Last week I was digging through this site’s archives as I decided on new recipes to try for Thanksgiving. In doing so, I realized that somehow after nearly six(!) years of blogging, I’d yet to share a classic dinner roll recipe with you guys. How is that even possible? There are plenty of other rolls – everything from pretzel rolls to hamburger rolls and cheddar rolls, but a huge empty gap where a soft and fluffy dinner roll recipe should have been. We’re going to remedy that oversight today!
The funny this is, I have been making the same dinner roll recipe for years so I have no idea why I’ve never blogged it. This is my go-to recipe for several reasons. Most importantly, it produces the lightest, most pillowy rolls ever. They’re buttery and rich too thanks to the inclusion of butter, milk, and egg yolks in the dough. So darn good. I always burn my mouth pulling a roll from the pan and digging in the minute it emerges from the oven.
Oh, and these rolls are easy too! How easy? Let me tell you a quick story. The very first time we made this recipe was a few Christmases ago. I had promised to bring rolls to Shane’s parents’ house for dinner, and of course waited until the last minute (procrastination is my middle name) and had about four other things I needed to do too. So, I enlisted Shane to make the rolls while I finished everything else. He’d never ever worked with yeast before, and yet with minimal verbal instructions from me, he tackled this recipe on his own and made picture perfect dinner rolls! This isn’t a knock on Shane, he definitely knows his way around the kitchen, but rather an illustration of the fact that you don’t need to be an experienced yeast baker to make great rolls. This recipe is completely doable, even for newbies, promise!
You can even prep these rolls ahead of time, which makes them ideal for Thanksgiving when you have plenty of other dishes to worry about making. You simply make the dough and shape the rolls then pop the pan in the fridge overnight. The next day when you’re ready to bake they just need a few hours to rise then you can throw them in the oven right before serving dinner. Warm, fluffy rolls on your Thanksgiving table – what’s not to like about that? If you have any leftover rolls (which, honestly, you probably won’t…) they are perfect for turkey sandwiches the following day too π
PS – My friend, Mark, featured me in his Tuesday Tutor series today. You can find the post here if you want to stop by and say hello, and maybe learn a little more about what makes me tick!
Fluffy Make-Ahead Dinner Rolls
adapted from Fine Cooking
18 oz (4 cups) all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk (low-fat is ok)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
3 large egg yolks
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt. Mix briefly just to combine. Add the milk and butter to a small saucepan and set over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until the butter has melted and the mixture registers about 115 F on an instant-read thermometer. (If it gets too hot, just let it cool down until it’s the right temperature – don’t proceed while the liquid is hot, you will kill the yeast.)
Add the warm milk/butter mixture to the mixer bowl along with the egg yolks. Mix on low speed until a rough dough comes together (you may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice to get everything incorporated). Knead the dough on low speed for 5-6 minutes, or until it is smooth and elastic.
Turn the dough out onto your work surface and shape into a ball. Spray a large bowl with nonstick cooking spray then add the dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow dough to rise in a warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes. (To check if the dough has doubled you can press it with your fingertip – if the indentation remains, it’s ready. If the dough springs back, it needs more time.)
Spray a 13×9-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
Turn the dough out onto your work surface (no need for flour – the dough isn’t sticky). Divide the dough into 16 pieces (if you want to use a scale they’ll each be about 2 oz). Shape each piece into a ball and transfer to the prepared pan. Repeat with remaining dough, placing four balls of dough in four rows in the pan.
**To make ahead: at this point, you can cover the pan and place the rolls in the refrigerator overnight. The next day just remove the pan from the fridge about 4 hours before you want to bake the rolls. Place the pan in a warm spot and allow the rolls to rise until just about doubled before baking (same temperature and time as below).**
If baking immediately: Cover the pan with plastic wrap and let the dough rise for about 30 minutes, or until the rolls have just about doubled in size. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 F. Remove the plastic wrap and bake the rolls for about 18-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Enjoy!
Makes 16 rolls
I seriously can not say enough about these rolls.. light, fluffy, buttery. They were absolute perfection! We had these with an already carb loaded pre-Thanksgiving type menu but I could have eaten every single one myself if that was not the case. Thanks for sharing them with us!
I love a good roll and these look delicious!
I looove fluffy white dinner rolls. I think these are going on my T-Day menu!
These dinner rolls look perfect!
Isn’t it funny how we sometimes forget to blog about the things we make most often! π
aaaaaand now all I want is one of these rolls all warm and buttery!!
I’m a big fan of these deliciously-decadent dinner rolls; thanks for making them!
I’m the same way, I can’t wait to dig into that first fresh from the oven roll! Love that you can make these ahead of time!
I am so glad that you remedied this serious situation! I’m so excited to try these! I’ve made bread but for some reason rolls just seems so cumbersome. We are hosting my new in-laws for T-giving and I think these are just the ticket to impress them!!
These rolls look fantastic, Tracey – I love the presentation and the perfectly even little mounds for each roll. Wonderful… And thanks again for participating!
I have yet to post a classic dinner roll as well, but it has only been half as long. It’s hard to use up dinner rolls when I am usually cooking for one!
So perfect for Thanksgiving, and how great that you can pop them in the fridge overnight!
girl, you need to start a catering company! these look perfect!
I might need to add these to my Thanksgiving day menu. I love how they are make-ahead. Thanks for sharing, Tracey!
I pretty much always bring a bread of some kind to Thanksgiving and have been on the lookout for the perfect rolls! Pretty sure my search has just ended. π
Oh my goodness these really do look incredible! I love bread rolls so much. I always have to hold back at restaurants because otherwise I will hoard to bread basket. π
Fresh bread is a must on a holiday table. Rolls are a great option for the yeast wary, like me. These sound great.
Now you’ve got me craving dinner rolls, yummy π these look amazing!!
I just found out that my American friend isn’t hosting Thanksgiving this year like she usually does so my husband and I just decided to do it. That means… I’m totally making this recipe. I’d get up and try them out now if I weren’t feeling so off! I’ll try them tomorrow and try the overnight way. π What a huge stress-saver! Love recipes like this.
These are SO good! I only made a third of the recipe and was sad I only had 4 rolls. I ate them all before they got cold. I just knew that they wouldn’t be a fluffy and perfect as when they came out of the oven… so I was forced to. Right? π Thanks so much for the recipe! Definitely making these for Thanksgiving. π
And I read Mark’s post. So interesting! I had no idea that you were a lawyer. π
Does this recipe double well? I want to make a double batch but am not sure the yeast would react in the same way with a larger batch. thoughts??
Just wanted you to know: I made these rolls last night for early Thanksgiving dinner with my side of the family and they turned out really great. I think I may have put the milk in a little too warm, as they didn’t rise quickly, but luckily I made the dough really early in the morning, so it was fine. I also used 1 cup of whole wheat flour in addition to the regular flour (3 cups white) to give it a little more “meat.”
Thanks for the recipe!
Couple of questions: when you reference and instant-read thermometer what do you mean? Can the temperature of the butter milk be cooler than 115? I’m not sure what you mean by warm place. Should I warm the oven and then put dough in. About the yeast measurement – is that the size of a packet? Is quick rise the same as instant yeast? Baking is such an exact science and I’m terrible at it. I hope you can break the spell. Lol
@Anonymous: I hope we can break the spell too! Let’s take each issue one at a time:
1. An instant-read thermometer is just one that allows you to monitor the temperature of food as it cooks – sometimes it has a digital read-out but it doesn’t have to. If you don’t have one, you can just use your finger to check the temperature – it should feel warm like bath water, but not hot.
2. Yes, the temperature can be cooler than 115 – better to be too cool than too hot because, as I mentioned, if it’s too hot you’ll kill the yeast. The only consequence to the temperature being cooler than 115 is that it’ll take longer for the dough to rise.
3. You can definitely use the oven as your “warm place” – sometimes I turn mine on to the lowest temperature for a few minutes to warm it up then turn it off and let the dough rise in there. We say to let the dough rise in a warm place because that’s the ideal environment. If you leave the dough in a cooler spot it will still rise, it’s just going to take longer.
4. Yes, 2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast is the same as one packet. And quick rise is the same as instant. The other type of yeast is typically called active dry, and that would work too but you’d want to proof the yeast first.
Hope this helps! If you have further questions, feel free to email me. Let me know how it goes!
Hello, I’ve made these twice and the taste is amazing but mine don’t seem to rise correctly. Can I activate yeast and then add the other ingredients?
Thank you. Thank you. For my first foray into baking bread it wasn’t too bad. (Had absolutely nothing it do with you and everything to do with me!) Next time I’ll cut the dough evenly for more uniform rolls.
Since I made the practice batch two days before thanksgiving. I tossed the remaining rolls into my stuffing and that turned out great. π
Thanks again. π
Fran