Skip to main content

Pull-Apart Sour Cream and Chive Rolls

5.0

(5)

Image may contain Food and Bread
Photograph by Alex Lau, food styling by Susie Theodorou, prop styling by Sophie Strangio

These melt-in-your-mouth dinner rolls, from Claire Saffitz’s cookbook Dessert Person, are even more tender and pillowy than the classic Parker House rolls that inspired this recipe. That’s thanks to the addition of tangzhong, a white roux made from flour and milk cooked to a stiff paste, often used to make Japanese milk bread. The cooked starches in the tangzhong help the dough retain moisture and keeps the rolls super soft and light. The slight onion flavor of chives and tang of sour cream give them oomph. They’re as equally excellent at mopping up gravy as they are at holding the contents of a leftover turkey sandwich. “If food could give you a hug, these rolls definitely would,” says Claire.

Recipe information

  • Yield

    Makes 24

Ingredients

½ cup plus 2 Tbsp. whole milk
5⅓ cups (667 g) bread flour, divided, plus more
1½ tsp. active dry yeast
1 cup sour cream, room temperature
¼ cup (50 g) sugar
4 tsp. Diamond Crystal or 2¼ tsp. Morton kosher salt
3 large eggs
8 Tbsp. (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, divided, room temperature
½ cup finely chopped chives
Flaky sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Whisk ½ cup milk, ⅓ cup flour (42 g), and ½ cup water in a small saucepan until smooth. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until a very stiff paste forms (it should resemble mashed potatoes), about 2 minutes. Remove from heat; scrape tangzhong into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook.

    Step 2

    Gently warm remaining 2 Tbsp. milk in same saucepan over low heat until lukewarm. Remove from heat, add yeast, and whisk until dissolved. Let sit until mixture is foamy, about 5 minutes.

    Step 3

    Add sour cream, sugar, kosher salt, 2 eggs, 4 Tbsp. butter, and remaining 5 cups bread flour (625 g) to tangzhong. Scrape in yeast mixture and mix on low speed until a shaggy dough forms. Increase speed to medium and mix, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally and adding more flour by the tablespoonful if sticky, until dough is smooth and supple, 8–10 minutes.

    Step 4

    Scrape dough onto a work surface and form into a smooth ball; dust lightly with flour. Place inside a clean large bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a silicone lid. Let sit in a warm, draft-free spot until doubled in size, 1–1½ hours.

    Step 5

    Meanwhile, coat a 13x9" pan, preferably metal, with 2 Tbsp. butter (it will be a generous layer, which is what you want). Uncover dough and punch down lightly to expel some of the gas.

    Step 6

    Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and stretch into a square.

    Photograph by Alex Lau, food styling by Sue Li, prop styling by Sophie Strangio

    Step 7

    Roll out, dusting with more flour as needed to prevent sticking, to a 12" square and sprinkle chives evenly over dough.

    • Two hands rolling out dough for Sour Cream and Chive rolls
    • Image may contain Food Bread Human and Person

    Step 8

    Starting at one end, loosely roll up dough. Flatten with the heel of your hands into a long rectangle. Roll out dough again, dusting with more flour as needed, into a 16x6" rectangle.

    • Image may contain Food and Plant
    • Image may contain Food Human Person and Dough

    Step 9

    Using a wheel cutter or bench scraper, cut dough into twenty-four 2"-squarish pieces (an 8x3 grid).

    Photograph by Alex Lau, food styling by Sue Li, prop styling by Sophie Strangio

    Step 10

    Working with 1 piece of dough, gather all the corners and pinch together to form a teardrop shape. Place seam side down on work surface. Cup your hand over dough and drag across surface, moving your hand in a rapid circular motion, to form dough into a tight ball. Do not add flour, as you want friction between the dough and the surface. Place ball in prepared pan and repeat with remaining pieces of dough, spacing to make a 6x4 grid. Cover pan with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm, draft-free spot until rolls are nearly doubled in size, 45–60 minutes.

    • Image may contain Food Bread Human Person and Bun
    • Image may contain Finger
    • Image may contain Food Bread Bun Dessert and Egg
    • Image may contain Food Bread and Bun

    Step 11

    Meanwhile, place a rack in middle of oven; preheat to 375°.

    Step 12

    Using a fork, whisk remaining egg in a small bowl until no streaks remain. Uncover pan and gently brush tops of rolls with egg, then sprinkle with sea salt and pepper. Bake rolls until tops are deep golden brown, 25–30 minutes.

    • Image may contain Plant Confectionery Food Sweets and Egg
    • Image may contain Food and Bread

    Step 13

    Remove pan from oven and immediately brush tops with remaining 2 Tbsp. butter. Let cool in pan 5 minutes. Slide a knife or an offset spatula around sides of pan to loosen rolls, then slide a metal spatula underneath to loosen the bottom. Slide entire grid of rolls out and onto a wire rack. Serve warm or let cool.

    Photograph by Alex Lau, food styling by Sue Li, prop styling by Sophie Strangio

    Step 14

    Do Ahead: Rolls can be formed and arranged in pan 1 day ahead; cover and chill. Let rise at room temperature before baking (this can take up to 3 hours). Rolls can be baked 3 days ahead. Let cool; store airtight at room temperature.

Image may contain: Fruit, Food, Grapefruit, Plant, Citrus Fruit, Produce, Plate, Baby, Person, and Bread
Reprinted from Dessert Person. Copyright © 2020 by Claire Saffitz. Photographs copyright © 2020 by Alex Lau. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House.

Buy from Amazon or Bookshop.
Sign In or Subscribe
to leave a Rating or Review

How would you rate Pull-Apart Sour Cream and Chive Rolls?

Leave a Review

Reviews (5)

Back to Top
  • I made this recipe twice. First as a test run prior to making for Christmas Day dinner at our sons home. The first batch where such a success! I share half of them with our neighbor who also raved about how delicious they where. I repeated the recipe on Christmas Day. Because of the time line they had more time to proof in the pan and they where even larger and fluffier than the first back. They spent at least 1 1/2 hours on the counter top. Definitely our favorite dinner roll. My daughter in law who is a wonderful cook assigned the dinner roll job to me for the future.

    • Joe Z

    • Neenah WI

    • 12/29/2023

  • The most perfect rolls for thanksgiving or honestly any dinner where bread is welcome. We've made these every thanksgiving since the recipe came out, and they would absolutely be missed if we skipped them! I crave them all the time.

    • Molly

    • New York, NY

    • 11/28/2023

  • Scrumptious

    • Anonymous

    • 3/24/2024

  • This turned out to be a great alternative to classic garlic bread to accompany classic lasagna. I added garlic (confit in EVOO first) with the chives. Tender rolls that will be in rotation.

    • JL

    • Sonoma, CA

    • 12/26/2023

  • Amazing! The most important thing is to make sure they more than double in size before baking.

    • FRS

    • Brooklyn

    • 12/25/2023

  • I’ve made this many many times and it’s always a crowd favorite. I usually make it without the chives and they make amazing slider sandwiches.

    • Anonymous

    • Portland, OR

    • 11/28/2023

Read More
A little oil in this bûche de noel helps keep it pliable even when cool—perfect for rolling the Yule log shape.
This peach, plum, and apricot galette recipe calls for easy phyllo pastry in lieu of pie crust.
This refried-bean-slathered gordita with all the fixings is a Mazatlán specialty.
Caramelized fennel is a revelation, especially when tossed with hot pasta and lots of Parmesan.
Quick-cooking gnocchi goes in the same pan as the chicken for this cheesy, crowd-pleasing weeknight meal.
In this ode to Garrett Popcorn, I use caramelized honey to give the sweet popcorn a toasted accent and melted butter to coat the cheese popcorn in tangy cheddar powder.
Seared, then gently roasted with paprika and tomato paste until spoonably tender, onions prove they can hold their own as the main event.
These two skillet-size latkes are a faster, smoother road to party time. Serve right away or make in advance and let the guests slice their own pieces.