Fluffy and Soft Dinner Rolls Recipe | Queenslee Appétit (2024)

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These super fluffy and soft Dinner Rolls only requires 8 simple ingredients to make. These rolls are the perfect compliment to any dish!

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Fluffy and Soft Dinner Rolls

Today’s all about dinner rolls. The softest, fluffiest, flakiest dinner rolls made completely from scratch! You’re just 8 ingredients and a few simple steps away from enjoying these fluffy little honey butter clouds!

I have quite a few yeast dough recipes on the site, so I pretty much had the base recipe for these dinner rolls ready to go. However, I wasn’t sure which recipe to use. I could make dinner rolls with the same texture as these breadsticks or do I want a softer texture like these rose buns?

I almost went with the rose buns, then I paused and realized that out of all the yeast doughs I’ve made, absolutely nothing compares to my perfect cinnamon roll dough! So I took my cinnamon roll recipe, made a few small adjustments and created the softest dinner rolls ever!

Ingredients in Homemade Dinner Rolls

The ingredients for my cinnamon rolls are milk, yeast, sugar, butter, vanilla, eggs, flour, salt and nutmeg. Aside from removing the vanilla and nutmeg, here are a few other changes I’ve made.

Milk: using milk instead of water creates the softest texture! For the best texture, use whole milk.
Yeast: I used active dry yeast, which means the dough will take a total of 2-3 hours to rise twice. If you want a faster rising time, use instant yeast.
Sugar: for the cinnamon rolls, I used ½ cup of sugar to make a sweeter dough. We don’t want that for these rolls, so I cut the amount down to 1 and ½ tablespoon. Some to feed the yeast and some to add to the dough.
Butter: I used a little less butter than in my cinnamon rolls. I also used softened pieces instead of melting it completely. This adds to that amazingly soft texture!
Honey: a little bit of honey adds such great flavour to the rolls without making them too sweet!
Egg: Instead of two eggs I used one to provide structure for the dough.
Flour: I used a cup less of flour because I wanted the dough to be as soft as possible.
Salt: Always needed for flavour.

How to Make Homemade Dinner Rolls

To make the dinner rolls, we start by proofing the yeast. Warm up the milk by microwaving for about 50 seconds to 1 minute. Test the milk temperature with your finger, it should be warm to the touch, but not too hot that you can barely keep your finger in. If it is too hot, you can just let it sit and keep testing every 2 minutes to check if it’s cooled down.

Sprinkle in the yeast and a little of the sugar and let it foam up. Once the yeast wakes up, add the softened butter pieces, honey and egg. Whisk it up to combine everything.

Now add the flour and salt to a stand mixer bowl, and add the liquids in the centre. Mix everything with the dough hook for a few minutes until dough pulls away from the sides and attaches to the hook.

You can also do this without a mixer, simple combine everything with a wooden spoon, then transfer dough to a floured surface and knead until smooth. Form into a ball, then place in a greased bowl and allow it to rise for at least 2 hours to double in size.

Shaping the Rolls

Once the dough has risen, punch it down gently, not like it owes you money. Turn it out onto a floured surface and cut into 12-15 pieces. As you can see, mine aren’t the same size. It’s not a huge deal if they’re the same size or not, but if you want to you can use a scale to weigh each piece to ensure they’re all equal.

Shaping the rolls is very easy. Take two sides of the dough and bring them together. Pinch the seams, then take the other two ends and bring them together and pinch the seams again. Place the dough in a 9x13 inch baking dish and allow it to rise for another hour.

Honey Butter Glaze

You read that right, these incredibly soft and fluffy dinner rolls are glazed with a delicious mixture of melted butter and honey! This glaze is a must because it adds so much flavour to the rolls. The honey butter just soaks into the rolls, making them a billion times more irresistible!

How to Freeze Dinner Rolls Before and After Baking

These rolls can be frozen for up to a month, so you can easily check them off as one less thing to worry about before a party or potluck.

To freeze the unbaked rolls: shape the rolls, then place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Transfer to the freezer for a few hours, or until frozen solid. Once they’re completely frozen, place them in a freezer safe bag.

We need to freeze the rolls on the sheet before placing in the bag to make sure they don’t stick to each other.

To freeze baked rolls: bake the rolls as usual per recipe instructions, then remove them from the baking dish, keeping them together, and wrap the entire thing with foil or plastic wrap. Place in a freezer safe bag and freeze for a month. You can thaw out the rolls overnight and serve or you could reheat in the oven (or microwave for softer texture!).

I don’t recommend freezing either for longer than a month because freezer burn can start to form and the unbaked dough can get sour after a while.

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Let’s get baking!

Yield: 12-15 rolls

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Additional Time: 3 hours

Total Time: 3 hours 45 minutes

These super fluffy and soft Dinner Rolls only requires 8 simple ingredients to make. These rolls are the perfect compliment to any dish!

Ingredients

Dough:

1 cup warm milk (110-115˚F)
1 package (2 and ¼ tsp) active dry yeast
1 and ½ tablespoon granulated sugar, divided
¼ cup unsalted butter, softened and cut into pieces
1 tablespoon honey (optional)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3 cups All purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt

Honey Butter Glaze:

2 tablespoon Melted butter
1 tablespoon honey

Instructions

For the Dough:

In a medium heat-proof bowl, or in a glass measuring cup, heat the milk in the microwave until warm, about 40-50 seconds. It should be around 110-115˚F. If you don't have a thermometer, test it out by sticking your finger inside. The milk should be warm enough for you to hold your finger inside comfortably. It should not be too hot, if it is, let it sit for 5 minutes to cool.
Sprinkle the yeast and ½ tablespoon of sugar into the warmed milk, do not stir. Allow to sit for about 5-10 minutes or until frothy. If yeast doesn't foam up, your yeast is either dead or the milk is too hot, which means you have to start over.
Add softened butter pieces, honey and egg to the milk and yeast mixture and whisk to combine.
In a stand mixer bowl fitted with the dough hook attachment, add 3 cups of flour, remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar and salt. Mix on low to combine. Alternatively: add the dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
Pour in liquid mixture and mix on low until just combined, about 30 seconds. Increase speed to medium-low "2 on a kitchenaid mixer" and knead dough until it's smooth, elastic and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 7-10 minutes. Or you can mix the dough with a wooden spoon, then transfer it to a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for about 7 to 10 minutes until dough is smooth.
Lightly oil a separate large bowl with olive oil or cooking spray, place dough inside and turn to cover both sides. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and let it rest in a warm place for 1 and ½ to 2 hours, or until dough has doubled in size.

Assembly of the Dinner Rolls:

Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray or softened butter. Set aside.
Once dough has doubled in size, gently punch it down and turn onto a floured work surface.
Cut 12-15 pieces out of the dough. Form each piece into a ball, then place into prepared baking dish.
Lightly cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap and let rise for 30 minutes to 1 hour, until doubled in size. While rolls are rising, preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).
Once rolls have doubled in size, bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until lightly golden.
Combine the melted butter and honey in a small bowl. Set aside.
Remove the rolls from the oven and immediately spread the honey butter on top. Allow to cool for about 5-10 minutes. Serve warm.

Notes

Storage: Store rolls in an airtight container for up to 3-4 days, or in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Refrigeration: after shaping the rolls, you can cover the baking dish and refrigerate overnight. Remove the rolls from the refrigerator about 1 and ½ - 2 hours before baking.
Freezing Un-baked Rolls: after shaping the rolls, place them on a parchment lined baking sheet and place in the freezer for a few hours, or until frozen solid. Once they’re completely frozen, place them in a freezer safe bag. This is to make sure they don’t stick together. To thaw: remove the rolls from the freezer bag and place them in your baking dish and refrigerate overnight to thaw. Remove rolls from the refrigerator and let them rise at room temperature for about an hour then proceed to bake per recipe instructions.
Freezing Baked Rolls: after rolls have baked, don’t spread on the honey butter. Instead, remove them from the pan and wrap the entire “loaf” in plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Place wrapped rolls into a freezer safe bag for up to a month. These don’t need to be thawed before re-heating in the oven, but you can let them thaw out at room temperature overnight before re-heating.

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Nutrition Information:

Yield: 15Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 156Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 26mgSodium: 182mgCarbohydrates: 23gFiber: 1gSugar: 3gProtein: 4g

BON APPÉTIT!

Love, Dedra

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