Homemade Dinner Rolls

Dinner Rolls Video Tutorial

Let’s learn how to make perfect homemade dinner rolls! This recipe produces soft and flavorful classic dinner rolls and it all starts with a straightforward 7 ingredient dough.

You need 7 ingredients total:

1. Milk: Liquid activates the yeast. For the best rolls, use whole milk. Nondairy or low-fat milks work too, but whole milk produces phenomenal flavor and texture.
2. Yeast: You can use active dry yeast or instant yeast. If using active dry yeast, the rise times will be a little longer. I recommend Platinum Yeast from Red Star, which is an instant yeast blended with natural dough improvers.
3. Honey: The honey feeds the yeast, increases its activity, and tenderizes the dough. Plus it provides that distinctive sweetness these rolls are made for!
4. Egg: 1 egg provides structure and flavor, and that extra egg yolk adds richness and makes the rolls supremely soft. Don’t skip it.
5. Butter: Butter in the dough promises a flavorful, soft honey butter roll. And is there anything better than slathering honey butter on top of the warm rolls?
6. Salt: You can’t make flavorful bread without salt!
7. Flour: You can use all-purpose flour or bread flour in this recipe. All-purpose flour is convenient for most, but bread flour produces chewier rolls. There are no other changes to the recipe if you use all-purpose flour. I use bread flour in my honey butter rolls because it contains more gluten than all-purpose. Extra gluten helps make finished rolls extra chewy and, um, more bread-like.

The 1st step is to proof your yeast, a step I take even if I’m using instant yeast. All you do is mix the yeast with the warm liquid (milk), and a little sugar (honey). Cover and let it sit for 5–10 minutes until foamy and frothy on top. This proves your yeast is active and ready to get to work.

Add the ingredients as stated in step 2 below to the stand mixer bowl.

The dough comes together with a mixer. If you don’t have a mixer, you can mix the dough by hand in a large mixing bowl with a wooden spoon or spatula. After the dough comes together, it’s time to knead. For kneading, you have 2 options. You can continue beating the dough with the mixer or you can knead the dough by hand. (I provide further detail about kneading in my Baking with Yeast Guide.)

After the dough rises in the 1^st rise, punch it down to release the air, then shape the dough. You can shape it many different ways including twists, knots, or the classic round shape. Let’s stick with the round shape this time. Divide the dough evenly into 15 pieces. Take a piece and stretch the top of the dough while pinching and sealing the bottom. You can roll it on the counter to make sure it’s extra smooth, too.

Arrange the rolls in a greased baking pan, loosely cover, and let rise for about an hour (this is the 2nd rise).

After baking, spread honey butter over the warm rolls. There will be extra honey butter to serve with the rolls.

Even though these rolls are the perfect accompaniment to your dinner, they’re fantastic any time of day! Use them for burger sliders and sandwich trays, breakfast sandwiches with bacon and egg, or serve alongside salad. They’re wonderful for dunking in tomato sauce, soups, and stews or even a little garlic and olive oil.

Homemade Dinner Rolls

You only need 7 ingredients to make these dinner rolls. Flaky, soft, and buttery, these fresh dinner rolls outshine any main dish.

Yield 15 rolls

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Ingredients

Dough

• 1 cup (240ml) whole milk (warmed to about 110°F (43°C))
• 1 (0.25oz) package (7g) or 2 1/4 teaspoons Platinum Yeast
• 1/4 cup (85g) + 1 teaspoon honey, divided
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons; 56g) unsalted butter (melted and slightly cooled)
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 3 1/2 cups (455g) bread flour ( )

Topping

• 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons; 56g) unsalted butter, very soft
• 2 tablespoons (42g) honey

Instructions

• Prepare the dough: Whisk the warm milk, yeast, and 1 tablespoon of sugar together in the bowl of your stand mixer. Cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes. *If you do not own a stand mixer, you can do this in a large mixing bowl and in the next step, mix the dough together with a large wooden spoon/rubber spatula. It will take a bit of arm muscle. A hand mixer works, but the sticky dough repeatedly gets stuck in the beaters. Mixing by hand with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula is a better choice.*
• Add the remaining sugar, egg, butter, salt, and 1 cup flour. With a dough hook or paddle attachment, mix/beat on low speed for 30 seconds, scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, then add the remaining flour. Beat on medium speed until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 2 minutes. If the dough seems too wet to a point where kneading (next step) would be impossible, beat in more flour 1 Tablespoon at a time until you have a workable dough, similar to the photos and video above. Dough should be soft and a little sticky, but still manageable to knead with lightly floured hands.
• Knead the dough: Keep the dough in the mixer and beat for an additional 2 minutes or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 2 minutes. (See video tutorial below if you need a visual of kneading dough by hand.)
• 1st Rise: Lightly grease a large bowl with oil or nonstick spray. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil. Cover the bowl with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise in a relatively warm environment for 1-2 hours or until double in size.
• Grease a 9×13 inch baking pan or two 9-inch square or round baking pans. You can also bake the rolls in a cast iron skillet or on a lined baking sheet.*
• Shape the rolls: When the dough is ready, punch it down to release the air. Divide the dough into 14-16 equal pieces. (Just eyeball it– doesn’t need to be perfect!) Shape each piece into a smooth ball. I do this entirely in my hands and you can watch in the video tutorial above. Arrange in prepared baking pan.
• 2nd Rise: Cover shaped rolls with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow to rise until puffy, about 1 hour.
• Adjust oven rack to a lower position and preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). (It’s best to bake the rolls towards the bottom of the oven so the tops don’t burn.)
• Bake the rolls: Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown on top, rotating the pan halfway through. If you notice the tops browning too quickly, loosely tent the pan with aluminum foil. Remove from the oven, brush with optional honey butter topping, and allow rolls to cool for a few minutes before serving.
• Cover leftover rolls tightly and store at room temperature for 2-3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Notes

Freezing Instructions:  You can freeze the baked dinner rolls. Allow them to cool completely, then freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator or at room temperature, then reheat as desired. If reheating the whole pan, lightly cover and reheat in a 300°F (149°C) oven for about 10 minutes or until warm.

Overnight Instructions: Prepare the recipe through step 6. Cover the shaped rolls tightly and refrigerate for up to about 15 hours. At least 3 hours before you need them the next day, remove the rolls from the refrigerator, keep covered, and allow to rise on the counter for about 1-2 hours before baking. Alternatively, you can let the dough have its 1st rise in the refrigerator overnight. Cover the dough tightly and place in the refrigerator for up to about 15 hours. Remove from the refrigerator and allow the dough to fully rise for 2 more hours. Continue with step 5.

Baking Pan: I prefer baking the rolls in a glass 9×13 inch baking pan because I find they brown a little too quickly in metal. As long as you bake the rolls on a lower oven rack and keep your eye on them, any pan is great.

Flour: You can use all-purpose flour or bread flour. All-purpose flour is convenient for most, but bread flour produces chewier dinner rolls. The rolls are still soft and fluffy no matter which you use. Either flour is fine and there are no other changes to the recipe if you use one or the other.

 

Recipe by Sally’s Baking Addiction.

Sally McKenney is a professional food photographer, cookbook author, and baker. She has written, photographed, and published more than 1,000 from-scratch recipes and written three cookbooks. Her thorough step-by-step tutorials give millions of followers the knowledge and confidence to bake from scratch.