Classic Dinner Rolls, a Crowd Favorite

This dinner roll recipe is fool proof. Nothing fancy, just a classic, soft, and fluffy dinner roll you can pair with any home-cooked meal. Since we use rapid rise yeast, you can make these rolls after only a combined 1 hour rise time. No more needing to plan the day before for these delicious rolls.

Get Started

We’re going to start by taking out a stand mixer, or bowl and hands if you’re ready for a workout. Combine 2 cups of flour, sugar, yeast, salt, and warm milk. To get the perfect temperature of warm milk, take a microwave safe bowl. Then heat the milk for 45-60 seconds in 15 second increments. This will usually get the temp of the milk right around 120 degrees Fahrenheit. This is essential to activating the yeast without killing it. Too cold, and the yeast will not activate properly. Too hot, and the yeast will be killed before it can rise properly.

Now, we’re going to mix the dough, using a dough hook on low. Once the flour is just barely incorporated, scrape down the sides and increase the speed to medium for 2 minutes. This will ensure all the flour and yeast is fully incorporated. After your 2 minutes, turn the speed down to low and start to slowly add in your remaining flour, which should be about 3 cups. Do this in 1/2 cup increments. Not only will this prevent flour from splashing outside the bowl but will give the dough enough time to slowly incorporate the new product.

It’s all coming together

Soon after all of the flour is incorporated, you can increase the speed back up to medium and mix for another 2 minutes. At this point you will start to see a dough ball form. Once the two minutes is up, you may be somewhat skeptical, as the dough will still be very sticky. You can add an additional 1/2 cup of flour, but we still want the dough ball to be somewhat sticky to retain the moisture and fluffiness of the roll.

You can now take a large mixing bowl out and lightly grease the interior. Take your bowl with the dough ball and flip it over and let the dough ball slowly fall into your lightly greased mixing bowl. It may not look pretty and that’s okay, we’re not handling the dough ball yet. Simple take some plastic wrap or a towel and place in a warm area of your house. I like to place it above my oven or outside on a warm day. Let the bowl rise for 30 minutes. In the meantime, take a 9 x 13 baking dish and lightly grease.

Time to roll

After the 30 minutes of rising, it’s time to make the rolls. This dough will be sticky, and I’ve found the best way to easily work with it is to get a small bowl with some olive oil and dip your fingers each time you’re going to pull a piece of dough to form a roll. This recipe does not require any kneading of the dough, so we really aren’t handling it too much.

To form the rolls, pinch off a section of dough, about the size of a golf ball. I have a kitchen scale I use and place the dough ball onto it to form 2 oz balls. You can drop the 2 oz dough ball right into the greased 9 x 13-inch pan. To make them pretty, I will take the dough ball and almost stretch the dough around itself and tuck the pieces underneath. This will create a smooth surface along the top of the roll. This recipe makes about 20 rolls, give or take the size of ball you are creating. If I have a few extra, I will just squeeze them in, it doesn’t need to be perfect.

One more time

Okay, the dough balls are in the pan, but now we need to cover with plastic wrap or a towel again and let rise for an additional 30 minutes in a warm area of your home. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the 30 minutes of rising is complete, you will have beautiful little dough balls. Simple place the dish into the oven and bake for 15-17 minutes, until a golden crust has formed on the rolls.

Remove from the oven, brush with melted butter, and serve!

Can I make these ahead?

Yes! These rolls are so easy to prep ahead of time, and in fact, I do this almost every time I make these rolls. To prep these rolls the day before, you’re going to follow all of the directions but stop before the second rise. This means you are going to form the dough balls in the baking dish, but instead of letting rise for an additional 30 minutes, you’re going to place them in the fridge.

When you’re ready to make them the next day, remove from the fridge and let sit on the counter for 1 hour before baking. This is essential. The 1 hour on the counter will allow the rolls to come back to room temp to rise. Once the hour is up, simply bake in the oven as instructed and you have will delicious rolls in no time!