Pull-Apart Sour Cream and Chive Rolls

Have you ever tasted Heaven? I have; it’s the Pull-Apart Sour Cream and Chive Rolls. These spoke to my soul. I decided to make these the night before my parents came to town, and I know it won’t be the last time.

All the ingredients were very simple; I really only needed to buy fresh chives. I started by whisking whole milk with some flour and water until it became smooth on the stove. Then I kept whisking until it became pasty on medium heat. Claire said it would look like mashed potatoes, and it really did! I learned this technique is called tangzhong and comes from Japanese milk bread. I added that paste mixture into the stand mixer.

I warmed the rest of the milk for about 30 seconds to be lukewarm in the same saucepan. I took it off the heat and whisked in active dry yeast, letting it get foamy for about five minutes.

At the stand mixer, I added sour cream, sugar, salt, eggs, some butter and bread flour. I mixed it on low until the flour was mixed in and not flying all over the place. Then I increased the speed and let the mixer go for about ten minutes, scraping down the sides from time to time. The dough became very smooth and stopped sticking to the sides of the bowl.

I placed the dough on my floured counter and shaped it into a beautiful puff ball. I placed it in a clean bowl and covered it completely with plastic wrap. After about 90 minutes, it had clearly doubled in size. Something about this dough was already warming my heart (Perhaps it’s because a dough finally came together correctly for me after several failed recipes prior!).

I used the old 13”x 9” tin pan my mom gave me years ago and lathered the inside with butter. Once I was ready to work with the dough, I punched it to get out some of the gas inside. I rolled the dough out into a big square, scattering more flour over it. Then I sprinkled the chopped chives all over the square and folded it into a loose roll. I rolled it out again into a rectangle, about 16”x 4”. The rectangle needs to be big enough to cut out 24 squares; Claire recommended doing it with an 8x3 grid, which worked great.

After I had all the squares cut out, I pinched the corners in together and placed that grouped portion on the bottom. Then I rolled each piece in to a cute dough ball and placed them in the pan in a 4x6 grid. It was so fun! Honestly I’m a little confused why this recipe is considered challenging; maybe because of the various steps, but I found this very enjoyable.

I decided it would make more sense to finish the rest of the steps once my parents were here. I covered the rolls with the tin cover and placed them in the fridge overnight.

The next day, I took off the tin cover and let the dough rolls rise for three hours. Since they had been refrigerated for a day, Claire recommended this much time, and I have to say it really did take that long to notice a significant rise. I gently brushed egg wash all over the buns and sprinkled on Himalayan salt and pepper on them. The rolls baked for about 27 minutes, and when I took them out, they were a gorgeous golden brown. I quickly brushed them with more butter and let them cool until they were still slightly warm.

To give you an idea of how good these rolls are, I think six of the 24 rolls were eaten within the first ten minutes I said they were ready to be eaten. The rolls are just as soft, fluffy, salty and buttery as you can imagine from the pictures, with a great hint of sour cream and onion. I refuse to feel guilty when eating these since I made them from scratch.

In the past, I have always bought buns for holiday events, but I think from now on I’ll have to make these a day ahead and then bake them before dinner. The Pull-Apart Sour Cream and Chive Rolls are easily one of my favorite recipes out of Dessert Person.

Claire has not yet made this recipe on her YouTube Channel, but I have no idea how she can’t eventually since these are so freaking good! I’ll share it if she does!