Sourdough Hawaiian rolls are a soft, fluffy, sweet roll with a delicious pineapple flavor and classic sourdough tang. These make the best dinner rolls, or you can use them to make mini sandwiches.
Probably one of the easiest bread recipes ever and also one of the tastiest. You simply dump all the ingredients into a stand mixer, allow the mixer to knead, let the dough rise, shape, rise again and bake.
No folding and stretching. Just mix until stretchy right in the stand mixer.
Hawaiian rolls are one of our family’s favorite sweet sourdough rolls (it’s a tie between these and sourdough brioche, which is quite similar).
If we are out of town or traveling and we need to stop by the grocery store to get some bread, we will grab Hawaiian rolls rather than white bread. It is just so much more delicious.
Hawaiian rolls are a great way to feed a crowd. For an easy dinner, I love having this sourdough Hawaiian bread on hand to make ham and Swiss rolls. Slice the rolls in half, add your ham and cheese, top with the other half, then bake until gooey.
The perfect combination of sweet and savory.
Tips:
- Make sourdough Hawaiian bread – Usually, we make these into rolls, but you can also make this recipe into a loaf. Just make 6 larger dough balls and bake in a bread pan, rather than in a 9×13. Bake for about 25 minutes.
- Make sure your sourdough starter is super active and bubbly for best results.
- If you find yourself with risen dough, but don’t have time to shape and rise again before baking, you can stick it in the fridge until you have time. This slows down the fermentation process, allowing you a little extra time.
- New to sourdough? Check out how to make a sourdough starter here, and see the list of terms you may need to know.
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Why you will love this recipe:
Simple: This recipe couldn’t be easier. Add all the ingredients straight to the stand mixer and let it do all the work. Allow it to rise, then shape the dough, rise again and bake.
Super delicious: Is there anything better than super soft, fluffy, buttery sweet rolls?
Perfect for mini sandwiches or appetizers: These rolls make the best vessel for ham and Swiss sandwiches or sliders. Yum!
FAQ:
Are Hawaiian rolls the same as brioche?
They are similar since Hawaiian rolls and brioche are both enriched doughs, meaning they include eggs and/or butter. The main difference is that Hawaiian rolls are sweeter and include pineapple juice to give them a super yummy flavor.
How is Hawaiian bread different from regular bread?
It includes pineapple juice and more sugar compared to regular bread.
What is special about Hawaiian bread?
It is sweet and fluffy with a slight pineapple flavor.
What’s the difference between Hawaiian rolls and regular rolls?
They are an enriched roll, meaning that they include butter and eggs. Regular rolls usually do not. Hawaiian rolls also include pineapple juice to give them that tasty, sweet, pineapple flavor.
Why is it called a Hawaiian roll?
Because they originated in Hawaii in the 1950’s. It is actually a twist on the Portuguese sweet bread, which also has a slight pineapple flavor even though pineapple isn’t listed on the ingredient list.
Ingredients
- Pineapple Juice – Canned or bottled will work the best.
- Milk
- Sugar
- Sourdough starter – Make sure it is nice and bubbly. Discard or immature starter will not work for this recipe.
- Butter – This needs to be softened so it can easily be incorporated. Butter that is too hard will just leave you with chunks.
- Vanilla extract – Store-bought or homemade.
- Egg
- Salt
- All-purpose flour – Nothing fancy here. Plain ol’ all-purpose flour will work. Fresh milled or store bought.
Egg wash
- Egg yolk
- Water
Tools you may need:
Measuring cups and spoons
9×13 baking dish
Bench scraper (optional but useful)
How To Make Sourdough Hawaiian Rolls
Add all of the ingredients (except the egg wash) to the stand mixer with a dough hook.
Knead until smooth and elastic, about 10-15 minutes.
Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a tight lid.
Allow to rise overnight. About 8-12 hours.
Divide dough into 18 even rolls and place in a greased 9×13 baking dish.
Cover with a towel and allow to rise until doubled. This rise will take about 1-3 hours depending on the temperature of your home.
Once the dough has doubled, create the egg wash and brush over the dough.
Bake for 20-25 minutes at 375 until the rolls are golden in color.
Cool.
Storage:
Store in an air-tight container. Use within 3-4 days for best results. Or freeze for up to 6 months.
Baker’s Schedule:
12 PM: Feed sourdough starter.
8 PM: Create dough and allow it to ferment overnight, covered.
8 AM the next day: Take dough and roll into 16 rolls. Place in a baking dish covered and allow to double in size.
10 AM: Bake and allow to cool before serving.
How To Use Sourdough Hawaiian Rolls:
- Ham and Swiss
- Pulled pork
- Mini hamburgers. Growing up my aunt made the best sliders with these rolls. She would brown ground beef with seasonings and onions. Slicing the rolls in half, she would add ground beef, top with pickles, and then replace the other half of the rolls and bake.
- Chicken parmesan sliders: Add cooked chicken and a little tomato sauce, top with parmesan and mozzarella cheese, then bake until gooey.
- Fried chicken sliders: Use my sourdough fried chicken recipe and create mini sandwiches.
- BLT
Find More Sourdough Roll Recipes:
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love if you gave it 5 stars! Thank you! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone.
Sourdough Hawaiian Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 cup pineapple juice
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup starter
- ¼ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 5 cups all Purpose Flour
Egg wash
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients (except the egg wash) to the stand mixer with a dough hook.
- Knead until smooth and elastic. About 10-15 minutes.
- Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a tight lid.
- Allow to rise overnight. About 8-12 hours.
- Divide dough into 18 even rolls and place in a greased 9×13 baking dish.
- Cover with a towel and allow to rise until doubled. About 1-3 hours depending on the temperature of your home.
- Once the dough has doubled, create the egg wash and brush over the dough.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes at 375 until the rolls are golden in color.
- Cool.
Notes
- Make sourdough Hawaiian bread: Usually, we make these into rolls, but you can also make this recipe into bread. Just make 6 larger dough balls and bake in a bread pan rather than in a 9×13. Bake for about 25 minutes.
- Make sure your sourdough starter is super active and bubbly for best results.
- If you find yourself with risen dough, but don’t have time to shape and rise again before baking you can stick it in the fridge until you have time. This slows down the fermentation process allowing you a little extra time before needing to make.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
These came out SOOOO GOOOODD. My husband and I loved them. I’m not going to lie, I was really nervous because I had to add more flour to the dough as it was very sticky…and then they took 24 hours to rise!!! It was cold and rainy here and I guess not warm enough, I also put the dough in the fridge overnight so I maybe shouldn’t have done that?…the next day I put the dough in a warm oven and it nearly exploded out of the bowl! Shaped and rose perfectly. Reading other people’s comments too really helped me not freak out and throw it in the garbage 🙂
Great recipe! I have been designated to make these for Thanksgiving !
Just curious how much extra flour you put in? I feel like I put in over a cup extra and it was still ridiculously sticky! How did yours turn out???
Yeah I definitely put in at least an extra cup until it wasn’t so sticky and they came out great!
and then I tried it again with 50 extra grams and it was sticky but it was actually still manageable (baking these tonight)
I’m getting nervous!! I made my dough 7 hours ago and it does not appear to have risen at all! Im in northern Wisconsin so it is colder here. But I’ve had it sitting on my warm stove all day! My starter was definitely active! Hopefully something happens soon. Maybe it’ll take 24 hours like yours! Fingers crossed because when I made the dough it smelled amazing.
It can sometimes take a long time, especially if you are in cooler place.
Do you let it rising on the counter or fridge?
On the counter.
98MG of carbs in the roll? should it be 98g?
It’s 34 G of carbs. The number of nutrients comes after the nutrient name is listed. It is 98MG of sodium. Hope that helps!
Delicious! I did use bread flour instead of all purpose. The next morning, I rolled them into balls and let them rise for another 5 hours. Big, beautiful and soft. PP
Yay that is wonderful to hear.
I’d there a good substitute for the pineapple juice? I’m allergic but would love to make these if possible!
I haven’t tried any substitutes, but I would think apple juice would give you a similar result. It just may change the flavor a bit. Let us know if you try it!
OOOOHHHHH, my goodness!! I made this recipe and I cannot describe how wonderful and delicious these are!!! Thank you for such detailed instructions. One note, I don’t know what size my stand mixer is, but I find that my dough will curl up and get on the connection (which is undesirable). So, I divide the dough and knead it with the hook in 2 batches. More time, but it works. Unless you have a better solution!
That is probably the best solution. I have a larger capacity stand mixer so mine has no trouble with it, but if yours is smaller I think that would be the best way to do it. I’m so glad you loved it.
My son was asking to buy these rolls at the store so I’m happy to find a recipe to try making them instead! Can I ask why you don’t provide weighed measurements for your recipes? I’m hesitant to try your recipes without the weights. It’s just so much more precise. I’m American and I vastly prefer weights with baking. Hope you’ll consider adding these in the future.
I am working on adding weight measurements to all my recipes — it just takes some time! In the meantime, I would recommend using this conversion chart that I have: https://www.farmhouseonboone.com/baking-conversion-chart
Your instructions say to roll 18 balls but in your picture it looks like you have 15 rolls in the pan.
Good catch! The recipe can make 18 rolls, but you can adjust based on the size of roll you prefer.
I thought I’d post in hope it may help someone watching sugar intake. I made these and while wrestling a toddler totally forgot to add the sugar. The turned out perfect still so if you’re making these and don’t want to add the extra sugar or scale it back some the recipe will definitely still work. 😊
Ohhh that is great to know! Thanks for sharing.
These look amazing! Can’t wait to make these.