Homemade Dinner Rolls Recipe
Published December 6, 2019. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
Believe it or not, dinner rolls are way easier than you may have thought. They’re buttery, soft, and seriously the best bread around!
There isn’t a kid out there who didn’t immediately reach for the rolls once they sat at the table. Whether it’s Thanksgiving, Christmas, or just a great weeknight meal, homemade bread just makes the meal. If you haven’t made this yet, now is the time, my friends.
How to Work With Yeast
For some reason, folks get nervous when working with yeast.
- Can I mix it with salt?
- Is there enough sugar in it for the yeast to feed on?
- Is my liquid too hot or not hot enough?
I get these all the time, especially on my most popular bread recipe for an artisan country loaf. Once you use yeast 1 or 2 times, you will kick yourself at how easy it is to bake with.
- The most foolproof way to activate that yeast is by starting with a warm liquid. While most active yeasts call for a 105° to 110° optimal temperature, I usually go hotter, and here’s why.
- When you transfer the hot liquid to your mixing bowl, the bowl is almost always cold and immediately drops the temperature from 5° to 7°, making it perfect. Always account for stuff like that because if it’s too cold, the yeast won’t activate.
- Next, simply stir in the sugar, followed by sprinkling in the yeast and whisking just until combined. Let this mixture sit for 4-6 minutes, and you’ll notice a little raft that forms at the top.
Bread Rising Trick
Some folks live in colder areas, and it’s harder to reach that optimal proofing temperature of 80° to 90°, especially in the winter. Well, I’ve got a trick for you, my friends.
- Once your dough has been kneaded and is in the bowl, you plan on letting it rise in. Cover it and place it in your unused oven. So yes, make sure it hasn’t been turned on at all.
- Next, close the door and simply turn the oven light on. The light will provide enough light to give the oven the perfect proofing environment for your bread to rise.
How Do You Make Dinner Rolls
- To start this recipe, add your hot milk between 112° and 115° and pour it into your standing mixer. Immediately add in some sugar, and sprinkle in your active yeast. Whisk the mixture and let it sit for 4-6 minutes or until a raft forms on the top.
- Add the hook attachment and turn the stand mixer to low while adding in the remaining sugar, butter, and salt.
- Slowly add the flour a few scoops at a time so that the mixer can catch up and mix all of the ingredients together. You don’t want to just dump everything in there at once.
- Add 1 egg at a time until mixed in, and then simply knead it on medium speed for 3-5 minutes.
- Next simply add your dough to a container, cover with a towel or plastic wrap, and place in an un-used oven with the oven light on and let it proof for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
- Remove the dough from the oven and place it on a clean surface dusted with flour and punch it down to simply flatten it out. We want it to rise again, so this is why you do it.
Now it’s time to form them into dinner rolls!
Form 20 individual golf-sized dough balls and place them about 1” apart from each other in a greased and lined with parchment paper cookie sheet tray or 13×9 dish. Place a towel over the top of the bread and let it rise for 30 more minutes. You can absolutely place it back in the unused oven with the oven light on.
Remove the towel and brush the tops of the dinner rolls with a simple egg wash of whisked egg and milk. This will help them brown up beautifully. Bake the dinner rolls in the oven at 350° for 25-30 minutes. They should be golden brown on top and soft but cooked in the middle.
Brush on some melted unsalted butter, sprinkle a little sea salt, and have it, my friends!
Make-Ahead of Time
You can absolutely make these dinner rolls ahead of time. You would get them all the way until they are formed into individual little dough balls and placed in a greased parchment paper-lined pan.
Place them in the refrigerator until about 90 minutes before you are ready to eat them.
- Take them out of the refrigerator and let them sit for 60 minutes to get up to room temperature.
- Bake in the oven at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes
- Serve.
Dinner Roll Topping Variations
There are quite a few things you can add to the top of these dinner rolls to make them unique. Here are some of my favorites:
- Butter and Herbs – When the rolls are finished, simply brush them on top of them with a combination of melted butter and fresh herbs. I would use thyme, parsley, chives, or rosemary.
- Garlic – The same as above; however, use garlic instead of herbs and brush the tops.
- Cheese – Once the rolls come out of the oven, immediately sprinkle on some shredded cheese as it will melt immediately. I would use parmesan, asiago, or cheddar.
Bread Making Questions and Answers
Whether a simple Two Hour White Loaf or a French Baguette, there are always lots of break-making questions. Here are the most common:
How do I know when it’s done rising?
- Bread, in most cases, is usually done rising once it’s doubled its size.
Can I use Instant instead of Active yeast?
- Yes, you can; instant yeast can go with liquid up to 130° and does not need a second rise once your bread has been formed.
What if there is no raft?
- As long as your yeast hasn’t expired and your liquid is between that optimal 105° to 110°, you will be ok.
How do I know when the bread is done?
- Bread should have a nice thin or thick brown crust on top with a cooked soft center. There should be no raw dough.
CHEF NOTES + TIPS
- It is best to reheat these in the oven at 350° for 4 to 6 minutes or until warm.
More Amazing Bread Recipes
- Homemade Pita Bread Recipe
- Homemade White Bread
- Naan
- French Boule with Poolish
- Kamut Flour Bread with Biga
- Gougéres
Be sure to follow me on Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, and Pinterest, and if you’ve had a chance to make this, then definitely drop me a comment and a rating below.
Video
Homemade Dinner Rolls Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups whole milk at 115° + 2 tablespoons
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 packet active yeast
- 7 tablespoons unsalted melted butter + more for brushing
- pinch of sea salt
- 4 ¼ cups All Purpose Flour
- 3 large eggs
Instructions
- Add the 1 ½ cups hot milk, 1 tablespoon of sugar, and yeast to a standing mixer with the hook attachment. Whisk with a whisk until combined and let it sit for 4-6 minutes or when a raft forms.
- Add the remaining sugar, 7 tablespoons of melted butter, and sea salt.
- Turn the mixer on low and slowly add the flour in 4 or so batches until combined.
- Add 2 eggs until mixed in, and then knead for 3-5 minutes.
- Cover and let rise until it has doubled in size for 60 minutes.
- Punch down the dough and form 20 small golf ball-sized dough balls and place 1” apart in a greased and parchment paper-lined cookie sheet tray or 13×9 dish.
- Cover with a towel and let rise for 30 more minutes.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining egg and 2 tablespoons of whole milk until combined.
- Brush the tops of the bread with the egg wash and bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until browned on top and soft and cooked in the middle.
- Brush with unsalted melted butter and sprinkle on sea salt.
- Serve warm.
Best dinner rolls I’ve ever made. I made them to roll Kolachi’s. My daughter said best bread ever.
Glad she enjoyed them, thank you for trying this!
What a wonderful recipe ! As written, these turned out perfect !!!! Bravo !!!!!
my pleasure
I’ve had a fear/fascination with making breads but never worked with yeast. Your recipe and video helped me conquer that and I made the bread rolls! They turned out perfect and tasted amazing! Making this for Thanksgiving this year! No more brown and serve rolls for me! Thank you Billy, for making baking seem effortless for me!!
my pleasure!
Made these last night to go with chicken and noodles. I thought I had done something wrong initially because I didn’t have much of a rise the 1st rising. The 2nd however proved to be successful. These rolls were delicious and the recipe easy. Went great with the chicken and noodles and I can only imagine how great these are going to be dipped into my thanksgiving gravy! Thanks Billy!
Easy and delicious. Loved the proofing oven tip for your bread recipes.
This recipe was e z Pezze to make. It came out so good I shocked myself. These are definitely going on the table for Thanksgiving and Christmas
My family couldn’t get enough
love it!
These were easy to make and delicious!!!!
excellent!
Best dinner rolls my family loves them!
awesome!
These were the perfect rolls for my sliders on the griddle! It was the cherry on top that put them over the edge!! Thank you Billy!
Ecellent!
Fabulous recipe, and delicious warm from the oven. Definitely making these again!
awesome
Great recipe. Will use it again and again!! Thank you!!
Oh my word. This was so fun to make in my stand mixer while watching the video! Easy peasy to follow and they turned out terrific!
Perfect!
Just wondering about the small amount of salt in this recipe. Seems most recipes use more salt.
Feel free to add more
You are a awesome chef I’ve cooked so many times behind your videos and everything always turned out wonderful. Let’s continue to cook
They were so good. I highlight of Christmas dinner. You did a great job explaining how to make it. thank you!
Amazing rolls! They are just delicious. I have 2 questions.
1. I know that serious bread bakers weigh their flour. I converted the flour to 18 ozs. of flour, but it was not nearly enough. I wound up adding about another cup as it kneaded, as it seemed more like a thick pancake batter than bread dough. How many ozs. of flour are required, if weighed?
2. We did not want to eat all of the rolls, so I wanted to freeze the remaining ones. They would not come off the buttered parchment paper! I decided to use scissors to cut the paper into individual squares (with the rolls still firmly attached to the paper). How could I have done this better, to get the rolls from the second rise into the freezer, for later use?
Thank you! I love your recipes. I will definitely make this one again.
I have quite a bit of salted butter, will it be alright to use this?
yes, just don’t use salt.
Can I use 2% milk instead of whole milk?
Yes
On the make ahead..can I make the dough and form the rolls the day before? Thank you for all your help and absolutely loved your Q&A. I was glued to my screen 😌 God Bless!🙏
Yes you can.
Can I use I different brand of white flour?
yes!
Only two people in home can this recipe be cut in half? Or do you have smaller recipe?
it absolutely can be cut in half. Place your cursor over the serving amount and slide up and down for servings and the ingredient amounts will change.
Can you suggest an adjustment if I want to use wheat flour. Thanks!
You want to use 100% wheat flour? I would suggest cutting it a little with regular white flour.
I wondered if you have a recipe with a poolish for intensifying the French taste in French Bread Dinner Rolls. I’m a new baker but an older French bread taste lover.
Thank you!
I have a poolish recipe at https://www.billyparisi.com/classic-french-boule-recipe-with-poolish/. You would just have to scale it into the current recipe based on baking percentages.
Not sure I understand your make ahead directions. Can I make and freeze these ahead of time, thaw in fridge; then bring to room temp before baking? Thank you for the recipes and videos–you are very easy to watch, and your dishes are both easy and delicious (French Silk Pie is a stunner!)
Yes, make and freeze ahead of time. Bring to room temperature before reheating.