These dinner rolls are soft and fluffy, easy to make, and practically melt in your mouth. They are truly the most amazing dinner rolls ever. Just read all the rave reviews!
This dinner roll recipe took Chef Rachel Farnsworth over 5 years of testing to develop. It has since been enjoyed by millions of people around the world with thousands and thousands of rave reviews, heralded as the best dinner rolls on the internet. In addition to being published in her best-selling cookbook The Stay At Home Chef Family Favorites, this dinner roll recipe is used in restaurants and bakeries around the world.
Whether you are new to bread making or an experienced baker, this recipe is sure to please. Be sure to review the frequently asked questions for any troubleshooting and watch the included video demonstration so that you too can enjoy these famous rolls at home.
What if I don’t have a stand mixer?
No mixer? No problem! You can knead your dough by hand! Start out by stirring with a spoon until it becomes too difficult to stir. Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and knead it with your hands, gradually adding in more flour and folding, pressing, and working the dough (kneading) until you have a soft and smooth dough ball that is tacky, but not sticky enough to stick to your hands.
What is the difference between active dry yeast and instant dry yeast?
Instant dry yeast can be added straight to dry ingredients and doesn’t require any waiting period or proofing. It also rises a bit quicker. Active dry yeast is a bigger size of granule and generally needs to be dissolved in a liquid before adding to a recipe. It activates a bit slower so expect 10-15 minutes extra in rise time.
What should the dough feel like?
The dough should be smooth and slightly tacky, but still very soft and pliable. If it is sticking to your hands or the sides of the bowl, you need more flour. If you add too much flour and the dough stiffens, your rolls will also get a little stiff so always add additional flour a small amount at a time. The exact amount of flour you add in bread making can vary a great deal so it’s important to go by feel. I like to say you can feel a soft roll just by touching the dough.
How should I measure the flour? Should I sift it?
The flour you buy at the store these days is generally pre-sifted. There is no need to sift your flour. I prefer the scoop and sweep method as it is ultra-convenient. Simply give your flour a fluff, use your measuring cup to scoop out the flour, and level off the top. Weighing your flour using a kitchen scale is the only way to ensure complete accuracy. Even then, bread making is both fickle and forgiving and the actual amount of flour you add can change just due to the humidity in the air. When making this roll recipe, it is best to go by the touch and feel of the dough. 1 cup of flour is approximately 125 grams.
Can I substitute gluten-free flour?
This recipe was not designed to be gluten-free. Gluten free baking involves completely different chemistry. In general, you cannot substitute gluten-free flour in baking recipes and expect it to work, however, several people have reported that a blend like Cup for Cup will work.
How do I make my rolls equal in size?
The best way to ensure that your rolls are equal in size is to weigh them. Weigh the entire batch of dough using a kitchen scale and divide that weight by 24. This will give you your target weight for each roll. Usually, this is somewhere around 2.5 ounces.
How do I shape dinner rolls so that they are round?
Once you have your dough divided into 24 pieces you can shape your rolls. Place your hand into a cupping shape parallel to a clean countertop. Place the dough ball between the palm of your hand and the countertop. Roll the dough in a circular motion between your palm and the countertop for approximately 30 to 45 seconds until you have a smooth, round roll.
Does this roll recipe make a good loaf of bread? What about cinnamon rolls?
We love a good loaf of bread and we know that the amazing results of these rolls will quickly have you wondering if you can turn it into a loaf of bread. Unfortunately, the incredibly soft and melt-in-your moth results of this roll does not produce a sturdy loaf. Instead, we worked tirelessly to bring you the ultimate guide to homemade bread instead.
This recipe does make an incredible batch of cinnamon rolls. Be sure to check out the best homemade cinnamon rolls ever!
Freezer Instructions
You can freeze dinner rolls for later baking immediately after you shape them into rolls. When ready to eat, remove them from the freezer and allow to thaw and produce their second rise until double in size before baking. This can take anywhere between 1 to 2 hours, depending on the temperature in your home.
Make-Ahead Instructions
Need to make your dough ahead of time while you are busy doing other things? Make your dough as directed and let it rise for the initial 90 minutes. Shape the dough into rolls and place them on your baking sheet. Instead of letting them rise for an additional 60 minutes, cover the shaped rolls with plastic wrap and place the pan directly into the refrigerator. While it doesn’t stop it completely, the cool temperature of the fridge will slow the growth of your yeast. Your rolls will only rise slightly while refrigerated and you can hold them this way for up to 24 hours.
When ready to bake, remove them from the fridge and allow the rolls to rise at room temperature while your oven preheats, about 30 minutes. Continue to bake as directed.
Watch the video below where Rachel will walk you through every step of this recipe. Sometimes it helps to have a visual, and we’ve always got you covered with our cooking show. You can find the complete collection of recipes on YouTube, Facebook Watch, or our Facebook Page, or right here on our website with their corresponding recipes.
Can you cook these in a cast iron skillet?
I’m sure they will bake, but they will be very crusty. I prefer soft dinner rolls so I wouldn’t personally do it.
I don’t think it would cause a problem at all.
Can I make this egg free? What can I substitute egg for this recipe?
Do I have to use a bread hook with my stand mixer. I only have a paddle. Thanks.
Paddles tend to have a tough time with bread dough, but you can try!
Have you tried this recipe with Gluten-free flour?
Please see the FAQ section.
Why in the video it looks like over half stick of butter was added but in the receipt it said only 1 tablespoon melted butter?
The recipe calls for 6 tablespoons of butter and 1 tablespoon of melted butter. You just didn’t notice the other 6 tablespoons 🙂
Thank you so much for a fabulous recipe The rolls are delicious My husband is in raptures Perfect 5 stars all the way x
Mine turned out heavy and doughy. I followed the recipe closely, what did I do wrong?
It’s actually nearly impossible for me to trouble shoot your recipe without having watched you make it. But heavy doughy isn’t how they are supposed to be so all I can say is that, yes, something went wrong.
Great recipe!!!!! I also got a stick batter, so I had to add a lot more flour… I thought they would end up too hard but the texture is just perfect. The kids loved them!!!! they are just as the “milk bread” they love and that we buy in the supermarket… we´re not buying anymore, these ones taste so much better and don´t have any weird oils and not that much sugar!!!!!! We did half the recipe and, because I added that much flour, we ended up with 15 medium sized rolls, next time I´ll do them smaller, “kid sized”!!!! Only one question…. how much do they last on regular weather conditions???? can I freeze some???? thanks for the recipe! my mom is eager to try it too!!!
I found your recipe during a random google search, and made them yesterday while snowed in, and omg they really were the best ever dinner rolls, and so easy too! Thanks!
5 years to develop the dinner roll recipe?????? My grandmother made this recipe once a week every week of her adult life and she lived to be 90!!!!! you REALLY need to get out into the world more!!!!
See, I’m not sure how your grandmother made this recipe once a week every week for her adult life when this is an original recipe written by me. Perhaps she made a similar recipe, but I guarantee you my wording is my own and there’s no way she made this EXACT recipe. Good recipes, particularly in the baking world, take an incredible amount of work to develop. I’m sorry you don’t appreciate the vast amount of effort it took to produce this recipe. Lucky for me, thousands of people do.
Desperately rude!! We are lucky people are happy to share their knowledge and culinary experience with us, if you don’t appreciate it just hit the back button and disappear!!
Why are you here? You apparently already know everything!