The BEST soft and chewy bread roll for hoagies/submarine/grinders. Pillowy soft rolls that are begging to be filled with deliciousness!
Depending on what part of the country, or world, you’re from these things are called various names. I’ve heard “Subs, Submarines, Hoagies, Grinders, Hero, Italian Sandwich, Torpedo, Blimpie, Po’ Boy and Rocket” just to name a few. However you call it, I’m talking about those luxurious sandwiches full of meats and cheeses then wedged into this chewy, soft bread roll.
At first cut, the bread insides are so soft and billowy. It’s as it it’s held together by pockets of air and strands of sweet dough. Mmmm…
Well, now you no longer have to order out or buy them at the bakery. These are SUPER simple to make and oh-so-good!
Super Soft ‘n Chewy Hoagie Rolls
- Yield: 4-8 1x
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Ingredients
- 3 1/2 – 4 cups bread flour
- 1 3/8 – 1 1/2 cups warm water (110-115F degrees) *See note
- 2 Tbl sugar
- 1 Tbl active dry yeast
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 Tbl cold butter, cubed
Instructions
- Add the yeast, sugar and 3/8 cup warm water in a bowl of a stand mixer.
- Using a whisk or spoon, mix and set aside for 5-10 minutes or until the yeast has bubbled quite a bit.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook (this would be the same bowl your yeast mixture is in) add in 2 cups of flour and remaining cup of water. Start off on low. Mix for 4 minutes.
- Add in the salt and 1 cup at a time of the remaining flour and mix for 5-6 minutes until the dough is slack (See note). At this point, your mixer should be at medium speed. If your dough, after 5-6 minutes is not slack add in a bit more water (2-4 Tbl). The additional water will fully depend on how humid your room is.
- Add in the butter and mix for 1-3 minutes or until the dough comes back together. Remove from bowl and transfer to a greased, covered bowl until doubled in size. ~1 hour.
- Divide into 4-8 pieces and shape. I would advise using as little flour as possible when shaping these. The more flour you add, the tougher the hoagies will be. Transfer to a parchment lined tray and cover. Allow to rise again. ~30-45 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375 and bake for 16-23 minutes or until golden brown.
- Allow to cool before cutting with a quality bread knife ( Sani-Safe S162-8SC-PCP 8″ Scalloped Bread Knife with Polypropylene Handle Pan )
Notes
Water
3/8 cup is equal to 6 Tbl :). Depending on the type of bread flour as well as how humid your kitchen in you may need to increase the water to 1 1/2 cups (which is only another 2 Tbl more than originally). At times I’ve had to actually go up to 1 3/4 cups total but that was due to how humid my house was at the time.
Slack Dough
Slack dough means when then dough cannot hold a shape; it has no elasticity or spring back at all. It’s wet dough but not too wet. It’s “billowy”. The dough is super, super soft and smooth.
Equipment
I would HIGHLY recommend using a quality bread knife to slice these as the rolls are soft and chewy and nothing is worse when cutting into them with a crappy knife! You’ll love this knife! Sani-Safe S162-8SC-PCP 8″ Scalloped Bread Knife with Polypropylene Handle Pan
Coating your bread
- Whole egg: this will give your bread a sheen and color
- Egg Yolk: this will give your bread color and will help brown it
- Egg White: Will give you a firmer crust
- Milk: will give your crust color
- Butter: will make your crust softer and richer
Hi, I’d like to make these tomorrow. I’m wondering if you put egg, butter, milk or nothing at all on the rolls before baking them to look like the ones you show in the picture? Very nice recipe that I’m eager to try.
Thank you
Hi! For these, since they were used for hoagie rolls? I went with an whole egg wash only. This gives it the shine and brown coloring.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
I have made this recipe multiple times and even substituted 1 c whole wheat flour. I add an extra tbsp of water as the whole wheat will absorb it. We 💘 love these rolls. Thankyou
Fantastic recipe. I just made the rolls and had to cook one to try them. Soft, buttery, simply delicious. Thanks 😀
★★★★★
I want to make my recipes are poor
Why did it stay nurmal and it didn’t go puffy after putting it in the oven.
Hi Ash,
Sorry if my response is slow. I just had major hand surgery and I’m taking time to heal.
Several things will affect this… the yeast was killed during the proofing or it was old. The wrong flour was used or it wasn’t taken to a slack stage. Or when it was proofing/rising it wasn’t covered and air got to it, drying out the top.
Definitely try this again as this recipe is a huge hit.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
How did you shape the dough into rolls? Everything seemed right until I went to divide the dough and shape it, then it didn’t seem to be enough dough to make 8 rolls the size of the ones in your picture. My dough definitely
Sorry, had a kid on my lap and they submitted it before I was done! My dough definitely doubled in size on both it’s rises, they just seemed much smaller than I was expecting for a large sub roll.
For say 10-14″ pizza shop sub sized rolls, double the recipe or make 2 batches if your mixer isn’t powerful enough.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
Hi Brianna!
I just noticed, it should have been 4-8 pieces. The picture is for when the dough is cut into 4 pieces. I’ve fixed it.
When I shape my dough I pat each piece out into almost a rectangle and then fold it up and over (kind of like a letter, pushing the end up and under the roll). I then pat it back down slightly, fold up both sides, pat it down. Fold almost in half, push up into the fold to get that roll shape and then roll to tuck in the bottom. I REALLY need to do a video on this (I just honestly don’t know how yet to edit it all but I’m working on it). Here’s a GREAT video on how to roll the hoagie rolls – https://youtu.be/wJrOqWgir9I
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Thanks for your response! I’ll try that next time. They turned out fantastic, my husband requested I make them again!
★★★★★
Yeah!!! So happy you both loved them! It’s the only roll recipe I’ll use! For the holidays, I’ll make smaller versions and brush with honey butter as soon as they come out of the oven!
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I want to make this but still I’m not sure what slack dough means. Is their a video of this being made our pictures of the process.
No, no video yet. I will be posting soon step-by-step pics in the interim. Video is on my to-do list. Did you see the Notes in the recipe. Stack dough means the mixture is well combined and very billowy. If you dumped it out and tried to shape it, it would not hold the shape. Think of it like a blob.
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Love this recipe.
★★★★★
Love this recipe. Perfect rolls for my voodoo chicken.
This recipe worked great for sub rolls.
Thank You!!
★★★★★
So happy you loved it Ed! I use it almost exclusively for sub rolls. However you can totally make them smaller for sandwich rolls too!
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Wow. Just WOW. I have made thousands of rolls, and this recipe takes the cake. I didn’t make any substitutions, except used all purpose flour because that is what I had. These made great Italian subs. Thank you for my new go-to hoagie recipe! ❤
★★★★★
Yeah!!! Thank you so much Jasmin! I’m so happy you found your recipe 🙂 That means so much to me!
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I was taught In my high school cooking class that after the second rise the doufh will not accept an imprint. Regular dough the finger imprint remains and slack dough sticks to your finger but pulls away cleanly from your finger. Ive used that gage for 40 years successfully!
★★★★★
I loved high school cooking classes!!!
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Could I make this at night and let it rise in the fridge till lunch the next day?
Hi Crystal!
Yes, a slow cold, covered rise should work.
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Ingredients say 1 3/8 water. Instructions say 3/8 water….
You must have missed step 3 where it tells you to use the rest of the water.
Hi! I plan on making these today. Can I make it in the bread machine? If so, in what order do I add the ingredients to the bread machine? Thanks!
Hi Cleopatra!
I honestly don’t know as I used a bread machine once in my life and then gave the machine away as I hated it.
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Hi, think this has all gone horribly wrong, 4 cups of flour to 1 3/8-1/2 seems like it was not enough waster as didn’t get slack dough. Was the flour supposed to be added gradually?
Hi Martin,
So I clarified the recipe a bit more to hopefully help folks out. It’s up to 4 cups of bread flour and the water can honestly range from 1 3/8 cups to 1 1/2 cups. The amount of water varies by the temp/humidity in your kitchen. I just made these on Thursday and I had to use just a little over 1 1/2 cups of water and only 3 3/4 cups of flour (added gradually). It was 87F here and 85% humidity. And even though we have central ac, it still affects baking.
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I made them in my bread machine and I always do liquid first and then flour and everything else and add the yeast last.
These hoagies are incredible. They really are super soft and chewy. Even my cat can’t keep away from them. I highly recommend them to everyone.
★★★★★
Haha that is AWESOME! Thank you so much!
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I have made these multiple times and every time they are amazing! Thanks so much for an awesome recipe!
Thank you so much Heather!
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I made these last night and they didn’t turn out like yours in the picture. The outside was pretty crisp but they had a great taste and they did soften up later but not like yours. I used butter on the outside with a little garlic and that may have had something to do with how crisp they got. The other thing I did was I used instant yeast and I forgot and put the salt in at the beginning. I am going to have barbecue pork sandwiches tomorrow night so I will try again. Would love to watch these rolls being made on YouTube.
Butter before baking with give it more flavor and a deeper color but will not make it crispy.
Egg whites will give it a crust where whole eggs will give it a deep color.
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Ina I let mine cool for about 5-7 minutes and then cover them with a flour sack cloth or a tea towel and the crust is always soft on mine. Just a thought to your issue of to crispy. Hope this helps!
★★★★★
ALWAYS my go to roll recipe! I have made these rolls for a few years now and most times don’t even have to pull up the recipe. lol My hubby says “lets do subs you know with the good bread!” Meaning these rolls Thanks Lori every recipe I make from your site is always spot on!
Thank you so much Gina! I really appreciate that! That means so much to me!
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Does anyone have a picture of how the crumb of these came out? I think the rise is great and like the color but I am looking for a very specific consistency in the crumb. Pictures would be great thanks!
I do have a photo of the crumb but I have no idea how to post it here.
★★★★★
You can post the image on our Facebook page. http://Www.facebook.com/thekitchenwhisperer
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Still the fastest and easiest recipe for bread. If you are scared of bread making, this is the only recipe you will need and love.
★★★★★
So happy you love it!
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This recipe is perfect. As I started it I thought all of the steps seems strange, but I did as told 😉 and they turned out light, fluffy, soft and amazingly perfect. My husband is a hoagie fanatic from the east coast and he said this was the best he’s ever had. I will definitely be using this recipe from now on! Thank you!
★★★★★
This bread is actually fun to make in that I rather enjoy the challenge of a “slack” dough as opposed to just a really good ball of dough! This is now my go-to bread for sandwiches, garlic bread, you name it! Just delicious and as soft as I wanted and expected. I will now tell my favorite bakery and sandwich shop that I finally found how to make their bread, so they may see less of me!
★★★★★
So if you’re the Kitchen Whisperer that must make me the Dough Whisperer…..:). I wrangled your dough out of “no mans land”, I had to pull the dough out of the mixer and use hands. I made a ball and slowly pushed up with both hands, making an inverted well. Over and over till the butter relaxed. Wow what a dough!! I also sprayed the tops with water on occasion. Baked like champions. Thank you.
Not everyone has a standmixer, which begs the question of how making the bread by hand would alter the recipe. I already make regular sandwich bread by hand, I’m assuming the process is similar.
I tried my hand at it, subbed two cups of the flour for whole wheat. I used 1 3/4 cup water, with the whole wheat it needed it. To work with such sticky/wet dough I coated my hands and the counter with a very thin layer of oil.
Followed all the directions and they turned out amazing!
★★★★
Oh Lucy! God love you for making this by hand! This recipe I started making by hand decades ago. For me, I found it very cathartic. I’m so happy you loved the recipe and went the original way to make these by hand. Thank you so much!
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love this recipe! it’s a hit every time
So happy you like it Jen! Thank you 🙂
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I made these to go with my homemade burnt ends I made but I totally failed. They came out really hard on the outside, not soft like shown in the picture. The inside was pretty soft and they tasted pretty good but the outside was almost too hard to bite into, what did I do wrong? Maybe it was the slack, that I didn’t quite understand.
Hey Kevin!
So let me try and explain slack (while I still figure out the editing part of my video). Slack is where the dough is super loose. It’s very soft and billowy and if you pulled it out of the bowl and put it onto a counter to try and shape it, it would just spread out like a big blob of dough. It wouldn’t hold a shape. So a few things can make break super rock hard:
1. Are you using bread flour? That’s is key to this recipe.
2. Yeast is not dead or old – your yeast should proof and not be dead
3. It may not have reached the slack stage thus it not being kneaded long enough.
4. Lastly, it overproofed – where it got too big. Dough should only ever double in size.
Give it a shot and try again. I’ll help you figure it out 🙂
Best Kitchen Wishes!
Do you have a video of this dough yet?
Do you have a video of this dough yet?
I think I understand slack, but not sure
Hi Janet,
Not yet 🙁 That is one of my goals this year is to start creating and publishing videos. Now that our house is FINALLY done (after 9 years of a full house renovation) I’m working on a project plan (plus hiring an assistant) to help me shoot videos. I can shoot them but honestly I’m not that well versed in the editing part. BUT this will be one of my first videos that I create.
So if you’ll allow, let me try and explain what slack dough is. Slack dough is a sticky/tacky dough that is smooth but if you dumped it out on a board (floured) and tried to roll it into say a hoagie or even a round ball, it would just flop around like a blob. It would be billowy and as soon as you took your hands off of it, it would completely lose it’s shape. Does that help?
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I have made this recipe many times and it turns out perfect every single time. I will always use this recipe. For me it’s perfect I’ve been making bread for 30 years and this is one of the easiest recipes yet. Thank you so much for posting this. ❣️
★★★★★
Thank you so much Robin! So happy you loved it as much as I, and others, do!
Best Kitchen Wishes!