Today is the day that you become a holiday hero.
Because, Family, these dinner rolls are IT. They are impressively sized, equally delicious, and well worth the effort for Sunday dinners or holiday dinners alike.
These dinner rolls are buttery, flaky, and rich; these are the dinner rolls that you put in the center of the plate so that they can touch and bless every dish.
**Unless, of course, you don’t like your food touching. Then you can put them on their own plate.**
These are perfect for sopping up extra pot liquor from Auntie’s famous collard greens, or gravy from that delicious turkey. If stuffed acorn squash is more your speed (and it should be because it’s amazing), these will accompany that beautifully as well. They are stunning to look at and equally delicious.
These are even great for those post-holiday sliders! Turkey, cranberry sauce and pickles in one of these babies is heaven on earth.
And now they’re here. With a video tutorial so that you can’t go wrong!
And guess what! You DO NOT need a stand mixer to make these. While a stand mixer makes the kneading process less physically taxing, you can make these unbelievable rolls with a wooden spoon and a large bowl.
I honestly prefer to make bread with my hands, when possible. There’s something so meditative to me about kneading dough by hand until it’s perfectly smooth. Few things in the world make me feel more accomplished than making bread from raw ingredients.
Hungry? Great! Onto the recipe!
Beginners Start Here
If this is your first time baking bread, or you’re intimidated by yeast, or if it’s been a while since you baked, here are some resources from the BwB website that will help you be successful with these dinner rolls!
- Yeast Basics for Beginning Bread Bakers
- Baking 101: How to Measure Ingredients
- Better Baking Basics–Learning About Mise en Place
- The Five Flours I Keep Handy in My Kitchen
- Meet your Kitchen BFF–Your Digital Kitchen Scale!
While these aren’t mandatory reading, they are extremely helpful resources that will definitely help you execute this recipe to a T.
I hope you and your family enjoy these dinner rolls as much as my family and I do!
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Perfect Sunday Dinner Rolls
These rolls pair perfectly with all the savory things, from rustic soups to elaborate holiday meals!
- Total Time: 2 h 35 minutes
- Yield: 30 rolls 1x
Ingredients
- 125 g warm water (110°F-115°F)
- 500 g milk (~105°F)
- 2 tsp sugar (I use Sugar in the Raw, but granulated is fine)
- 2 tbsp yeast (instant or active dry)
- 42 g cold butter, cut into cubes, plus 4 tbsp butter, melted, for shaping and finishing
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 768 g flour, plus ~1 cup more for kneading (see note)
- 2.25 tsp salt
Instructions
To Make the Dough by Hand:
- Combine the water, milk, yeast, and sugar in a large mixing bowl with a whisk.  Allow to sit for 8-10 minutes, or until the yeast blooms.
- Add butter, egg, honey, salt, and half of the flour to the bowl and stir with a large wooden spoon until the flour is combined.
- Add the rest of the flour and stir the mixture until it becomes difficult to stir. While it will technically be a dough at this point, it will be extremely loose, sticky and lumpy from the butter!
- Add flour, two tablespoons at a time, and knead in the bowl until the mixture forms into a rough ball. (3-5 minutes). Dough will still be pretty sticky at this phase.
- Flour a clean work surface and turn the dough out onto the floured surface. Flour the top of the dough and begin kneading.
- Knead the dough, adding flour two tablespoons at a time when it gets too sticky to handle. A bench scraper can be very helpful for kneading at this stage. (10-15 minutes). The dough is complete when it forms a smooth ball and is tacky, but not sticky.
- Lightly spray a large, clean bowl with non-stick spray. Gather the dough into a ball and place into the clean bowl.
- Cover the dough with a tea towel or loosely with plastic wrap, and place the dough in a warm area, free from drafts, for about an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
To Make the Dough with a Stand Mixer:
- Combine the water, milk, yeast, and sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer with a whisk. Allow to sit for 8-10 minutes, or until the yeast blooms.
- Add butter, egg, honey, salt, and half of the flour to the bowl. Stir with the paddle attachment until the flour is combined. (30 seconds to 1 minute)
- Replace the paddle attachment with the dough hook. Slowly add the rest of the flour and allow the dough hook to knead the dough for five minutes before adding any additional flour.
- If the dough is sticky, add flour two tablespoons at a time. Continue kneading with the dough hook, and allow the dough to fully absorb the flour before adding flour. (5-15 minutes)
- The dough is complete when it clears the sides of the bowl and when it feels smooth and tacky, but not sticky. It might not clear the bottom of the bowl, and that is okay.
- Lightly spray a large, clean bowl with non-stick spray. Gather the dough into a ball and place into the clean bowl.
- Cover the dough with a tea towel or loosely with plastic wrap, and place the dough in a warm area, free from drafts, for about an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
To Shape the Dinner Rolls:
- Line a quarter sheet (11″x15″) cake pan with parchment paper.
- Microwave 4 tbsp of butter for 30-45 seconds, or until melted.
- Remove the cover from the bread dough and punch down the dough. This is an essential (and very satisfying) step.
- Using a digital food scale, weigh small balls of dough (between 56-60 g each) and roll between your hands to shape into a rough ball.
- Place the roughly shaped ball on your work surface. Make a circle with your thumb and index finger place the blade of your hand on the countertop next to the dough ball. Roll the dough ball around 10-20 times, keeping the dough ball between the blade of your hand and the circle that you’ve made with your thumb and index finger. For help with this step, see the video tutorial!
- Place each dinner roll on the parchment-lined sheet, seam side down, giving about 1.5 inches between dinner rolls so that they can expand during rising and baking.
- Once you’ve shaped all of the dinner rolls, gently brush half of the melted butter over the top of the shaped dinner rolls.
- Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 30-45 minutes, or until the rolls are doubled in size.
To Bake the Dinner Rolls:
- About ten minutes into the final rise, move your oven rack to the upper-center rack (mine is rack #4), and set your oven to 375°F. An oven thermometer is very useful for this step, since a proper oven temp is key for these rolls!
- After the dinner rolls have doubled in size, bake them at 375°F for 15-17 minutes, or until the rolls are deep golden brown.
- Remove the rolls from the oven and brush immediately with the remaining butter. Allow the rolls to cool in the pan for 3-5 minutes and then remove to a cooling rack.
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Notes
- I keep an extra cup of flour in a small bowl for kneading. This is roughly the amount that it will take for me to get to the smooth dough that I’m looking for, after all of the initial flour has been added.
- I use King Arthur All Purpose Flour for this task, but you can also use bread flour.
- These are big, hearty rolls. You can adjust the size of these rolls adjusted to make hot dog buns and hamburger buns as well! You just have to remember to adjust the second rise and bake times accordingly.
- These dinner rolls freeze beautifully for up to three months. You can take out what you need, microwave for ~45 seconds, and have fresh dinner rolls for your table.
- Prep Time: 35 minutes
- Rise Time: 1 h 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Bread
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Dinner Roll
- Calories: 119
- Sugar: 2.4 g
- Sodium: 185.1 mg
- Fat: 1.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 22.1 g
- Protein: 3.8 g
- Cholesterol: 9.5 mg
See you next time! And don’t forget to subscribe while you’re here so that you can be among the first to see the exciting event that starts on Black Friday!