Soft White Dinner Rolls
Simple, tender, and delicious white dinner rolls are a great accompaniment to any meal!
These soft white dinner rolls were the first yeast recipe I learned to master years ago in the early days of this website, and they’ve been a favorite in our house ever since. No soup night, large family dinner, or holiday meal is complete without rolls on the table, and this recipe is the perfect one to bake!
These rolls are very soft and tender, with plenty of flavor. I love to brush them with melted honey butter and add a sprinkling of flaky salt when they’re fresh from the oven. This way not only do they taste delicious, but they look beautiful too.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Bread flour
- Granulated sugar
- Salt
- Active-dry yeast
- Butter
- Milk
- Eggs
- Honey
How to Make Soft White Dinner Rolls
- Warm liquids. In a small saucepan melt butter, then add milk and heat for a few minutes, just until about 120°F and no warmer than 135°F.
- Combine dry ingredients, liquids, and eggs. Combine 2 cups of flour, the sugar, salt and yeast in bowl. Stir in milk/butter mixture, followed by eggs.
- Add more flour and knead. Gradually add remaining flour until dough is tacky but you can touch it without it coming off on your hands.
- Let dough rise. Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm place to rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
- Shape rolls. Portion dough into 12 equal pieces and shape into rolls (see below for tips).
- Let dough rise again. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise about 30 minutes while you preheat oven to 350°F.
- Bake. Brush rolls with egg wash (optional) and bake until rolls are golden brown, 25-30 minutes.
- Brush with honey butter (optional). When rolls are still hot, brush them with melted honey butter. Sprinkle with flaky salt if desired.
- Serve. The rolls are best the day they are baked but will keep for several days in airtight container at room temperature.
How to Shape Rolls
- Divide dough evenly. Use scale if you have one— weigh total dough, divide by 12, and weigh each round to match. Or divide dough in half, then in half again, and then in thirds to get 12 total rounds.
- Stretch and pinch. Use your fingers to pull and stretch the dough from the top down around the roll, pinching it on the bottom. The top remains smooth while any messy bits stay on the bottom. Here’s a helpful video that shows you how to do it!
- Roll into ball. Gently roll on clean countertop in a circular motion, to shape into an even ball.
More Tips for this Recipe
- If the butter/milk mixture is too hot (above 140°F) when added to the dry ingredients, it can kill the yeast. This is my first guess when readers say their dough didn’t rise! Use a thermometer if you can, or error on the side of being cautious and let it cool enough to touch.
- I prefer to use a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment to mix and knead this bread, but of course you can knead by hand. Here’s a great video to show you how to knead by hand.
- My favorite yeast to use for bread baking is Red Star Platinum Yeast.
- The amount of flour you’ll need for these rolls will vary depending on many factors. You may need more or less than 3½ cups. You’ll know you’ve added enough flour when the dough is still very soft and tacky to the touch, but you can handle it without the dough sticking to your hands. Adding too much flour will make your rolls tough and dense, use only as much as you need.
- I like to let dough rise in my oven. Heat the oven to its lowest setting for a few minutes, then turn it off. Place the covered dough on the center rack and close the door. More rising tips can be found here.
- Looking to make these rolls ahead of time? See my tip for 4 ways to prepare rolls in advance.
More Roll Recipes to Try
- Honey Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls
- No-Knead Fairy Crescent Rolls
- Garlic and Herb Crescent Rolls
- Potato Rolls
Shop Tools for this Recipe
This recipe was originally published November 2012.
Soft White Dinner Rolls
Ingredients
- ¾ cup milk (175 ml)
- ¼ cup unsalted butter (56 grams)
- 3½ cups bread flour (438 grams)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar (50 grams)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast (1 envelope)
- 2 large eggs
For the glaze (optional):
- 1 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter (20 grams)
- 1 teaspoon honey
Instructions
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat the milk and butter just until the butter is melted. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes (temperature should be 120-140°F).
- Meanwhile, in a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine 2 cups of the four, sugar, salt and yeast. Add the milk/butter mixture until incorporated. Add the eggs and mix on medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes.
- Add the remaining flour a few tablespoons at a time until all incorporated. If needed, add more flour a tablespoon at a time to achieve a dough that starts to clear the bowl, is sticky to the touch, but does not stick and come off on your hands. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes
- Shape dough into a ball and place in a greased bowl, rolling the top in the butter or oil to grease it as well. Cover with plastic wrap or a towel and place in a warm place to rise until doubled in size, about one hour.
- Punch down the dough and divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Divide each of those pieces into 3 smaller pieces. Shape into rounds and place in a greased 9x13-inch baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap or a towel and let rise again until an indentation remains when lightly pressed with your finger, about 30-45 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake until golden brown on top, about 25-30 minutes.
To make the glaze:
- Melt the butter and honey together. Brush on to tops of rolls immediately when they come out of the oven.
39 Comments on “Soft White Dinner Rolls”
These look absolutely perfect! Just like my Nanny makes 🙂
Yeast can be friend or foe. These rolls look perfect. Lovely post. Excited for this series.
I love that you’re venturing outside of your comfort zone. It looks as thought it’s worked out VERY well for you so far. Those rolls are gorgeous!
Gorgeous rolls, just in time for the holidays! You certainly have shown that baking with yeast is not difficult, and the results are so worthwhile! Looking forward to the rest of your posts in this series. ~Linda@RSY
Not sure if I’ve ever seen such perfect rolls! I must try your recipe. My only roll experience turned into small bricks that would be better weapons than Thanksgiving bread.
I love the recipe but i believe the directions are off a bit as i am reading the recipe you say to heat the milk and butter together until the butter melts then to set aside to cool.but you don’t say when to add it in the mixer to incorporate the mixture.
Hi Courtney, sorry for the mistake. I’ve fixed the instructions now.
I am also wondering at what point do you add the milk/butter to the mix?
Oops! I’ve fixed the recipe. Thanks for catching my mistake!
Can you believe I went to a school where they made these in the cafeteria every day for our lunch? I don’t think kids are that lucky these days.
Woohoo! Bread and cookies are my very favorite baking things so I’m excited to see more bread recipes coming. These are beautiful and so rich-looking. I’ll bet they were gone in a flash. I’m bookmarking this recipe for sure.
Also, don’t be too critical with yourself about previous yeast bricks. There is a certain amount of practice and getting a feel for yeast dough, but frankly some recipes are just duds. I’m sure you’re more aware of this than anyone with all the baking and cooking you do, but a lot of times it’s just a matter of finding a recipe you’re happy with. You’ve clearly got the hang of yeast baking now! Well done!
Hi Annalise, do you knead the dough with your mixer or by hand?
Hi Megan!! I knead it with the mixer. You can do it by hand, it will just take longer.
Sooo good! I subbed 1/3 of the flour with whole wheat and they still came out fluffy and fantastic. A great addition to our Thanksgiving feast. 🙂
Wonderful! Love the idea of using a little whole wheat flour, I’ll have to give that a try too.
Hi love your blog!! i already pinned a few recipes hope to start making something soon. question, if I don’t have bread flour can I use regular flour?
You can use all-purpose flour, though it will affect the bread structure and texture. Not sure how much in this particular recipe, though. You might be fine. Bread flour is best for yeast breads as it has the highest amount of proteins which form gluten, trap the carbon dioxide in the dough, and help it rise.
You can substitute all-purpose flour but for every cup of bread flour a recipe calls for, add two extra tablespoons of AP. So if it says 3c. bread flour, you would use 3c. + 6T. all-purpose flour. I have used this substitution in a pinch for years and it has worked wonderfully for me. Happy Baking! 🙂
Hi,
I just try your recipe and I love it ! tks so much for all thoses beautiful recipes.
karima from France
I just made these rolls and wow!!! Soon delicious!!! They rose so big and fat!!! Thanks for sharing the recipe and baking tips!!
Quick Question!! do you think this recipe would double well? Planning on making these for a family dinner and i don’t think 12 will be enough! I’m just not sure if doubling it would effect to rising time, kneading time, etc.
Hi, what brand of flour do you use?? Does it say bread flour on the bag?
I most often use Gold Medal Bread Flour, and yes it is labeled on the package.
Hello! I have found another simpler bread roll recipe that is oh so fluffy if you’re interested- http://www.inquiringchef.com/2012/11/05/1-hour-light-and-buttery-dinner-rolls/
Love your blog 🙂
Tried this recipe and nailed it,I gotta try is again during the weekend,is it okay if I make the dough and leave it overnight?
Thanks for the recipe. We’re an American family living in Romania, and while the bread here is delicious, sometimes we miss American rolls like these. Will try the recipe this week!
Made these for thanksgiving and they turned out great!
I made this today, it was a fail 🙁
Hi Annalise, can you tell me what kind of milk you used? Thanks!
I usually use whole milk, but any percent will work just fine.
I made these for to go along with a 1948 themed cold buffet at a murder mystery party I hosted with 24 guests. Everyone loved them! I tripled the recipe and it made 36 good sized dinner rolls. I left it longer than stated in a warm room at each prove mainly because of the schedule of getting everything ready on the day but the dough definitely doubled in size at each prove for me which was very exciting and I think made for a very nice textured roll. Mmm I hope to make these again.
Can you refrigerat the dough over night
Yes, you can refrigerate the shaped rolls overnight. Wrap tightly in plastic and let come to room temp for about an hour before baking. Hope this helps!
You can substitute Instant (fast-rising) yeast for Active Dry Yeast. Traditional methods- replace 1:1. Expect your dough to rise faster; always let your dough rise until ‘ripe’. Bread Machines- use ½ tsp Instant yeast (or ¾ tsp Active Dry yeast) per cup of flour in your recipe. Visit Culinary Lab School for more information.
I tried this recipe but once I added the butter, the milk and the eggs, it turned very liquidy. What did I do wrong?
I’m so new to baking and failed miserably
Did you add all 3 cups of the bread flour?
You can substitute Instant (fast-rising) yeast for Active Dry Yeast. Traditional methods- replace 1:1. Expect your dough to rise faster; always let your dough rise until ‘ripe’. Bread Machines- use ½ tsp Instant yeast (or ¾ tsp Active Dry yeast) per cup of flour in your recipe. Visit Culinary Lab School for more information.
This is the best white roll recipe that i have ever made! Fluffy, soft, and delicious!
Thank you!
I am an experienced home baker and I love this recipe. The only change I made was the yeast. Using quick rise is more efficient and doesn’t leave that “yeasty” taste. Otherwise…beautiful and simple recipe for gorgeous dinner rolls for any occasion. If you use Instant Yeast – use the same quantity as is called for with the Traditional Yeast, 1:1 ratio.