There’s nothing better than fresh homemade bread, whether it’s fancy and delicate butterflake rolls, a hearty quick bread like chocolate zucchini bread or blueberry banana bread, or these irresistible dinner rolls. When I’m planning for a meal to celebrate a special occasion, homemade dinner rolls are always on the menu. Homemade bread tastes SO much better than anything you’d get at the store, and it’s easier to make than you’d think. This is one of my all time favorite side dish recipes for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Homemade Dinner Rolls Ingredients
To make this recipe, you will need whole milk, granulated sugar, unsalted butter, a large egg, bread flour, kosher salt, and instant yeast.
How Do You Make Homemade Dinner Rolls?
Start by heating your milk to 110 degrees F. Pour the milk into the bowl of a stand mixer along with the sugar, butter and egg. Whisk all the wet ingredients together. Add the flour, yeast and salt to the bowl. Knead the dough with the mixer dough hook attachment for 4-5 minutes. Coat a large bowl with cooking spray, and transfer the dough to the bowl. Cover the bowl and let the dough rise until it doubles in size. Punch down the dough, then cut the dough into 15 equal pieces. Roll the dough into balls and place them in a greased baking dish. Let the dough rise, and preheat the oven. Bake the rolls until they are golden brown. Serve as-is, or brush with melted butter and add a sprinkle of coarse salt before serving.
Tips For The Perfect Homemade Rolls
This recipe calls for instant yeast, also known as rapid rise yeast. Instant yeast is already activated and does not need to be soaked in liquid. You can use active dry yeast, but you’ll need to alter the recipe to let the active dry yeast proof in the warm milk for 3 minutes before you add any other ingredients. Your milk should be warm, but not burning hot. If the temperature of the milk exceeds 110 degrees F, the heat could kill the yeast and your dough will not rise. I find that the easiest way to make homemade dinner rolls is with a stand mixer, first fitted with the paddle attachment, then with the dough hook to do the kneading. You can make this recipe without a mixer, you’ll just need to knead the dough by hand for twice as long as you would with a mixer. Looking for rolls with a shiny top? You can follow the optional step of brushing the rolls with butter when they come out of the oven, or another option is to beat 1 egg with 1 tablespoon of water, and brush the egg mixture over the balls of dough before they go in the oven. This dough can be prepared in advance. Shape the dough into balls, and place them in the pan. Cover the pan and refrigerate for up to 18 hours. When you are ready to bake the rolls, remove them from the refrigerator and allow them to come to room temperature. When they are ready and have also doubled in size, heat your oven and bake according to the directions. Use a kitchen scale to weigh your dough pieces so that the rolls are all exactly the same size. Whole milk works best in this recipe, but 2% will work as well. Anything less than 2% is not recommended, as the milk’s fat content contributes to the overall taste.
Flavor Variations
This recipe makes a mild flavored, slightly sweet bread. You can add other ingredients to the mix to customize the flavors to your tastes.
Herbs: Add up to 1/4 cup of fresh herbs or 2 tablespoons dried herbs to the dough. Some of my favorites include fresh dill, dried Italian seasoning or a combination of fresh rosemary and sage. Garlic: Add 1 teaspoon freshly minced garlic to the dough. You can increase this to 2 teaspoons if you’re a true garlic lover! I like to add a pinch of Italian seasoning along with 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese to make rolls reminiscent of garlic bread. Sweet: Increase the sugar to 1/2 cup, and add 1-2 teaspoons of warm spices such as pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. Cheese: You can add 1 cup of grated cheese such as cheddar, Monterey Jack or mozzarella.
Once you get the hang of making homemade dinner rolls, you’ll find yourself baking up a batch on a regular basis! My family always requests these rolls and I’m very much happy to oblige.
