Sourdough Kaiser Rolls Recipe | Easy, fantastic Austrian buns

You’re in the mood for a sandwich, but white bread is just so… white. You could make a sandwich on whole-grain bread, but that’s where your mood is. It needs to have a good crunch and a wonderfully soft crumb, but it also needs to have a great taste. But aren’t those opposed things to want? Nope. This is my sourdough kaiser roll recipe.

Kaiser rolls are the best of both worlds, white bread but crunchy. Adding sourdough into the mix, you can get some excellent taste out of that white flour, especially paired with a long retard. That is precisely what this recipe brings you.

While not an official opinion, I feel like kaiser rolls are a cousin of the bagel. Taste-wise they are pretty similar, especially because of the added barley malt syrup, but the texture is quite different.

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The history of Kaiser rolls

The Kaiser rolls have been made in Austria since the 18th century. They are common in most countries that border Austria but mostly in German-speaking countries.

One of the first visual proofs of the Kaiser roll is in the painting by the court painter Martin van Meytens of the court banquet of Maria Theresa in 1760.

In general, a roll is called a semmel in Austria, but the Kaisersemmel is meant to have been named for Emperor Franz Joseph I.

As is often the case with food that’s existed for centuries, it’s called many different things: in Austria and the Southern state of Bavaria, it’s known as Kaisersemmel. In the South Eastern part of Germany, Baden-Württemberg, it’s known as weck, whereas in the rest of Germany, it’s known as brötchen (literally little bread).

The dough in this sourdough kaiser rolls recipe

Vitals

Total weight	1335 grams
Pre-fermented flour	13%
Hydration	50.3%
Yield	8 rolls

Dough

I’ve constructed the dough with 100% bread flour, leavened with 30% sourdough starter for a bit of a faster fermentation, and 2% salt.

The dough is enriched with eggs, sugar, and oil, and some water is added to get the dough to a workable consistency.

You can substitute the bread flour for all-purpose flour. The crumb will be more tender but may not be as crispy.

Weight	Ingredient	Baker's Percentage
700g	bread flour	100%
30g	sugar	4.3%
15g	salt	2.1%
30g	barley malt extract	4.3%
25g	neutral oil	3.6%
100g	eggs, whole	14.3%
210g	starter (100% hydration)	30%
225g	water	32.1%

If you want to play around with the formula: change hydration, quantity, inoculation, or anything else, you can use my Bread Calculator.

I can’t get barley malt syrup. What can I substitute with?

You can create a good taste substitute if you cannot get barley malt syrup.

Combine 125g/1 cup of dark ale and 125g/1 scant cup of dark brown sugar in a pot. Bring it to a boil, and then let it simmer uncovered until you have a very thick syrup. This can be used in place of barley malt syrup.

Stored in the fridge, it stays good indefinitely.

The conclusion on this sourdough kaiser rolls recipe

While these rolls are baking, an absolutely irresistible smell permeates the kitchen. Once you take them out, the wonderful smell intensifies, and gets almost impossible to resist eating them all then and there.

You pick up a roll, and it almost shatters between your hands from being so crispy. You break it open, and the soft crumb appears. Oh, so soft.

These rolls are wonderful. Perfect, fully fermented taste. Large enough to make a sandwich but not gigantic. I guess if you’re really hungry, you can eat two.

Make them. Your lunch guests will thank you.

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