing the dough. Set it aside for 3-5 hours at room temperature.
- Every hour fold the dough to aerate and develop the dough.

- After the initial fermentation at room temperature. Cover the bowl and refrigerate.
- Leave the dough to ferment overnight in the refrigerator.
- In the morning the dough should be well-aerated and ready for shaping.

- Roll the dough to a 12″ log.
- Fold the two ends of the log towards the center.
- Roll the dough to a 12″ log again.

- Cut the dough into 6 pieces.
- Form each piece into an oval and roll the oval into a small log.
- Roll the dough to 10″ long.

- Set the rolls onto a sheet pan to rise.
- Rise until doubled in size.
- Bake until golden brown.
A timeline for making Sourdough Hoagie Rolls:
- If your starter needs feeding, do that the night before or early in the morning of the day you want to make the dough.
- Mix the dough in the afternoon. Allow it to ferment at room temperature all day and refrigerate the dough in the evening before going to bed.
- The dough can stay in the refrigerator for 2-3 days at this point.
- Take the dough out first thing in the morning and shape the hoagie rolls.
- Leave them at room temperature to rise for 1 1/2- 2 hours.
- If you want to bake the same day, feed the starter the night before. Make the dough early in the morning and leave it to ferment until the afternoon. Form the rolls and leave them to rise, skipping the refrigeration step. Bake the hoagie rolls in time for dinner.
Storage
Sourdough Hoagie Rolls will keep at room temperature for 1-2 days but they’re best the day they are baked. Leftovers can be frozen for up to a month. Defrost and warm in a 200F oven to re-crisp the rolls.

I know you love a good sandwich, so I highly recommend my Sourdough White Sandwich Bread and my Sourdough Whole Wheat Bread. Sourdough Rye Bread is also the base for a great sandwich.
Since you’ve got your starter fed, peruse the entire list of My Best Sourdough Recipes. Have fun!
I know you hate to throw away that sourdough discard. Check out these recipes that use sourdough discard.
If you love this recipe as much as I do, I’d really appreciate a 5-star review.
Sourdough Hoagie Rolls
Ingredients
- 8 oz Active Sourdough Starter (1 cup)
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 8 oz warm water (1 cup)
- 12 ½ oz unbleached all purpose flour (2 ½ cups, see note)
- 4 oz milk (½ cup, scalded and cooled to room temperature)
- 7 ½ oz unbleached bread flour (1 ½ cups)
- 2 teaspoons table salt
- cornmeal (for the sheet pans)
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer, combine 8 oz Active Sourdough Starter, 1 tablespoon granulated sugar and 8 oz warm water. Add 2 cups (10 oz) of the all purpose flour. Mix with the paddle on low speed until it forms a thick batter. Cover the bowl and set aside for 30 minutes.
- Add 4 oz milk, 7 ½ oz unbleached bread flour and 2 teaspoons table salt then mix to combine. If using a stand mixer, switch to the dough hook. With the mixer running, add the remaining all purpose flour. Knead the dough for 5 minutes until it is smooth and elastic. If mixing by hand add the flour using a wooden spoon and/or a plastic bowl scraper and knead by hand. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and shape into a smooth ball.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to coat the dough. Cover the bowl and set it aside at room temperature. After an hour, working from four corners of the dough (still in the bowl) use your hand to lift the top edge of the dough over into the middle of the dough. Repeat with the other 3 sides then flip the dough over. Every hour or so check on the progress of the dough by folding it over itself in the bowl. After about 3 hours the dough should be lively, elastic and airy. If the dough is still sluggish give it another hour or two at room temperature.
- Cover the bowl tightly, refrigerate overnight. At this point the dough can be held in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
- In the morning, take the dough out of the refrigerator. Generously sprinkle 2 half sheet pans with corn meal.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Without kneading, form the dough into a 12" log. Fold the two ends into the middle then roll back and forth to form a 12” log again. If at any point the dough springs back too much you can give it a 10 minutes rest then continue. Cut the log into 6 equal portions.
- On a lightly floured surface, pat a piece of dough into a 6” oval. Tightly roll the dough from the long side to form a 6" cylinder. Pinch the seam tightly. Using flat hands roll from the center out to form a 10” long roll. Let your hands go over each side to taper the ends of the roll. Set the roll onto one of the prepared pans. Continue forming the other rolls and place 3 on each pan.
- Cover the pans with a damp kitchen towel and set aside in a warm place to rise until doubled in volume (about 2-2 1/2 hours). The rising time will vary based on the temperature of the dough and the ambient temperature. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 450 °F.
- To create steam in the oven, place a small pan onto the floor of the oven to preheat. If you have them, you can put lava rocks or whiskey rocks into the pan to preheat as well.
- When the rolls are ready to bake brush them lightly with milk. Place the trays in the oven. Pour a 1/4 cup of warm water into the preheated pan on the floor of the oven and immediately close the oven door.
- Bake until the rolls are golden brown, about 15-20 minutes. Turn the trays after 10 minutes to promote even browning. Cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.
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Made these yesterday and they are delicious. My husband LOVED them! The texture was perfect. He has already asked me to make your sourdough sandwich loaf. I look forward to trying lots of your recipes so thanks for sharing so many.
This turned out amazing! (And your responses to the comments are also amazing)
I’ve made these twice thus far and couldn’t be happier. This recipe is definitely a keeper. The first time I made them into round rolls for Jackfruit Barbecue sandwiches. The bread absorbed the sauce and held its structure beautifully.
The second time we made long rolls for subs. We sliced the rolls and spread hummus as the base, added red pepper relish as well as oil and vinegar to our sandwiches which also had lettuce, onion, tomatoes, avocado, roasted peppers, kalamata olives and cucumbers.
The sandwiches were made the night before so when lunch break came I fully expected a soggy (but tasty) mess and had knives and forks on hand to use. To my surprise, we were able to pick up our sandwiches and eat them without any problems. It didn’t crumble or dissentigrate, the outside was crisp but not hard and the inside was moist and flavorful. The bread was sturdy enough to handle the ingredients, but the crumb was easy to bite and chew.
Even with all of the moist ingredients no one needed extra napkins. 10 outta 10 I will definitely make these again!
Thanks! I make these all the time. We use them for meatball sandwiches.
Something seems off. This comes out to a 44% hydration which is really really low hydration. 1 1/2 cups liquid (1 cup water, 1/2 cup milk) and 4 cups of flour (2 1/2 cups AP flour, 1 1/2 cups bread flour). The starter is 100% hydration, bringing it to 2 cups liquid and 4 1/2 cups flour with the starter.
I couldn’t even get all the last 1/2 cup of AP flour to incorporate it was so dry. I wet my hands to knead the dough to try and get what was already in there incorporated.
It rose very slowly and is in the fridge now. It is a very tight dough. I will see if I can make them into rolls tomorrow, but what am I missing here?
You can not figure out the hydration based on volume measure since a cup of flour does not weigh the same as a cup of liquid. You need to do the percentage by weight. 1 cup water (8oz) plus 1/2 cup milk (4oz) plus 4oz water in the starter = 16oz liquid total. 2.5 cups ap flour (12.5 oz) plus 1.5 cups bread flour (7.5 oz) plus 4 oz flour in the starter adds up to 24 oz of flour total. 16/24 = 66% hydration. 66% is well within normal hydration for bread dough.
What can I substitute the milk with? Would like to make this non-dairy.
Can I use water and add a fat?
That little bit of milk softens the crumb and crust. You can try using a nut milk but not sure you’d get the same results.