Old Fashioned Dinner Rolls Recipe - The Baker Chick (2024)

ByAudra

42 Comments

Jump to Recipe

When it comes to family dinners and holiday meals, nothing beats the smell of homemade dinner rolls filling up the kitchen. Today I’m sharing a recipe for old-fashioned dinner rolls that are not only easy to prepare but also melt-in-your-mouth delicious. Follow these step-by-step instructions for creating the perfect batch of buttery, fluffy rolls that will elevate any occasion, from Thanksgiving dinner to everyday family gatherings.

Ingredients for homemade rolls:

  • Flour
  • Sugar
  • Active dry yeast
  • Milk
  • Melted butter
  • Salt
  • Warm water
  • Eggs

What you need for Old-Fashioned Yeast Rolls:

  • Large bowl
  • Baking sheet
  • Whisk
  • Bench Scraper if you have
  • ​Warm spot for proofing (I like a barely preheated oven)
  • Electric mixer with dough hook (optional)

The Process:

  1. Warm the milk until it’s at room temperature. In a bowl, combine the warm milk, sugar, and butter. Let cool until room temperature.
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or a large bowl with hands, combine half the flour, yeast, and salt. Add the eggs and milk mixture and knead, adding the rest of the flour as needed. Use the dough hook attachment and mix on low speed until a soft dough forms. You’ll know the dough is ready when it easily releases from the sides of the bowl.
  3. First rise- Transfer the dough to a oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a tea towel. Let the dough rise in a warm place for about 1-2 hours or until it doubles in size.
  4. Punch down the risen dough and on a lightly floured surface divide it into equal pieces. Shape each piece into a ball and place them in a greased baking dish or muffin tin.
  5. Cover the dough balls with plastic wrap and let them rise for a second time until they puff up and fill the baking dish. This step ensures that your rolls are light, airy, and perfectly fluffy.
  6. Preheat your oven to 350F. Uncover the rolls and bake them until they turn a beautiful golden brown on top.
  7. Once out of the oven, brush the warm rolls with a little butter and sprinkle with sea salt. Allow them to cool on a wire rack.
  8. Enjoy your buttery rolls with soup, for mini sandwiches, or as a side for your holiday meal!

Old Fashioned Dinner Rolls Recipe - The Baker Chick (5)

Make-Ahead Options:

These old-fashioned dinner rolls are perfect for make-ahead preparations. After shaping the rolls, cover the baking dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. The next day, let them come to room temperature and go through the second rise before baking.

Old Fashioned Dinner Rolls Recipe - The Baker Chick (6)

Storage:

Store any leftover rolls in an airtight container or wrap them in aluminum foil. They can be reheated in the oven or microwave, making them a convenient and delicious addition to your meals.

Interested in more homemade bread recipes?

My famous Brown Butter Cinnamon Rolls are always a crowd pleaser!

Pumpkin Parkerhouse Rolls are another amazing holiday bread option!

Old Fashioned Dinner Rolls Recipe - The Baker Chick (7)

Yield: 24-30 rolls

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups milk
  • 1 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for brushing
  • 1/4-1/2 cup sugar*
  • 1 package active dry yeast
  • 1/2 cup warm water
  • 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 6-8 cups all-purpose flour
  • Sea Salt for sprinkling

Instructions

  1. Place milk in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat, stir in the butter and sugar stir until sugar is dissolved. Let cool to luke warm.
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the yeast, warm water, milk mixture, eggs, salt and half the flour.
  3. Mix for a few minutes until combined, scraping the bowl down with your spatula if needed. Add the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time until dough comes together and forms a soft, loose ball. (The dough will be very soft but shouldn't be too sticky. I used 7 cups total flour.)
  4. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead by hand for about 5 minutes, adding a bit more flour if the dough is still very sticky, until smooth.
  5. Place dough in a greased bowl, cover with a clean towel, and proof in a warm place for 60-70 minutes, or until doubled.
  6. Turn proofed dough onto your floured surface, punch it down a bit, and roll or spread the dough into a rectangle. Shape into rolls and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. **
  7. Cover again and let rise for another 20-30 minutes.
  8. Preheat oven to 350 F. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden.
  9. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with sea salt.

Notes

*The original recipe calls for 1/2 cup of sugar, which definitely gives the rolls a little bit of a sweet taste. I didn't mind it, but will cut it down to 1/4 cup next time just to make it a bit more subtle.

** If I had wanted these to be perfectly the same size, I would have measured each one to weigh 1.5 oz on my kitchen scale. I eyeballed it though and was fine with them being a bit more rustic. To shape them into round rolls, I cut off the portion of dough, turned all the edges under and pinched them together to form a ball.

Recipe adapted from The Food Network

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Instagram

Old Fashioned Dinner Rolls Recipe - The Baker Chick (2024)

FAQs

How much should a dinner roll weigh before baking? ›

For size reference, the pre-bake weight of dinner rolls typically falls between 60g to 80g each. Imagine a 60g roll as the size of a plum when baked, while a baked 80g roll is closer to a Granny Smith apple. Moving up in the ranks are burger buns, which weigh around 100g or so pre-bake.

Why are my dinner rolls hard? ›

Too much flour, or not the right kind, could be to blame. Dough made only from flour with a high or even average amount of protein (like bread flour or all-purpose flour) can become tough from overmixing. Protein gives bread structure in the form of gluten—the more you mix and move the dough, the more gluten you get.

How to make store-bought rolls taste like homemade? ›

3 Tiny Steps to Make Store-Bought Dinner Rolls Taste Amazing
  1. Brush with melted butter. Before warming the store-bought rolls in the oven, brush them generously with melted butter. ...
  2. Sprinkle with fresh herbs. ...
  3. Finish with flaky salt.
May 1, 2019

Why are my dinner rolls not light and fluffy? ›

Too much flour, or not the right kind, could be to blame. Dough made only from flour with a high or even average amount of protein (like bread flour or all-purpose flour) can become tough from overmixing. Protein gives bread structure in the form of gluten—the more you mix and move the dough, the more gluten you get.

What kind of pan is best for baking rolls? ›

This trick helps create better-looking rolls. We have three reasons for baking rolls such as our Oatmeal Dinner Rolls or our Fluffy Dinner Rolls in the confined space of a cake pan versus individually on a baking sheet.

What happens if you add too much flour to dinner rolls? ›

It's a common mistake, especially for newer bakers. When there's too much flour and not enough liquid, the whole rising process is thrown off. The dryness of the dough will prevent the yeast or another rising agent from activating properly, leading to a stunted rise (or it may not rise at all).

Do you butter rolls before or after baking? ›

Butter basting: Rolls can be brushed with butter before, during, or after baking. While it doesn't brown the surface as much as egg wash will, it does promote browning and adds a lot of flavor.

Why are my homemade rolls so dense? ›

There may be several reasons for a dense, cake like texture in bread. It may indicate the kneading wasn't enough for the gluten to develop properly, or the dough was proved for too short a time or the dough may have been too dry. It is also worth checking the flour you used.

Which is better for rolls, bread flour, or all-purpose flour? ›

You can also use all-purpose in many bun or roll recipes, which tend to have lower hydration and rely less on strong gluten and more on butter and sugar for texture. (Though bread flour can still give you a fluffier, almost cotton-candy-like texture in most buns and rolls.)

What ingredient makes bread soft? ›

Milk powder.

Instant milk powder makes bread dough super soft and fluffy and also helps to give it a good rise. It also contributes to the dough staying nice and soft after baking for a little longer than a recipe that does not use milk powder.

How do you make bread fluffier? ›

Add Sugar

Adding sugar weakens the gluten structure, absorbs water, and eventually makes the bread lighter and softer. As a result, sugar improves the bread's taste, structure and texture. Yeast also eats up sugar to produce carbon dioxide, which raises the dough and makes bread fluffy.

Why are my homemade dinner rolls dry? ›

Either, you added too much flour or you possibly used all bread flour. Alternately, not giving your dinner rolls enough time to proof and get puffy before baking could yield dense rolls. What is this?

Why are my homemade rolls bland? ›

Salt adds flavor to bread. If none or too little is used in a recipe, the bread will lack the right flavor and taste "bland." If you reduce the amount of salt, try adding some dried herbs to increase the flavor. Too much yeast in bread will give bread an off-taste.

How to spruce up store-bought dinner rolls? ›

9 Easy Ways To Upgrade Store-Bought Dinner Rolls
  1. Bring on the Cheese. Amaze your guests with a TikTok-worthy cheese pull! ...
  2. Garlicky Goodness. If you like garlic bread, then make garlic butter dinner rolls. ...
  3. Presto, Pesto. ...
  4. Only the Freshest Herbs. ...
  5. Spice It Up. ...
  6. An Italian Twist. ...
  7. Add Your Favorite Spice Blend. ...
  8. Cinnamon Sugar.
Nov 17, 2023

How to shape bread dough into a ball? ›

Shaping a boule: Envelope fold

Then, you'll flip the envelope over and use two hands to drag the dough and create tension as the dough slightly sticks to the bench. Lightly flour the bench and flip over the pre-shaped round of dough. As shown top-left, above, fold the bottom of the circle up to the middle.

Why are my dinner rolls flat? ›

99% of the time this happens, the problem lies with the yeast used. The quality might be compromised, or you might have applied it incorrectly, or under poor cooking conditions. Read on for why your yeast is not working as it should and what you can do to avoid it.

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Kieth Sipes

Last Updated:

Views: 6231

Rating: 4.7 / 5 (67 voted)

Reviews: 82% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Kieth Sipes

Birthday: 2001-04-14

Address: Suite 492 62479 Champlin Loop, South Catrice, MS 57271

Phone: +9663362133320

Job: District Sales Analyst

Hobby: Digital arts, Dance, Ghost hunting, Worldbuilding, Kayaking, Table tennis, 3D printing

Introduction: My name is Kieth Sipes, I am a zany, rich, courageous, powerful, faithful, jolly, excited person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.