Posts may contain affiliate links that help enable me to continue to provide you with free recipes. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please see my Privacy Policy for further details.
The BEST soft and chewy bread roll for hoagies/submarines/grinders. Pillowy soft rolls that are begging to be filled with deliciousness!
*note this post was drastically updated on 1/20/2020 to include more step-by-step instructions and detailed explanations.
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.
Whatever you call it, I’m talking about those luxurious sandwiches full of meats and cheeses then wedged into a chewy, soft bread roll.
Hoagie Roll Ingredient List
- Bread Flour – it must be at least 11-14% protein content
- Yeast – Active Dry or Instant
- Water
- Salt
- Sugar
- Butter
- Items for a bread wash *optional
Can I use All-Purpose Flour?
Normally I’d advise against it because you’ll end up with a different texture and outcome.
However, given the current state of the world and the difficulty people are having finding bread flour, you can BUT there are differences in the outcome.
- You won’t get the same result with US all-purpose flour as you would bread flour. The higher protein in bread flour is what gives the bread its “chew” and rise.
- Plus, AP flour will make the bread denser. You can use it but they won’t be like classic hoagie rolls but they still will taste yummy.
Since bread flour is so hard to find (I’m feeling that pain too), grab some Vital Wheat Gluten and make your bread flour using your AP Flour.
I have the formula on my blog. Check out this post on how to make your own bread flour.
Working with yeast – no fears, you got this!
One of the most comment comments I get when I ask why folks don’t make homemade bread at home is that they are afraid of it. They are afraid to work with yeast or aren’t sure about the techniques. Well, that’s where I’m here to help you.
Baking bread, rolls, and dough is something I honestly find truly cathartic. It’s relaxing albeit using the stand mixer or kneading the dough by hand. Because I use only Red Star Yeasts (99.9% of the time it’s their Platinum), it’s pretty foolproof.
- Store your yeast in a dark, cool area. I tend to store mine in the fridge or the freezer for extended storage.
- When adding it, add it to very warm liquids (120-130F). You don’t want to add it to boiling or super hot water as you will kill the yeast.
- With the Instant Platinum yeast, you don’t even have to let it proof first – like how I added it to this recipe. Proofing yeast is used more for dry active yeast. Because I use the Instant Active Dry yeast, there’s no proofing involved.
- To Proof, Active Dry Yeast, place a portion of the warm liquid in a bowl and add the yeast. Give it a little stir and let it sit for 1-5 minutes or until the yeast is completely dissolved. It should bubble up and “bloom”.
- If, after 5 minutes the yeast isn’t bloomed then your yeast is old (expiration dates matter here!) or the liquid you used is too hot
The Best Hoagie Rolls at Home – yes, you can do it!
Feel good about working with yeast? You should. It’s really easy and just don’t be afraid! You can do this! Baking is a science and when you add ingredients it matters. Plus we need to discuss how humidity can affect how much water you put in.
Active Dry yeast
- If using Active Dry Yeast (not the Instant I use) you have to proof the yeast first. Add the Active Dry Yeast, sugar, and 1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons of 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 2 cups of flour and the 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 up to 1/4 more cup of water (taking you up to a full 1 1/2 cups used) but add one Tablespoon at a time. The additional water will fully depend on how humid your room is.
Instant yeast
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook add in 2 cups of flour, water, sugar, and Instant Yeast. 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 up to 1/4 more cup of water (taking you up to a full 1 1/2 cups used) but add one Tablespoon at a time. The additional water will fully depend on how humid your room is.
Now, depending on the temp in the kitchen or how humid it is, you can add anywhere from 3 1/2 – 4 cups of flour. Just go slow. The worst thing you can do is add too much flour because you’re impatient. At this point, your dough should start to look and feel “Slack”
What is Slack Dough?
Think of a blob. It’s kind of fluid but it’s not liquidy. It’s the point where if you were to dump the dough out onto a board and try to form it into a shape, it would just blob back out and not hold a shape.
That’s what Slack Dough is. Slack dough means when the dough cannot hold a shape; it has no elasticity or spring back at all. It’s a wet dough but not too wet. It’s “billowy”. The dough is super, super soft, and smooth.
Below is what Slack dough looks like
How Humidity affects dough and bread baking
If your bread dough never turns slack there can be 2 reasons for this
- You didn’t mix it enough. Give it another minute or two. If it still doesn’t turn slack, add a tablespoon of water at a time until it forms slack.
- Your house is super dry – add a bit more water.
The rule of thumb is if your area is hot & humid then reduce the liquid by 10%.
Now, back to making the dough.
- Once all the flour is added and the dough is slack, add in the butter one tablespoon at a time. Just like the flour, you’ll add it in slowly allowing it to incorporate into the dough. Don’t panic if it doesn’t go in all at once or the dough looks to break down. Just be patient, it’ll combine again. Patience – that’s the key.
Cold Butter or Softened Butter?
I was raised using cold butter in this recipe though you may use room temp or equal amounts of olive oil. When using cold butter, even though you ‘meld it into the flour’, you’re helping with gluten formation and the development of dough structure. I’ve made it with room-temperature butter and it works just as well. You can use either folks.
- Once it’s mostly all in, turn the mixer up to medium and mix the dough until it pulls completely away from the side and is smooth and shiny.
- Transfer the dough to a large, lightly sprayed bowl.
- Cover with plastic wrap or use what I use – Disposable plastic clear shower caps. They have a stretchy-band that snaps around the bowl and remained ballooned to allow the dough to proof without sticking to it.
- Once it’s doubled in size, it’s time to shape the hoagie rolls.
How to shape hoagie bread rolls
- Punch the dough down and place on a very lightly floured board. I would advise using as little flour as possible when shaping these. The more flour you add, the tougher the hoagies will be.
- Divide into 4-8 pieces and shape. *See below on how to shape!
- Once shaped, transfer to a parchment-lined tray and cover with lightly sprayed plastic wrap. Allow to rise again until almost doubled. ~30-45 minutes. Do NOT overproof them otherwise they will fall flat.
What does Overproof mean?
In simple terms it means the was let to rise too long, It will almost “super balloon” in size. You’ll know you’ve over-proofed dough if, when you poke it for 2 seconds, remove your finger and see if it springs back. If your dough does not spring back, it’s over-proofed.
But that doesn’t mean all is lost. Simply remove the dough from where it was rising, degas it (meaning press down firmly on the dough to get rid of the gas), then re-shape. Place it back on your pan and repeat the second proofing.
Watch your dough – things like ambient temperature, humidity, etc will cause your dough to rise slower or faster. The 30-45 minutes is fairly standard time but you need to use your judgement in the kitchen.
Chef’s Tips on shaping hoagie rolls
Shaping does take practice but that’s the fun of baking, right?!
- When you divide the dough, with your fingers, gently pat it into a rectangle where the dough is about 1/4″ thick.
- Next, fold up the bottom third to the center and then fold the upper quarter (like an envelope) towards the center and press gently to seal.
- Rotate the dough 180 degrees (so the last fold faces away from you) and repeat the above folding step then using your hand to seal the dough seams as you fold it. What you’re doing is folding the dough into itself.
- At this point, your dough is almost shaped like a log/snake. Gently cup your hand over the center of the dough and, without applying pressure/pressing down, gently roll the dough back and forth to reinforce the seal and roll it out into a log. If necessary, gently pinch the seam closed.
- I then grab the ends, lightly, and carefully pull them outwards to help stretch out dough (just an inch or so – again dependent on how long you want your rolls).
- To help round out the ends, cup each hand at the end of the roll and move them in opposite directions with a back and forth motion to roll the ends and then tuck underneath the roll.
- At this point, they are ready for the next rise.
Adding Slashes/Slits
While completely not necessary, you can add slashes/slits to the rolls before they bake to give them a prettier look. Cutting them adds zero taste value; it just pretties them up.
However, it does help with the texture. Did you ever make or buy bread that has a huge bubble or has a blowout? The bread “ruptures” in a sense. By scoring the bread, you can help control where the gas can escape without destroying how the bread looks.
I use a Lame to do mine.
A lame is a handle that has a very thin razor blade on the end of it specifically used for bread slashing. In a quick motion, make a slash (or multiple slashes) down the center of the bread but not go in deep. You’re going in maybe a 1/4″ at best.
Can I use a sharp knife instead?
Personally, I would say no as the blade isn’t thin enough and the knife may not be super, SUPER sharp. You could risk tearing the bread instead of a quick, pretty slash.
Coating your rolls before baking
You do not have to coat these if you do not want to. They will bake up beautifully and taste amazing BUT they won’t really have that deep color, crust, or shine like the ones most pizzerias have. Again, not a bad thing. Go with what you like.
When it comes to these rolls, depending on the application you use to coat, you’ll end up with different results. For my hoagie rolls, I use an egg white mixed with just a Tablespoon of milk
- 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
- Egg White with Milk: will give you a firmer crust and deeper crust color
Cutting your hoagie rolls
At first cut, the bread insides are so soft and billowy. It’s as if it’s held together by pockets of air and strands of sweet dough.
While it’s hard to resist, I HIGHLY recommend waiting about 10 minutes before trying to slice into these hoagie rolls. If you don’t, you risk tearing the bread (even with the best bread knives) because it’s simply too hot and too soft inside.
Trust me on this, it’s worth the wait!
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 is a great knife that’s affordable!
How to use The Best Hoagie Bread Roll Recipe
There’s no limit to how you can use these hoagie rolls or what you can put in or on them.
- Italian Rocket Hoagie or any favorite hoagie topping such as steak, meatball, cheese, pizza… you get the idea!)
- Meatball Hoagie like the pics below – use any of my meatball recipes, top with sauce of choice, cheese, and bake at 400F for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted
- French Bread Pizza – split in half, top each side with cheese and pizza toppings. Bake at 400F until the cheese is melted
- Stuffed Breakfast Boats – these were such a HUGE seller at our pizzeria (even though they were on the ‘secret’ menu
- Make them smaller as dinner rolls and, while still warm, top with honey cinnamon butter right before serving
How to store your Best Soft and Chewy Hoagie Rolls
Store them uncut. When you’re storing overnight, you’ll want to store in a paper bag OR, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and then in a plastic bag. Air is your enemy here.
Freezing
These rolls can be frozen either before they are baked or after.
Post-baking
- I personally prefer to freeze these after they are baked. Simply wrap each cooled loaf in plastic wrap, twice and place it in a freezer-safe bag for up to 3 months.
Pre-baking
- If you do this add a little more yeast (about a teaspoon more) to the recipe. This ensures that the post-freeze rise will give you a stunning result.
- Allow the dough to proof and then shape it on a parchment-lined pan.
- Wrap the pan with plastic wrap. Once each loaf is frozen stiff, wrap each roll twice in plastic wrap. Store in a freezer-safe bag for up to 6 months.
- To use frozen dough rolls, remove a loaf from the freezer the night before you want to bake it. Keep the loaf wrapped in plastic and let it thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
- Place the thawed dough in a greased bread pan, cover it, and let it rise in a warm, dry place. Bake the bread per the recipe below.
Chef Tips About Bread Baking
- As mentioned above, humidity and heat in your kitchen will drastically affect the dough texture (too wet/too dry while mixing) as well as proofing.
- If your kitchen is warmer, your bread will rise faster. Think of bread dough like a toddler. You really can’t let it be unsupervised for very long. Use the times as a guideline but your eyes will be your best judge.
- If you overproof your dough it will fall flat when it bakes. The gluten structure will be too weak to hold the gas production.
- USE GENTLE HANDS when shaping your dough.
- Make sure your yeast is FRESH!
- Watch your oven as it bakes. If your oven thermostat is on the fritz this can affect your bread either baking too fast leading to burnt bread on the outside and raw on the inside.
- Just relax. If you don’t get it perfect the first time, try again. Ask questions if you’re not sure what went wrong. The biggest things are:
- Not mixing your dough enough before the first proof
- Too rough on shaping it and you lost the gas in it
- Over proofed the 2nd shape and the bread went flat upon baking
- Your oven thermostat is on the fritz
- PATIENCE – BE PATIENT and keep dumping in more flour or water. Rome wasn’t built in a day, just as the dough won’t come together in a minute or two.
Subbing Sourdough Starter
I get asked this question a lot. I never use sourdough starter in this recipe as I love it as-is however you can sub in sourdough starter with some recipe modifications.
- 8 ounces of ripened sourdough starter
- Reduce the total flour to 334-339 grams
- Reduce the total water to 177-237 grams
Using Whole Wheat Flour
So the answer is yes, but you have to modify it and play with the texture to get it right. Let me explain.
- You only use 3/4 cup of whole wheat for every 1 cup of flour substituted. AND,
- I’ve YET to go full whole wheat and end up loving the flavor. I, right now, ONLY recommend subbing in 50% whole wheat and the rest flour (again you need to use the measurements in step 1). AND,
- You’ll need to add another 2 Tablespoons of water for every 3/4 cup of whole wheat flour added.
- And don’t forget to factor in humidity too with this.
I personally have yet to have an OMG YUM moment when making the recipe with a 100% whole wheat swap. It’s still too dense for my liking. Then again, 100% wheat bread tends to be dense in general (at least in my experience).
I’m still working on it though I believe I can nail it and get the results I want and love.
PrintThe Best Super Soft and Chewy Hoagie Rolls
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 25 minutes
- Category: bread
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: baking
The BEST soft and chewy bread roll for hoagies/submarine/grinders. Pillowy soft rolls that are begging to be filled with deliciousness!
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 – 4 cups bread flour/448-512 grams *see note
- 1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoon – 1 1/2 cups warm water (110-115F degrees) / 308-355 grams *see note
- 2 Tablespoons / 25 grams of sugar
- 1 packet instant yeast (2 1/4 teaspoon of RedStar Platinum Yeast) / 7 grams
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt / 6 grams
- 4 Tablespoons / 56 grams cold unsalted butter, cubed *see note
Instructions
Using Active Dry Yeast? Start here
- If using Active Dry Yeast (not the Instant I use) you have to proof the yeast first. Add the Active Dry Yeast, sugar, and 1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoon of 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 2 cups of flour and the remaining cup of water. Start off on low. Mix for 4 minutes.
- Go to Step 1 of Recipe Continuation and follow the rest of the recipe
Using Instant Yeast? Start here
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook add in 2 cups of flour, water, sugar, and Instant Yeast. Start off on low. Mix for 4 minutes.
- Go to Step 1 of Recipe Continuation and follow the rest of the recipe.
Recipe Continuation
- 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 up to 1/4 more cup of water (taking you up to a full 1 1/2 cups used) but add one Tablespoon at a time. The additional water will fully depend on how humid your room is.
- Add in the butter 1 Tablespoon at a time and mix until almost fully melded in before adding the next Tablespoon. In total, mix for 1-3 minutes or until the dough comes back together and the dough until it pulls completely away from the side and is smooth and shiny. Remove from bowl and transfer to a greased, covered bowl until doubled in size. ~1 hour.
- Punch the dough down and place it on a very lightly floured board. 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 with lightly sprayed plastic wrap. Allow to rise again until almost doubled. ~30-45 minutes. Do NOT overproof them otherwise they will fall flat.
- Preheat the oven to 375 F. If you want to slash your bread, using a lame, make your slashes. If desired, brush with a coating of choice and bake for 16-23 minutes or until golden brown. To ensure doneness, test the internal bread temp. It should be at 200F.
- Allow to cool before cutting with a quality bread knife ( Sani-Safe S162-8SC-PCP 8″ Scalloped Bread Knife with Polypropylene Handle Pan )
Notes
Flour & Water
Depending on the type of bread flour as well as how humid your kitchen is you may need to increase the water to 1 1/2 cups (which is only another 2 tablespoons more than the original). 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.
Cold Butter
I was raised using cold butter in this recipe though you may use softened or equal amounts of olive oil. When using cold butter, even though you ‘meld it into the flour’, you’re helping with gluten formation and the development of dough structure.
Slack Dough
Slack dough means when the dough cannot hold a shape; it has no elasticity or spring back at all. It’s a 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
Jim says
I made these today for the first time, and they were a hit! The entire family loved them. I used olive oil instead of butter and didn’t use a wash on the top. I’ve never made this type of bread before, but have made enough pizza dough to get me through the places that were rough during the mixing stages. We will definitely be making this again!
On a side note, I live in Michigan. The cheat that I use in the cold house to rise my dough is to preheat the oven to 200 degrees F, place the covered dough in the oven, and turn it off. Let it set in there for one hour. The dough will rise to at least double the size of the original.
Annette says
These were fantastic! We used them for hot roast beef sandwiches. I topped a few with everything but the bagel seasoning as well as sesame seeds, coating with butter beforehand. Definitely making these again.
Beth says
Super easy and absolutely delicious! This will be my go-to for soft rolls!
Beth says
Made these last night and my family loved them!! These will def be my new go-to for soft rolls!
Sharon Sabino says
I really enjoyed this recipe. They turned out soft and delicious. Thank you !!!
Beth C says
These were perfect! Fast, easy, and turned out great.
Emily says
Absolutely delicious these came out perfect!
Mike says
I failed at this twice and I’m hoping for some help to get it right because the flavor is there. First time bread went fully flat, took 30+ minutes to brown and bake through and was similar to slightly underdone crescent rolls from the can. I followed recipe exactly, going with the smaller amount of flour and water totals (3 1/2 and 1 1/4), needing to add a couple tablespoons extra flour since I’m in a humid environment. It proofed at room temp entire time which is early 70s in my house as I live in florida, and I put it in oven after exactly 30 minutes. If anything the first proof maybe could have gone longer since I don’t think it was doubled.
Second time around I went with the higher listed amount of flour and water but held back on the water a bit, still needed a couple tablespoons of flour extra during kneading. I was careful to make sure the bread fully doubled for the first proof and once again did exactly 30 min for second proof, this time all in the oven with the bread proof setting on. The bread still was on the flat side but with more lift than before, taking about 30 minutes to brown and bake through at 375.
I used dough hook and mixer first round following instructions for timeframes closely, fully hand kneaded on my second go taking over 20 minutes to get it to pass the window pane test and end up with a more smooth and shiny texture (still on the sticky side though).
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated since it tastes really good and I see the potential for an amazing end result if I can figure it out.
TKWAdmin says
Hi Mike,
Let’s see if I can break this down to make it more helpful. First, thank you for your repeated attempts. It’s times like these when I wish I could be in your kitchen helping you make it; honestly, each kitchen is different. From ambient temp to flour used, age of yeast, etc.
1. When the bread went fully flat it’s most likely due to them over proofing. See the section of “What does Overproof mean?”. A quick test if it’s over proofed is poke it for 2 seconds. If the indents remain and do not spring back, it’s over proofed. It’s an easy fix. Just read that section.
2. 2nd attempt – when you proofed it in the oven, was the container covered? Next, I hate to ask this but how fresh/new was your yeast? What I mean is was it a brand new, not expired packet? Was it Instant or Active Dry? Instant yeast doesn’t require proofing whereas active dry does.
3. Your oven, I know it’s a silly thing to ask but it has bit me more times than I can count. Is the internal temp actually reading at 375F?
4. Your ingredients – how are you measuring your flour and water? Using a scale in grams or are you using a scoop and measuring in cups? If you measure in cups, I would spoon the flour into the measuring cup and then level it off versus just scooping up a cup of flour at a time. A cup measured that way will weigh more than a cup spooned into a container versus a weighted amount.
5. What brand of flour are you using?
6. So when I created this recipe I was living in Pittsburgh which was high humidity like Florida. So in this case you would reduce the liquid by 10%
7. Finally, when you shape these, you want to just lightly degas or punch them down and using as little flour as possible. When I shape mine I tend to use just my fingertips and try not to work the dough as much as possible. The dough will be tacky but shouldn’t just stick to your hands. When you proof them the 2nd time, they may rise quicker than 30 minutes. Living in Arizona now, when it’s 110F outside, even with the AC on in the house, stuff rises faster.
Let me know how that helps.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
Susan says
Great instructions. The picture and description of “slack” dough was super helpful! My rolls turned out great and were perfect for a wet Italian Beef sandwich .
nina says
I love love love your recipe. I have tried to find a good hoagie roll andI found it using your recipe. Thanks you so much.