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Dinner Rolls Recipe

Soft Dinner Rolls

Recipe
Published on April 2, 2019

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You only need 7 ingredients to make these

dinner rolls. Flaky, so!, and buttery, these
fresh dinner rolls outshine any main dish. If
you’re a bread beginner, read this blog post to
learn more about the yeast rolls recipe,
including how to prep the rolls ahead of time.
You can also reference my Baking with Yeast
Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.

This recipe is brought to you in partnership

with Red Star Yeast.

Do you long to bake homemade bread but

are too intimidated to start?
Does yeast dough send you running for the
hills?
Do bread recipes seem overly complicated
and confusing?

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I’m teaching you how to make homemade

dinner rolls. These are the best homemade
dinner rolls I’ve ever had and it all starts with
a straightforward 7 ingredient dough. I make
these rolls whenever I get the chance and
even brought a pan to our friends who just
welcomed a baby. They’re pillow so! with
the most delicious flaky and buttery texture.
Everyone will demand you bake them on
repeat.

And with this recipe, I guarantee you will

finally feel confident baking bread.

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Baking with
Yeast Guide
Reference this Baking with Yeast
Guide whenever you work with
baker’s yeast. I include practical
answers to all of your common
yeast questions.

Video Tutorial: Dinner

Rolls
Let’s start with a video tutorial.

Soft Dinner Rolls | Sally's Ba…

Overview: How to Make

Homemade Dinner Rolls
1 Make the dough. Continue below to learn
more about this dough recipe.
2 Knead the dough.
3 Cover the dough and let it rise. The
dough rises in about 1-2 hours in a
relatively warm environment.
4 Punch down the dough to release the
air and shape into rolls.
5 Let the rolls rise for about 1 hour.
6 Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden
brown. If desired, brush the warm rolls
with a little honey and melted butter for
extra flavor.

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As shown in the video tutorial, the dough

comes together with a mixer. You can use a
paddle attachment or a dough hook. You can
also make the dough by hand, but it requires
a bit of arm muscle. A!er the dough comes
together in the mixing bowl, it’s time to
knead. You can simply continue beating the
dough with the mixer for this step or you can
knead the dough by hand. I chose to knead
the dough by hand so you can see me doing
it.

If you’re interested, I provide further detail

about kneading in my Baking with Yeast
Guide. (Which, by the way, is a wonderful
resource for all bread beginners!)

Soft Dinner Rolls Require

a Rich Dough
The crustier and chewier the bread, the less
fat in the dough. This is known as a lean
dough. The so!er and richer the bread, the
more fat in the dough. This is known as a rich
dough. Unlike chewy bagels, focaccia, and
my artisan bread, so! dinner rolls require a
rich dough. Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean
that the dough is swimming in cash. Rather,
“rich” correlates with the amount of fat. For
example, this dough has milk, butter, and
egg.

You need 7 ingredients total. They’re the

same ingredients in my easy cinnamon rolls,
which is also a rich dough. (Though I use
more sugar for sweeter cinnamon rolls, of
course.)

1 Milk: Liquid activates the yeast. For the

so!est dinner 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 Red Star Platinum Superior
Baking Yeast, which is an instant yeast
blended with natural dough improvers.
3 Sugar: Sugar feeds the yeast, increases its
activity, and tenderizes the dough.
4 Egg: 1 egg provides structure and flavor.
5 Butter: Butter promises a flavorful and
so! dinner roll. Make sure it’s room
temperature.
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 dinner rolls. There are
no other changes to the recipe if you use
bread flour.

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Once you make the dough, let it rise:

A!er that, punch down the risen dough.

Shape into balls and arrange in a baking pan.
Don’t worry if they’re not all uniform in size.

Let the shaped rolls rise before baking. Look

how pu"y they get a!er 1 hour of rising:

How to Shape Dinner Rolls

You can shape this dough many di"erent
ways including twisted rolls, knotted rolls
(how I shape garlic knots), cloverleaf rolls, or
even hot dog buns. Let’s stick with the basic
round shape. Divide the dough into 14-16
pieces. Take a piece and stretch the top of the
dough while pinching and sealing the
bottom. I do this entirely in my hands and
you can watch in the video tutorial above.
Some video tutorials show rolling the dough
into a ball on the counter. Whichever way
you choose, make sure the rolls are smooth
on top and sealed on the bottom. I shape hot
cross buns the same exact way.

How to Make Yeast Rolls

Ahead of Time
The rolls require around 3 hours of rising. Not
everyone has 3 hours to spare, so let’s
discuss another option! Prepare the dough,
let it rise, and shape the rolls. Cover the
shaped rolls tightly and refrigerate for up to
about 16 hours. At least 3 hours before you
need them the next day, remove the rolls
from the refrigerator and allow to rise on the
counter for about 1-2 hours before baking.

And here’s how to freeze dinner rolls:

Follow the make-ahead instructions and
instead of refrigerating overnight, freeze the
rolls in a baking pan. Once frozen, they won’t
stick together anymore and you can place
them in a freezer bag. Let them thaw and rise
for about 4-5 hours, then bake. You can also
freeze the baked dinner rolls. Therefore, if
you want a smaller batch, you can make the
entire recipe and bake only a few fresh rolls
at a time.

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These make-ahead options are especially

helpful if you want fresh-baked rolls for
Easter brunch, Thanksgiving dinner, or on
Christmas.

Dinner Roll Flavors

How about some pizazz? Mix in these
ingredients when you add the flour.

1 Rosemary Dinner Rolls – 2 Tablespoons

fresh or dried chopped rosemary.
2 Cheddar Dinner Rolls – 1 cup shredded
cheddar cheese. Other cheese varieties
work, but avoid super so! cheeses.
3 Garlic & Herb Dinner Rolls – 2 teaspoons
each: dried rosemary, dried basil, & dried
parsley, along with 1 teaspoon garlic
powder.
4 Whole Wheat Rolls – Here is my Whole
Wheat Dinner Rolls recipe.
5 Multigrain Rolls – Here is my Multigrain
Bread recipe that you can turn into rolls.

This dough is not ideal for a big loaf of bread.

Instead, I recommend using a leaner dough,
such as my sandwich bread recipe.

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3 Success Tips
1 Reference my Baking with Yeast Guide,
which answers many common yeast FAQs.
2 Make sure your yeast isn’t expired.
Expiration date is on the package.
3 Directly from the pros at Red Star Yeast:
Measuring flour correctly is key to
avoiding a dense dough, which leads to
heavy (not so!!) rolls. Spoon and level
your flour, do not scoop it out of the
package.

My final piece of advice? Don’t limit these

rolls to suppertime. They’re welcome
anywhere, with any meal, any time of day.
Use for sliders, breakfast sandwiches,
soaking up your favorite tomato sauce,
alongside salad, or dunking into a bowl of
creamy chicken noodle soup. Above all,
don’t doubt yourself because you, too, can
become a bread baking pro.

4.9 from 542 reviews

Soft Dinner Rolls Recipe

Prep Time: 3 hours, 25 minutes
Cook Time: 22 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours, 45 minutes
Yield: 14-16 rolls

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RECIPE RECIPE & REVIEWS

Description

You only need 7 ingredients to make

these dinner rolls. Flaky, so!, and
buttery, these fresh dinner rolls
outshine any main dish. See recipe
notes for freezing and overnight
instructions. You can also reference
my Baking with Yeast Guide for
answers to common yeast FAQs.