Fluffy Dinner Rolls Recipe (2024)

Baked Goods,Breads,Dinner Party,Sandwiches,Sides

Fluffy Dinner Rolls Recipe

Fluffy Dinner Rolls Recipe (1)

These fluffy dinner rolls are the best part of any dinner.They’re light, perfectly fluffy, and you can top them with honey butter or garlic parmesan–something for everyone!

How to make fluffy dinner rolls

I love this recipe because it’s a cinch to make, especially during the holidays. You can even make the rolls ahead of time, freeze them, and then bake the day of.

Fluffy Dinner Rolls Recipe (2)

Tools Needed

Ingredients You’ll Need

  • Bread Flour
  • All-Purpose Flour
  • Active Dry Yeast
  • Milk
  • Sugar
  • Eggs
  • Butter
  • Salt

Tips for Making Fluffy Dinner Rolls

  • Don’t get the milk too hot.The optimal temperature for milk is around 100 degrees F. Any hotter and you run the risk of killing the yeast. If your yeast doesn’t get foamy, your milk may be too hot. It should bejust warm to the touch.
  • Make sure your yeast isn’t old.The best place to store yeast is in the fridge to keep it as fresh as possible. I try and buy a new jar of yeast every 6 months or so. If your yeast has been hanging around a while and it’s not getting foamy, it may be time to buy some fresh.
  • Use a combination of all-purpose and bread flour.Using a combination of all-purpose flour and bread flour really yields the perfect fluffy dinner rolls. They’re light, yet chewy and that extra chew comes from the bread flour.
  • Mix your dough long enough.The trick to getting the perfect texture is to make sure you mix your dough long enough. It should be very smooth and elastic after it comes out of the mixer.
  • Don’t rush the rising time.For flavor and texture, these fluffy dinner rolls need an initial rise and then a second proof after they’re shaped. This ensures that your rolls are light and fluffy and not dense bricks.
  • Don’t over-bake.These rolls bake up super quickly and only need about 15 minutes in the oven. If you bake too long, they will dry out.

Fluffy Dinner Rolls Recipe (3)

Fluffy Dinner Rolls FAQs

Why are my dinner rolls not fluffy?

If your dinner rolls aren’t fluffy it could be because of one of two reasons. 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.

My dough is rising slowly or not at all

If your dough is rising slowly or not at all, check the function of your yeast. The easiest way to tell if your yeast is old is if it doesn’t get foamy in the first stage of the recipe. If your kitchen is cold, the dough will rise slowly. To speed it along, place the bowl with the dough into the oven and turn the oven light on. The minimal heat from the bulb will warm the oven up a touch. Just don’t forget to take it out before you preheat the oven!

What happens if you over-knead dough?

If your dough is tight and tough and the gluten strands break apart when you try to stretch the dough, it may have been overworked. Unfortunately, there is no fix for this and it’s best to just start over.

My dough is really sticky after mixing, what should I do?

If you find that your dough is really, really sticky after mixing, mix in a bit more flour. The dough should feel tacky, but smooth and shouldn’t really stick to your hands.

Fluffy Dinner Rolls Recipe (4)

Other Bread Recipes to Try

  • Easy Overnight Sourdough Bread

  • The Very Best Cinnamon Rolls

  • No-Knead Focaccia Bread

  • New York Style Bagels

This post contains affiliate links from which I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Affiliate links allow me to keep providing great recipes for free and I never recommend products that I don’t love and personally own.

Fluffy Dinner Rolls Recipe (5)

Baking

Fluffy Dinner Rolls Two Ways

Everyone needs a great fluffy dinner roll recipe for their Thanksgiving (or any dinner!) table and I love this recipe because you can make them brushed with honey butter or garlic herb butter. All your guests will be happy!

Print RecipePin Recipe

Prep Time: 10 minutes mins

Cook Time: 15 minutes mins

Makes: 24 rolls

Ingredients

Dinner Roll Dough

  • 1 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 1 stick 4 oz unsalted butter
  • 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3 cups bread flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

Honey Butter Topping

  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • flaky sea salt for sprinkling

Garlic Parmesan Topping

  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 5 cloves garlic minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
  • 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan

Instructions

  • To make the dough: In a small saucepan, warm the milk and butter to 100 degrees F. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the sugar and yeast. Pour the milk/butter mixture over the yeast and sugar and let it rest for 5 minutes until the yeast is foamy. If your yeast does not get foamy, it may be too old to use. Add the eggs and flour to the bowl and mix on low. As the dough comes together, sprinkle in the salt. Mix on low for 10 minutes until the dough is smooth. Transfer to a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let the dough rise in a warm location until doubled in size.

  • Grease a large rimmed baking sheet (13X18) or two smaller baking sheets(8x12), if making both flavors. Punch the dough down and portion the dough into 24 pieces. The easiest way to do this is to weigh the dough, take the total weight and divide it by 24. This ensures even-sized pieces that bake at the same rate. Roll each piece into a ball and place it on the greased baking sheet one inch apart. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise until doubled in size and the rolls are touching.

  • To make the honey butter: melt butter and combine with honey until well mixed. Cool slightly until the mixture has thickened.

  • To make the garlic butter: melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat and add the garlic. Cook for 2 minutes and remove from heat. Add the salt and parsley and stir to combine.

  • To assemble: Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F. Remove the plastic wrap from the dough and gently, but liberally, brush with either butter. If using honey butter, sprinkle the rolls with flaky sea salt after brushing with butter. If using garlic parmesan, sprinkle with parmesan after brushing with garlic butter. Bake for 15 minutes until the rolls are golden brown on top. Remove from oven and let the rolls cool before serving. Sprinkle garlic parmesan rolls with extra parmesan if desired after they cool slightly.

Notes

This recipe can be cut in half if desired. The butter recipes are for 12 rolls. If you want to make 24 rolls of a particular flavor, double the butter recipe.

The rolls can be made ahead and frozen. After you portion the dough into balls, place them on a parchment-lined tray and freeze. Defrost rolls in the fridge and then allow the dough to rise before baking.

Nutrition

Serving: 1rollCalories: 130kcalCarbohydrates: 18gProtein: 3gFat: 5gSaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 240mgFiber: 1gSugar: 2g

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  • Vegetarian Honey Pumpkin Dinner Rolls
  • Baked Goods no knead focaccia bread
  • Baked Goods Pumpkin Bread with Streusel Topping
Fluffy Dinner Rolls Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret of soft buns? ›

The secret to soft, light rolls, if you're looking for something like a dinner roll, is an enriched dough that contains butter or other dairy, eggs, or both. If you want something more bread-like, you want a high hydration dough that's been properly kneaded and given at least two bulk fermentations before shaping.

What is the difference between a soft roll and a dinner roll? ›

Soft rolls and hard rolls are yeast breads, but quick breads are chemically raised doughs (with baking powder or baking soda). Soft rolls would be dinner rolls or sandwich buns which are usually enriched with dairy, butter or some other fat, and normally are sweetened to some degree.

What is the difference between Hawaiian rolls and dinner rolls? ›

The major difference that separates them from other dinner rolls is a distinct sweetness. Big King's Hawaiian fans will also tout the texture, its flaky outside and fluffy interior, as a reason it's so delectable.

What ingredient makes bread light and fluffy? ›

Sugar: When yeast is mixed with sugar it consumes the sugar and produces carbon dioxide gas, which causes the bread dough to rise and become light and airy. Instant Yeast: Instant dry yeast can be added directly to the flour mixture without needing to be activated first.

How can I make my bread fluffier instead of dense? ›

Potato Flakes or Potato Water

Starch helps the dough by trapping the gas from the yeast in the dough and makes the bubbles stronger. This helps the bread to rise and be lighter and fluffier. If you are boiling potatoes, you can use the unsalted water in place of the water in your bread recipe to help out the yeast.

How to make dough more fluffy? ›

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. I use full fat milk powder but if you can only find non-fat or skim that works too.

Will more yeast make bread fluffier? ›

Because gas is created as a result of yeast growth, the more the yeast grows, the more gas in the dough and the more light and airy your bread loaf will be.

What is the secret to a soft and fluffy bread? ›

Add Milk

To make your bread soft and fluffy, another trick used by commercial bakers is replacing water with milk. Milk has fats which make bread softer. We at Old Bridge Bakery, carrying years of tradition of bread making, provide authentic and delicious loaves of bread in different flavours.

Why are my homemade dinner rolls dense? ›

Rolls that are not light and fluffy can be the result of using too much flour (not measuring the flour correctly, as we mention above), or not using the type of flour your recipe calls for. Another reason for dense tough rolls is overmixing, which will produce too much gluten.

Is bread flour or all-purpose flour better for rolls? ›

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.)

How many ounces of dough for a dinner roll? ›

If I am being really precise, I use my kitchen scale to make sure that each piece of dough is about the same size – for an average size dinner roll, I use pieces of dough that weigh about 2 ounces each.

What is Aloha rolls? ›

At their core, they're sweet, fluffy dinner rolls, like the love child of a chiffon cake and a Martin's potato roll. And they're an all-but-ubiquitous supermarket staple these days, not just in Hawaii but across the continental US.

What is the difference between Rhodes Texas rolls and dinner rolls? ›

Texas Size rolls are 50% larger than our Dinner Rolls. The only difference is the roll size.

What makes King's Hawaiian rolls so good? ›

But sometimes, only the squishy sweetness of a King's Hawaiian roll will do. The appeal comes from the balance of texture and flavor: The sweetness delicately offsets any salty sandwich fillings, like ham and cheese, while its fluff envelops those fillings into itself and is just fun to bite.

Why are my rolls dense and not 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.

Why did my dinner rolls turn out dense? ›

Make sure the shaped bread doesn't rise too long before baking – it should only double in size. If it rises too much, the dough will collapse on itself during baking and the bread will have a dense, coarse or dry texture.

Why are my dinner rolls flat? ›

Yeast – Before you start baking, check to make sure that your yeast hasn't expired. If it's not fresh, the rolls won't rise, and they'll be dense and flat instead of soft and fluffy.

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