These fluffy hoagie buns are perfect for any hot or cold sub. Use this bread to elevate any ordinary sandwich to top notch sub shop quality. It is a healthy alternative to normal hoagie bread because it is fermented using a potato flake starter!
What is a hoagie bun?
The name hoagie bun seems to be interchangeably used with the terms: sub sandwich, hero, and grinder. All of these are sandwiches on a somewhat cylindrical bread roll that is cut in half length wise, piled high with meats, cheese and veggies. These sandwiches can be hot or cold and can vary from 6 inches to 12 inches long.
Why is potato flake sourdough hoagie buns better than buying from the store?
Using a potato flake starter causes fermentation because of this the final bread product has less gluten and therefore, easier to digest. This is healthier for everyone, but especially those who are gluten sensitive.
In addition, the fermenting also produces prebiotics, a type of indigestible fiber that feeds the good bacteria in your gut. This is great for decreasing bloating and aiding in digestion.
What types of sandwiches are good on hoagie buns?
You could make any sandwich on a hoagie bun! Here are some sandwiches that would be delicious:
- Philly Cheesesteak
- Any deli sandwich
- Bacon Ranch Chicken and Cheese
- Chipotle Chicken, Avocado and Cheese
- Meatball sub
Ingredients
Potato flake sourdough starter
bread flour
water
honey
butter
salt
Tools
Measuring cups and spoons
Stand mixer with dough hook
Scoring blade or VERY sharp knife
How to make hoagie buns using potato flake sourdough starter:
The night before you want to have hoagie rolls:
Add your 1 cup of starter to a stand mixer.
Add flour, water, honey, butter, and salt
Use a dough hook and knead on low speed for 5 minutes. It should be pulling away from the bowl, but it is a sticky dough. While you wait, grease a large bowl for bulk ferment.
Tip: Use the butter wrapper to smear any left over butter into the bowl for easy greasing and to use up the butter on the wrapper!
Remove dough from stand mixer and form into a ball. This dough is a bit sticky. It will stick to your hands some, but not enough that it makes it hard to shape it.
Place into a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set in warm place to bulk ferment for about 12 hours. It might take longer or shorter depending on the temperature of your home. It should be doubled in size.
The next morning:
After bulk ferment, punch down the dough, and place on lightly floured surface.
Shape into a ball.
Divide ball into 6 pieces.
For each piece, press into a rectangle.
Then roll and pinch the ends to seal them up.
Place seam down on parchment paper and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise for another 2-3 hours, depending on the temperature of your home.
Using a very sharp knife or a scoring blade, score a straight line down the top of your dough. This photo turned out at bit blurry, but you can get the idea!
Bake your hoagie rolls at 375 for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown on the tops.
Use a bread knife and slice the hoagie buns open and load them up with your favorite fillings! We made meat ball subs with these hoagie buns using my homemade copycat prego sauce recipe! Find it here.
FAQ:
What if my dough doesn’t rise?
Be sure that the starter has fed long enough. I always let mine feed at least 8 hours. Also make sure that the dough has been rising long enough. When the temperature is cold it can take up to 17 hours. It will always rise quicker in warmer months.
Do I have to score my bread?
No, you don’t have to but it does make a nicer looking loaf and the scoring allows for additional rising in the oven.
Can I use All Purpose flour?
I have not experimented with only all purpose flour in this recipe. It should work fine. Using half bread flour and half all purpose would also turn out well, from my experience.
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Potato Flake Sourdough Hoagie Buns
Ingredients
- 1 cup potato flake starter
- 3 cup Bread Flour
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 T Honey
- 1/4 cup softened butter
- 1 t salt
Instructions
- Add your 1 cup of starter to a stand mixer.
- Add flour, water, honey, butter, and salt
- Use a dough hook and kneed on low speed for 5 minutes. It should be pulling away from the bowl, but it is a sticky dough. While you wait, grease a large bowl for bulk ferment.
- Remove dough from stand mixer and form into a ball.
- Place into a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set in warm place to bulk ferment for about 12 hours. It might take longer or shorter depending on the temperature of your home. It should be doubled in size.
- After bulk ferment, punch down the dough, and place on lightly floured surface.
- Shape into a ball and divide into 6 pieces. For each piece, press into a rectangle , roll and pinch the ends to seal them up.
- Place seam down on parchment paper and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise for another 2-3 hours, depending on the temperature of your home.
- Using a very sharp knife or a scoring blade, score a straight line down the top of your dough.
- Bake your hoagie rolls at 375 for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown on the tops.
Notes
How do you get your starter to be so fluffy? Mine does not bubble up like yours.
two things that might help:
1. I keep my lid on just fingertip tightened, some people just leave it covered with a cloth, but I find the lid helps mine.
2. Make sure you aren’t keeping too much starter. I wouldn’t keep more than a cup. Before feeding your starter, make sure you only have 1 cup of starter in your jar, then feed.
Hope this helps!
Have made starter …….could you please share more recipes that use ‘potato flake’ starter & discard starter recipes as well…or where to find recipes..seems to be limited in my searches ..Thanks so much…
That’s exciting! I’m so glad you found my site! I am working daily on new recipes, but it takes time to test and get them just right (as well as photograph them and write up the recipes!) ! I’ll constantly be sharing them here on my site as soon as I have a new one! There are not many recipes out there for this type of starter! Anything specific you are wanting to make? I’ll add that to the top of my list! 🙂
Thanks for replying; am starting another cinnamon roll recipe [I found ‘one’ using the fed starter..supposed to take much less time… & also going to start your hoagie roll recipe this morning as well… they sound so good & will let you know how it goes.
I would love to try a; soft white bread recipe & possibly a pumpernickel bread recipe using the starter…oh, & dinner rolls [ we don’t care for the Hawaiian rolls; while they are very good, we are weird I know, but they are just way too sweet for us].. simple fruit breads or rolls. [ I have my eye on your recipe for the banana blueberry muffins possibly make this weekend..sounds so good!]
Oh, this may seem way off to you, but I have a few [bowl shape]crockery bread bakers … the recipes I have for them all have me putting the prepared/made dough into a cold oven, set the temp & bake from there…and they turn out terrific…. any thoughts if this might work for the potato flake starter bread?? While I have been cooking & baking for over 60 years, breads & sour doughs are not my forte, but I am determined to learn…so your help & recipes are very much appreciated
I have a white bread recipe coming out soon!
My brown bread recipe is similar to pumpernickel:https://littletennesseehome.com/potato-flake-sourdough-brown-bread-recipe/
Here is my dinner roll recipe that I just posted:https://littletennesseehome.com/simple-potato-flake-sourdough-dinner-rolls/
i’m not sure about the crockery bread bakers, I’d have to do some research on those since I’m unfamiliar with them. I would think maybe it would work as long as you still let them do their rise times as usual. Let me know if you give it a try!
These turned out really good. Thank you for the recipes, am going to try some of your other recipes, too.
Yay! So glad to hear that! Thank you for taking the time to leave a review! I appreciate it so much!
Superb layout and design, but most of all, concise and helpful information. Great job!
I am trying this recipe and wonder if oil could be subbed for the butter. If so, is the oil amount the same? One quarter cup?
Thank you
Yes, this should work! it might have a slightly different texture but will still be delicious!
These rolls turned out amazing. I mixed it by hand instead of using my mixer and it worked just fine. I will be making these again. No more store bought rolls for us! Thanks for the great detailed recipe.
This recipe is easy to follow. I did make the substitution for honey with sugar. I also made these by hand mixing and no stand mixer. I say all this as encouragement to give it a go even if you don’t have certain things! These rolls were fluffy and soft! We made meatball subs with ours but look forward to making a cold cut sub with them. I made the dough at bedtime and in the morning did the second rise and baked. They were ready for lunch😋!
This is awesome! Thank you for your comment and encouragement to others to give it a try!