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, Yes! It is Tablespoons not teaspoons
- 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!
These are the best rolls I’ve found. Hands down just tasty. We use the Everything Bagel seasoning with either Italian sandwiches or hot ham and cheese. This bread toasts so well. It doesn’t get easily soggy but doesn’t cut up your mouth with toasted either. That’s honestly why I tried this recipe.
So glad you are enjoying them Holly! Thanks so much :)
Wow. What an amazing recipe. It’s worked great every single time and the rolls taste so good. Definitely a keeper!
So glad to hear! Thanks so much :)
I’ll definitely be trying this recipe out! Would your recipe work with whole wheat flour?
Hi Jen, unfortunately, it’s never as easy as just swapping out whole wheat flour for all purpose flour. 100% whole wheat baking can be a bit of a challenge, as the whole wheat flour absorbs more liquid, so at the very least, the hydration level needs to be adjusted. Whole wheat will also produce a more dense and heavy baked roll. My best advice would be to make them with all purpose flour first, to get a feel for the dough. Then try it with replacing about 25% of the all purpose flour with whole wheat and see how that works. You could probably gradually increase the amount of whole wheat flour up to about 50% and see how that works.
I think this recipe was amazing!! I was trying to find a recipe for cousins subs as we prefer their bread over subway. I couldn’t find one but came across this recipe and it was so good my husband who wasn’t hungry went for seconds just because it was good …already shared the recipe with family and can’t wait to make again!!
So glad to hear, Heather! Thanks so much :)
This is the first bread I’ve made that turned out right. This recipe was so easy to follow. Thank you!!
So glad to hear, Amanda :) Thanks so much!
Made these twice now and have come out perfect both times. Looking forward to trying more recipes!
So glad to hear, Keesha :) Thanks so much!
I love this recipe. It is easy and delicious. The first time I made it, we made subway subs. My husband said it was better then Subway and more filling. Making again today, Bahn Mi’s this time. Thank you for this recipe
I’m so glad to hear, Kathryn! Thanks so much :)
Super easy!! We love these!!
so glad to hear, Kristina! Thanks :)
I made this recipe and shaped them into burger buns. They turned out great! I put butter on all just after they came out of the oven and I put some everything bagel seasoning on some of them. I only used a little over 3 cups of flour. I will be saving this recipe to my favorites. :)
Sounds delicious, Arianna :) Thanks so much!
Can you replace the vegetable oil with melted butter?
Hi Jen, the short answer is yes, you could replace the oil with an equal amount of melted (and slightly cooled) butter. The longer answer is that breads made with oil tend to be lighter, more moist and have a longer shelf-life. So while melted butter brings more flavour to the bread, it does alter the texture of the finished bread. I would always encourage anyone to try it both ways to appreciate the difference between the two results.
Made these today for steak subs and they were delicious! Very easy recipe. Will be making them again. Thanks!
So pleased to hear, Helen :) Thanks so much!
Hi is this really 2Tbsp of instant yeast? or 2 tsp? thanks.
Yes, it really is 2 Tablespoons.
Just started my dough, it looks and smells great so far! Wondering if I can freeze the dough to bake at a later date?
Hi Elyse, I haven’t frozen the dough, so I have no guidance to offer you there. My preference is to simply freeze the baked rolls, as they freeze beautifully.
Good flavour!
I’ll be making these quite often. So much better than store bought.
So glad you enjoyed them :) Thanks so much!
This recipe is amazing for pizza dough as well. And bagels! 🤣 I been using this for pretty much any recipe and my family says it is the best one so far!!
So glad you are enjoying it, Amy! Thanks so much :)
I made these today and they are so yummy!
I made one plain and other 3 with cheese on top.
I later used them for garlic bread and they were so fresh and not dense at all. I followed the recipe to a T.
I’m wondering if I could make these into circular buns instead like a hamburger bun size?
Sounds delicious! And yes, you could make them as buns. Same method, just divide into smaller pieces for buns and of course, the baking time would be reduced (I don’t know the exact baking time, so you’ll just have to watch them like a hawk :)