An easy, homemade sub roll recipe, which produces soft and light buns that are also sturdy enough to hold any fillings. Quick and easy and freeze well, too!
Why you’ll love this sub rolls recipe!
- These sub rolls are soft and light, but also sturdy enough to hold anything you’d like to put in them!
- These rolls are quick and easy to make! Using extra yeast means these rise quickly and are ready in less than 2 hours.
- These buns freeze beautifully, so stock up the freezer and you’ll have sub rolls at the ready any time.
Step-by-Step Photos
- Mix together the dough ingredients. The dough will be very moist at this point.
- Cover the bowl and let the dough rest 15 minutes.
- Remove to a floured work surface.
- Knead briefly, adding a bit more flour only if it is sticking to your hands or the work surface.
- Weight the dough ball and divide by 4 (for 4 buns).
- Weigh out 4 pieces of dough.
- Form each piece into a ball by pinching together underneath.
- Flip over with the smooth side up.
- Repeat with the remaining dough pieces.
- Roll a dough ball into an 8×8-inch square.
- Roll up jelly-roll style.
- Pinch the seam together.
- Using the palm of your hand, roll and gently stretch the dough.
- Roll until the dough is even and is 11-12 inches long.
- Place on a baking sheet and brush lightly with water.
- Repeat with remaining dough pieces.
- Cover the rolls and allow to rise 20-30 minutes.
- Brush rolls with water again.
- Close up of risen rolls.
- Sprinkle with seeds, herbs and/or cheese, if using. Bake.
Baking Tips
- If you have a kitchen scale (and you should!), be sure to weigh the flour amount, for best accuracy. If you don’t, be sure to measure the flour using the stir, spoon and level method.
- The mixed dough is very wet. It will absorb some of the liquid as it rests for the 15 minutes at the start, so resist the urge to add anymore flour at the start. If necessary, add a bit more flour on the work surface if the dough is sticking.
Making ahead, storing and Freezing
These are best enjoyed within 24 hours of baking. Freeze for longer storage.
These buns freeze beautifully! I like to wrap individually, first in plastic wrap and then tightly in foil. The will keep well in the freezer up to 3 months.
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Get the Recipe: Easy Homemade Sub Rolls
An easy, homemade sub roll recipe, which produces soft and light buns that are also sturdy enough to hold any fillings. Quick and easy and freeze well, too! Makes four 12-inch long sub rolls.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups (360 ml) water, lukewarm about 105F
- 2 Tablespoons active dry or Instant yeast
- 3 1/2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fine salt
- 3 1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 4 cups (500 g) all-purpose flour, spooned and levelled
Instructions
- Add lukewarm water to a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the kneading hook. Add the yeast and 1/2 teaspoon of the sugar. Let stand 5 minutes, then add the remaining sugar, salt and vegetable oil. Mix briefly to combine.
- Add the flour, one cup at a time, mixing between additions. When all the flour has been added, continue mixing for a 3-4 minutes, to develop the dough. The dough may be quite wet and sticky. That's fine. It will tighten up as it rests and you can add additional flour later, if needed. If using a mixer, remove the kneading hook and cover the top of the bowl with a clean tea towel. Let stand 15 minutes.
- Remove dough to a floured work surface. Knead dough a couple of minutes, adding additional flour as needed, only if the dough is sticking to your hands or the work surface. Divide dough into 4 equal pieces. *I like to weigh the entire piece of dough, then divide that amount by 4, to weigh out identically sized pieces.
- Form each piece of dough into a ball, cover with a clean tea towel and let rest 15 minutes.
- Roll each piece of dough into an 8x8-inch square. Starting with the edge closest to you, tightly roll the dough up, jelly-roll style and pinch the seam together. Using your palms, roll the dough log on a work surface, gently and evenly stretching it out longer, until it is 11 to 12-inch long. Be sure that the dough is even thickness along the length of the dough. Remove the dough to a large, un-greased baking sheet. *You can lightly dust the baking sheet with a bit of flour or line the baking sheet with a sheet of parchment paper, if your baking sheet is prone to sticking.
- Repeat with the remaining dough pieces.
- Brush the top of the rolls with water, cover and let rise 20-30 minutes, until puffy.
- As the rolls are rising, preheat the oven to 375F (regular bake/not fan-assisted), so the oven will be hot and ready when your rolls are ready.
- Brush the dough with water again and sprinkle with any toppings at this point (seeds, cheese, dried herbs etc.)
- Bake 18-22 minutes, or until deep golden. Remove from the oven and immediately transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Wrap and store at room temperature or in the fridge, to extend the freshness time. For longer storage, wrap well and freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes
Recipe can be doubled to make more, but do note that it makes a large amount of dough, so be sure your mixer can handle that much dough at one time!
Serving: 1bun, Calories: 475kcal, Carbohydrates: 100g, Protein: 14g, Fat: 1g, Saturated Fat: 0.2g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 0.2g, Sodium: 880mg, Potassium: 153mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 4g, Vitamin C: 0.01mg, Calcium: 23mg, Iron: 6mg
Tried this recipe?Leaving a review! is always helpful and appreciated by fellow cooks!
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
Made these rolls to make my family some cheesesteaks and they came out perfect! Thank you for the recipe!!
So glad to hear Alexx :) Thanks so much!
Hi Bev, the recipe looks amazing, will definitely be trying them sooner than later.
I wanted to know if I could make 8 smaller rolls? Would that affect the cooking time? I’m not that experienced with bread making.
Thanks
Hi Anisa and yes, you could divide the dough into 8 pieces instead. The cooking time would be much less. It could be as little as 10-15 minutes. You’ll just have to watch them closely as they bake to be sure.
I may make these tomorrow as it looks like this recipe will come close to what I want to make Maine style Italian sandwiches. Just wondering, have you ever had a Maine Italian sandwich? If so, in your estimation does this recipe come close to approximating that style of bread? Thank you for any response.
Hi Pat and no, I haven’t ever had a Maine Italian sandwich (sadly :). I did google it though and I’d say these rolls should work well for you.
This is the first time I’ve ever written a comment, these rolls had excellent flavor and the recipe was really easy. I was just wondering how to make them a little fluffier then condensed.
Hi Bev, so glad you enjoyed them. I feel like these rolls are on the lighter side, so if yours were “condensed” it could just be that they were a little under-proofed when they went into the oven, so maybe try letting them rise a touch longer.
Been looking for a sub recipe for making vegan cheesesteaks and this one is very good!
Delicious for our Italian sub sandwiches!
I’m so glad to hear, Jenna :) Thanks!
Hi, I’m a little new to bread making. I was wondering if using active dry yeast instead of instant, would the process be a little different?
Hi Lindsay, For this recipe, the process would be exactly the same, as the yeast is proofed in water at the start. Active Dry yeast is generally proofed in lukewarm water, while Instant yeast doesn’t need to be. Hope that helps. Don’t hesitate to ask questions. Happy to answer. Bread making can be a bit of a learning curve :)
Thank you soooo much for this recipe! It was fun, easy, and most of all delicious!!
So glad to hear! Thanks :)
I was so excited to make these. They didn’t brown and are hard as a rock! I followed the recipe to a T. I had to bake 40 minutes at 375 to get a slight brown on top. What did I do wrong?
Hi Cindy, it’s hard to say exactly where you went wrong, but I can make a couple of guesses to try and troubleshoot for you. First, the most obvious is that your yeast was dead. What type of yeast did you use? Was it old? Did it foam up when it was combined with the water and sugar? If you were all good there, the second likely issue was that you let it rise too long (over-proofed). After shaping, they only need to rise about 20 minutes or 30 minutes at the most. In a hot kitchen, it might only need 15 minutes. Over-proofed bread will be very pale when baked, as you described. And of course, baking it twice as long as required is why it is rock hard. It can be tricky to know when yeast dough is properly proofed. I hope you’ll give it another try. P.S. Forgetting the salt can also result in super pale bread. Just throwing that out there, too, in case it may have been an issue.
Haven’t made yet…I was curious the only lengthy rise time is after you have shaped and seasoned. There are only 15 min rest period after 1st and 2nd contact with dough. I was just making sure it wasn’t like a typo or something, as most roll or bread recipes I have followed always have longer rise times after the first mix, and then again after you have shaped for whatever your making. If these are in fact the correct times then I am super excited to make. The waiting on the “forever” rise times is why I don’t usually make homeade breads.
Hi Vesta and yes, the rise/shape times are correct as written. You are correct that many bread recipes have two rises, but not always :) The mix/shape/rise trade a little flavour development for a quicker process and are great for fitting into shorter time frames.
Awesome Sub Rolls. Easy to make the best Rolls Ever!
So glad to hear, Bob :) Thanks so much!
Sigh….this turned out too good lol. I made a double batch with the intention on having subs the next day for lunch for my family. Woke up and they had eaten ALL the left overs. Not subs just sat and ate the bread. Great Recipe!!
So glad these were enjoyed (subs or not :) Thanks so much, Melanie!
I found this recipe while searching for a sub recipe and came across this one, it is pure delicious. I made them for meatball subs and they put them over the top. 10/10 recipe. Highly recommend.
So glad to hear, Sherry :) Thanks!
Really good, quick, easy recipe
So glad to hear, Marie :) Thanks so much!
Ok. I’ve never once left a review on any blog. But this technique and walk through is 10/10.
Thanks so much, Kiren :) So glad to hear.
This Recipe worked fantastic! Recommended!
So happy to hear, Curt :) Thanks!