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Sourdough No Knead Crescent Rolls

Amy
Buttery, no-knead, crescent rolls made with 100% active sourdough--no instant yeast! These are the easiest and most delicious little rolls that are perfect for a special meal or weekend dinner.
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Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Fermentation Time 18 hours
Total Time 18 hours 40 minutes
Course Bread, rolls, Side Dish, Snack
Cuisine American
Servings 32 rolls

Ingredients
  

Levain (1:1:1, ready in 3-4 hours at 78 degrees F)

  • 75 grams sourdough starter
  • 75 grams water
  • 75 grams flour

Sourdough No Knead Crescent Rolls

  • 200 grams levain 3/4 cup, see recipe notes
  • 190 grams evaporated milk 3/4 cup, see recipe notes
  • 140 grams warm water a little less than 2/3 cup
  • 1 large egg about 50 grams
  • 71 grams granulated sugar about 1/3 cup
  • 16 grams salt about 2 teaspoons
  • 60 grams melted unsalted butter about 1/4 cup
  • 710 grams all purpose flour (140 grams plus 570 grams separated) 5 cups (1 cup plus 4 cups separated)
  • 113 grams unsalted butter, chilled and grated 1/2 cup
  • 60 grams melted butter reserved for shaping rolls about 1/4 cup

Instructions
 

  • Day 1

Levain (1:1:1, about 3-4 hours at 78 degrees F)

  • About 4 hours before mixing the roll dough, make the levain. Mix together 75 grams of ripe sourdough starter with 75 grams room temperature water and 75 grams flour. Stir together, mark your jar so you can watch the levain double in size and put it in a warm (78 degree) place to ferment.
  • Once the levain has doubled in size and is bubbly, active and starting to round at the top (this should take about 3-4 hours), you are ready to mix the roll dough.

No Knead Sourdough Crescent Rolls

  • To a bowl, mix together the levain, evaporated milk, water, egg, sugar, salt, melted butter and 140 grams of the flour. Whisk together until completely combined.
  • Add the rest of the flour on top of the liquid mixture but DON'T MIX (alternatively you can do this in a separate bowl but I don't like washing dishes). Grate the cold butter on top of the flour and use your hands to mix it in with the flour on top of the liquid mixture. If a little liquid gets into the flour, don't worry, just continue spreading it throughout the flour as best you can. Once the butter chunks are evenly spread throughout the flour, use a spoon to mix the flour/butter mixture in with the liquid at the bottom of the bowl. Mix until you form a ball of dough.
  • Cover the dough and set at 78-80 degrees F, warm room temperature for about 4 hours until the dough looks just a little bit puffy. It won't rise much, but the fermentation process will be starting and activating throughout the dough.
  • Cover the bowl and place it in the refrigerator overnight. This dough can be left in the refrigerator for up to 3 days to ferment before rolling out and shaping. It needs to sit in the refrigerator for a minimum of 8 hours.

Day 2

  • Pull the dough out of the refrigerator. Separate the dough into 4 pieces and roll each piece out into a 10 inch circle. Spread melted butter over each circle and then slice each circle into 8 pieces with a pizza cutter. Starting at the edge, tightly roll each piece of dough all the way in until you have a crescent roll shape. Repeat with the other 7 rolls.
  • Place each roll on a parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat with the other 3 pieces of dough, rolling them into circles, spreading melted butter and then rolling up each roll. You should have a total of 32 rolls or about 16 rolls per baking sheet.
  • Cover the rolls and set them in a warm place (about 75 degrees) to rise. This rise should take about 5-6 hours depending on the temperature. Once the rolls have puffed up a bit and it has been over 5 hours (in the winter you'll most likely need closer to 6 or 7 hours), preheat the oven to 400 degrees and place a baking stone or baking sheet on the bottom rack of the oven.
  • Once the oven has preheated, place a pan with a handful of ice cubes on the bottom rack of the oven. Immediately place a pan of rolls into the oven and bake crescent rolls for about 12-15 minutes until baked through. Brush with melted butter as they come out of the oven. Enjoy warm!

Notes

Levain: If you prefer to make these rolls with sourdough discard, you can add 1 Tablespoon (10 grams) of instant yeast to the roll dough and follow the recipe as written. After shaping the rolls, they will only need an hour or two to rise before being baked.
Evaporated Milk: This recipe has been tested using evaporated milk. If you'd like to substitute milk, I recommend scalding or boiling whole milk (or 1%-2%) and letting it reduce by about half. Then let it cool before using in the recipe.
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