With 7 easy ingredients these yeast homemade Dinner Rolls will be the star of the meal, sorry main dish. Soft, flakey, and buttery everyone will be grabbing more! Perfect for holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter.
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The BEST Homemade Soft Dinner Rolls
I am so excited to share these dinner rolls with you, after years of playing around with a dinner roll recipe I finally nailed the best homemade dinner roll!
To have soft and pillowy rolls was a must for me but they needed to be slightly sweet and yeasty as well. After messing around with various different versions I settled on this recipe that was inspired from, you’ll never guess it… Cinnamon Roll Dough!
I mean if you think about it isn’t that the kind of dinner roll you want?! Now I did change some things up to make it a dinner roll opposed to a cinnamon roll, obviously no cinnamon right?!
P.S. If it is the holiday season you should totally be making my Gingerbread Cinnamon Rolls, seriously so good. I make them every Christmas Eve.
Anyways, these dinner rolls can truly be use for almost any occasion you wish. The are obviously great for holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. They are also delicious as sides to stews, chowders, and soups. Or maybe you are just really digging a dinner roll, this is the recipe you need!
ingredients
- Whole Milk – The milk will need to be warmed up slightly about 100º F or warm to the touch. I am able to microwave my milk for 1 minute and it comes out perfectly warm to the touch, just be careful because microwaves very and you don’t want the milk hot or boiling, just warm. Now for fat content I highly recommend using the whole milk, you can try a lower fat content but I can’t guarantee it will come out quite the same.
- Honey – Just a little honey to sweeten the dinner rolls, don’t worry the honey flavor doesn’t become overpowering in the roll.
- Yeast – Active Dry Yeast, this needs to be active dry yeast. Instant yeast will work differently here. If you are using a packet it is 1 Fleischmann’s packet.
- All-Purpose Flour – I wanted to make sure this recipe was easy to make so I just use all-purpose flour. I do recommend on using a good quality flour, like King Arthur’s Flour. This way you will have a high and consistent protein level of the flour. Cheaper or bargain flours tend to have a lower protein level, sometimes affect how your baked goods comes out.
- Egg – 1 large egg will be beaten into the dough.
- Butter – You will want the butter unsalted, this way you don’t make too salty of rolls. For the dough itself you will want 3 tablespoons melted. In addition you will want more butter for finishing the roll after it comes out of the oven. I find it easiest to just use a cold stick of butter, I unwrap down 1 to 2 tablespoons and just paint the butter right onto the hot rolls, it melts right in. If you find it easier to melt 2 tablespoons of butter and use a pastry brush to finish the roll you can definitely do it that way as well. Either way finishing with butter is a must, this will keep the rolls soft!
- Kosher Salt – I highly recommend using kosher salt and trying not to substitute, if you need to substitute use fine sea salt. Avoid using table salt.
For a complete detailed list of the ingredients continue towards the bottom of the page.
pro tip
For covering your dough to rest and rise you can of course use plastic wrap, but an eco-friendly way is just covering the rolls with a clean kitchen towel! (This only works if you are rising on the counter, it won’t work if you are rising the dough in the fridge.)
instructions
In the bowl of a stand mixer add the milk and honey, stir together to combine. Dust the top of the mixture with the yeast. Let rest for about 5 minutes.
Add 2 cups of the flour to the bowl. Mix on low to medium until a dough forms, scraping down the sides of the bowl if needed. The dough should be sticky at this point but still holding its shape.
Add the egg to the bowl and mix in starting on low and moving to medium as it blends in.
Add the butter and mix in on low and moving to medium as it blends in.
Once the dough is smooth again. Add the remaining 1 cup of flour about 1/4 cup at a time. Knead for 5 minutes on medium until smooth.
Add in the salt. Knead on medium for about 30 more seconds.
Transfer the dough to a greased bowl and cover. Let rest 30 to 60 minutes until it has doubled. (Mine in a warm kitchen usually is ready in about 35 minutes, this time will depend on the environment of your kitchen.)
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured cutting board. Divide into 16 equal sizes.
To divide the dough. Divide the whole dough in half, keep dividing all the dough pieces in half until there are 16 pieces of dough all about the same size.
Grease a 9×16 baking dish. Roll each piece of dough between your palms to get a circle. Transfer to the baking dish.
Let rise 45-60 minutes until they have doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Bake about 21-22 minutes until golden brown. Finish rolls with cold butter once they are out of the oven by simple peeling off the end of a butter wrapper and spreading the cold butter all over the top of the hot rolls, melting the butter over the top.
tips, tricks and questions
Why are my dinner rolls hard and not fluffy?
The most likely reason is that too much flour was added. Often times flour can easily be measured incorrectly. So making sure you are measuring your flour by scooping into a measuring cup with a spoon and leveling off opposed to just scooping the flour. Better yet use a scale, one cup of flour weights 120 grams.
Another reason is that the dough might not have had enough time to proof. Make sure when the dough rises that it doubles in size and has a slight dome. If the dough has collapsed it means that it was over proofed.
Another side note that if your rolls are heavy and seems dense this could be that the dough wasn’t kneaded long enough.
Can I make dinner roll dough the night before?
Yes! In order to prep them the night before you will want to make the recipe all the way through the first rise and shaping the rolls into balls. Once you have the dough shaped and into a greased dish you will want to cover. (Make sure the cover is greased so the rolls don’t stick.) You can place the whole dish into the refrigerator overnight. When you are ready to bake remove the dish from the fridge and let it sit at room temperature for 30 to 45 minutes before taking off the cover and transferring to the oven. Follow the baking instructions as written. Keeping them in the fridge overnight works because once the dough gets placed in the cool temperature the yeast will rise more slowly.
Can I use a different type of flour?
The only flour I would recommend substituting would be bread flour, this will result in a chewier roll, so if that is what you are after you can use bread flour instead.
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what to serve with this
Homemade Dinner Rolls
These homemade Soft Dinner Rolls are the perfect accompaniment to any meal. Ready in under 2 hours these yeast rolls are soft and delicious. A great side dish for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter!
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup warm whole milk, about 100º F or warm to the touch
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast (1 Fleischmann's packet)
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 1 large egg
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted + 1-2 tablespoons cold butter to finish the rolls
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer add the milk and honey, stir together to combine. Dust the top of the mixture with the yeast. Let rest for about 5 minutes.
- Add 2 cups of the flour to the bowl. Mix on low to medium until a dough forms, scraping down the sides of the bowl if needed. The dough should be sticky at this point but still holding its shape.
- Add the egg to the bowl and mix in starting on low and moving to medium as it blends in.
- Add the butter and mix in on low and moving to medium as it blends in.
- Once the dough is smooth again. Add the remaining 1 cup of flour about 1/4 cup at a time. Knead for 5 minutes on medium until smooth.
- Add in the salt. Knead on medium for about 30 more seconds.
- Transfer the dough to a greased bowl and cover. Let rest 30 to 60 minutes until it has doubled. (Mine in a warm kitchen usually is ready in about 35 minutes, this time will depend on the environment of your kitchen.)
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured cutting board. Divide into 16 equal sizes.
- Grease a 9x16 baking dish. Roll each piece of dough between your palms to get a circle. Transfer to the baking dish.
- Let rise 45-60 minutes until they have doubled in size.
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. Bake about 21-22 minutes until golden brown. Finish rolls with cold butter once they are out of the oven by simple peeling off the end of a butter wrapper and spreading the cold butter all over the top of the hot rolls, melting the butter over the top.
Notes
To divide the dough. Divide the whole dough in half, keep dividing all the dough pieces in half until there are 16 pieces of dough all about the same size.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
16Serving Size:
1 rollAmount Per Serving: Calories: 142Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 23mgSodium: 113mgCarbohydrates: 21gFiber: 1gSugar: 2gProtein: 4g
Nutritional data is automated and might not be 100% accurate, final nutritional information will depend on ingredients used and any changes made.
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