I can say with complete confidence that these dinner rolls are the best homemade sweet dinner rolls that will ever pass your lips. Sweet, buttery, moist dinner rolls – there’s no comparison.
We use active-dry yeast, sour milk, and a little granulated sugar to transform an ordinary dinner roll into a soft, doughy, and slightly sweet perfect roll. It is easiest to make the dough in the bread machine, but I have also included instructions to work the dough for these yeast-based rolls without a bread maker.
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Some of my most vivid memories of Thanksgiving are of my granny sitting at her kitchen table, shaping balls of dough into rolls for our dinner. My cousin and sister and I would try to sneak bits of dough to eat and Granny would playfully banish us from the room. Everyone loved her sweet dinner rolls. After Granny passed away, my aunt and mom took over bringing piles of rolls to our holiday gatherings, and now, even for our smaller family celebrations, someone always makes the rolls.
🍞 Ingredients:
Making the Rolls in a Bread Machine:
So, the rolls. I make my roll dough in a bread maker. Do you have one? Bread makers really make the process easy, but you don’t have to use one. My bread maker is an older version of this one: Breadman Programmable Bread Maker (aff). Not too fancy and it works just fine for my occasional bread maker needs. It takes a little more work, but you can hand mix the dough instead. I’ll provide instructions for both methods. Let’s get baking!
Step 1: Start by making the sour milk. Prepare the sour milk 5-10 minutes before adding the roll ingredients to the bread machine (or mixing bowl.) Stir one tablespoon of lemon juice into 1 cup of whole milk and let it set for 5-10 minutes.
Step 2: Add the sour milk, egg, and softened butter into the pan. Next, add the flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda.
Step 3: Add the yeast to the top of the dry ingredients. No need to mix anything in, the bread machine will do it for you.
Step 4: Place the container inside the bread machine, close the lid, and program the machine to run a complete dough cycle.
Shape and Proof the Rolls:
Step 5: When the dough cycle has completed, the dough will have completed its first rise. It’s time to form the dough into rolls.
Step 6: Grease a 9×13 glass baking dish with butter. Begin pinching off chunks of dough to form the rolls. You will need about ping pong size balls of dough. Knead each piece of dough in your fingers (keep your fingers greased with butter) smoothing out the top and folding the dough under to make a nice ball shape with a smooth top.
Step 7: Form 20 rolls and space them evenly in the greased dish. Form four rows of five rolls each. There can be a little space between the rolls, but they should be fairly evenly sized and spaced apart. Cover with a clean dishtowel or linen and set in a draft-free, warm location to rise for another hour to hour and a half.
Step 8: When the rolls have risen, it’s time to bake. Heat the oven to 375°F.
Step 9: Bake rolls for 12-15 minutes or until they are golden brown on top and just beginning to brown on the sides and bottom. We like our rolls soft and doughy so I err on the side of under-baked instead of over-baked.
See that soft center? Perfection.
Slather some butter in there. Try not to eat the whole batch before dinner. Mmmmmm.
Making the Dinner Rolls with a Standing Mixer
- Be sure all of the ingredients are at room temperature. Warm the milk, it should not be too hot, just slightly warm.
- Place all of the ingredients in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the dough hook.
- Begin mixing on low and then increase the speed up to medium once the ingredients combine together. Mix on medium speed for 3-5 minutes; the dough will pull away from the sides of the bowl and wrap around the hook.
- Transfer dough to a greased bowl and cover with a light towel or with plastic wrap. Place bowl in a warm, draft-free location and allow dough to rise for about 1 – 2 hours, until doubled in size.
- Continue with forming the rolls from the risen dough.
Sweet Dinner Rolls Recipe Tips
Bread dough rises twice before baking. The first rise is done after the dough has been mixed (either in the bread machine or after hand mixing.) The second rise occurs after the rolls are formed. The formed rolls need to be covered by a light tea towel while rising. I typically set them in an oven or on a countertop adjacent to other cooking/baking. This kicks a little warmth in their direction. Anywhere, as long as there isn’t a cool draft, should be suitable for proofing the rolls.
Once the rolls have baked and cooled completely, transfer to a freezer bag or airtight container and freeze for up to 1 month. Allow rolls to thaw completely at room temperature when ready to eat. Heat in the microwave for small increments to warm the rolls (15-30 second spurts).
Milk with a higher fat content is preferable, but 2% or even nonfat milk will do in a pinch. You can use buttermilk instead of the sour milk.
Use a glass baking dish so that you can see the underside of the rolls to check for doneness.
Other Baked Goods Using this Roll Dough
Homemade Sweet Dinner Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 egg room temperature
- 4 tbsp butter, softened
- 3 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon Rapid Rise active dry yeast
Instructions
Making the Dough in Bread Machine
- Stir lemon juice into milk and let sit for 5-10 minutes to make sour milk.
- Place sour milk, egg, and softened butter into bread machine pan.
- Add flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda into pan, completely covering wet ingredients.
- Add yeast to the top of the ingredients.
- Place in bread machine and set to form dough. Run the full dough cycle. When the dough cycle is complete, move on to forming the rolls.
Making the Dough in a Standing Mixer
- Be sure all of the ingredients are at room temperature. Warm the milk, it should not be too hot, just slightly warm.
- Place all of the ingredients in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the dough hook.
- Begin mixing on low and then increase the speed up to medium once the ingredients combine together. Mix on medium speed for 3-5 minutes; the dough will pull away from the sides of the bowl and wrap around the hook.
- Transfer dough to a greased bowl and cover with a light towel or with plastic wrap. Place bowl in a warm, draft-free location and allow dough to rise for about 1 – 2 hours, until doubled in size.
- Continue with forming the rolls from the risen dough.
Forming the Rolls
- Grease 13×9 inch pan with butter. Place some butter on fingertips. Take a golf-ball size piece of dough and use your fingers to tuck the dough under the bottom, forming a smooth round top.
- Form 20 rolls with the dough. Cover with a light dishcloth and set in a draft-free, warm area to rise.
- Allow rolls to rise for about 1 ½ hours. When rolls have risen and the dough does not bounce back when you press it lightly with your finger, they are ready to bake.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes. The rolls should be well browned on top.
Notes
- Milk with a higher fat content is preferable, but 2% or even nonfat milk will do in a pinch.
- Use real butter, not a butter substitute.
- Use a glass baking dish so that you can see the underside of the rolls when checking for doneness
- Undercooked is better than overcooked.
Nutrition
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Comments & Reviews
Erin Tirrell says
Was wondering if we could use honey instead of sugar?
Stefanie says
Hi Erin, I haven’t tried it, so I can’t say for sure, but generally honey makes a great substitute for sugar in baking, and I think the dough would come together perfectly. Let me know how it turns out, I’d love to try it, too!
Christine says
Hello, planning on making these for Thanksgiving. Can buttermilk be substituted for the sour milk process?
Stefanie says
It can, I just made a pre-Thanksgiving batch yesterday and used buttermilk. Turned out great! Happy Thanksgiving.
Nancy says
I just have a question. Can you freeze the dough before shaping and proofing for future use (say cinnamon strawberry rolls)
Stefanie says
Yes you can! My mom and my aunt freeze it regularly!
Bridget says
Love these rolls. I have successfully made them the day before, refrigerated after forming them, let them rise on the countertop for about three hours, perfect!
Ruchelle says
I would like to shape them into cloverleafs (3 balls per roll) and bake them in muffin tins. Have yo ever tried that?
girlinspired says
I haven’t tried it, Ruchelle, but I think it would make beautiful rolls! You may need to adjust the cook time. I would bake one as a trial to figure out the right amount of time and then do the rest of the batch. Let me know how they turn out!
Heather says
How do we make these without a bread machine? Didn’t the old version used to have instructions for this?
We loved this recipe!!!
girlinspired says
Hi Heather! Yes, it’s still in there. It’s a couple paragraphs above the recipe card. “Making the Dinner Rolls by Hand”. Sorry it’s hard to see – this post is in need of an update, I suppose. I have a batch going right now, too! Happy Thanksgiving.
Mary says
Hello,
My question when the dough is made by hand and not in the bread machine. When I put it in my oven on the Warm setting how long do I leave it in there? Also is the kitchen towel left on when in goes into the oven on the warm setting? Also about
how many dinner rolls does this make? Please let me know either way. Thankyou,Mary
girlinspired says
Hi Mary! Yes, leave the towel over the dough – it just helps keep the dough from drying out and also makes a nice little warm, moist environment for rising. I’ve found my oven’s “warm” or “proof” setting is quite warm, so I actually would just turn the oven on to 200°F for 5 minutes or so and then turn it off and THEN place your rolls/dough inside with the towel. Close the oven door to contain that just slightly warm environment. If you’re doing other cooking in your kitchen or if you live in a relatively warmer climate, you can probably even just proof the dough on the kitchen counter, tucked into a warm little corner. Happy baking!
Betsy says
These are the best rolls ever.
Mindy Herndon says
I made these today. I expected the texture to be like traditional yeast rolls. Mine came out like a cross between a yeast roll and a biscuit. I am not very experienced with making yeast breads. Can you please confirm what the crumb should be like with this recipe? If I got it wrong and you happen to know what I did to cause that, I would appreciate the advice. They taste wonderful and made the house smell like Heaven. Thanks!
girlinspired says
Hmmm, Mindy, so they turned out a bit crumbly? The texture should be like a very moist yeast roll – similar to a Hawaiian roll if you’ve had those? Did you use all-purpose flour? I would say that the type of flour and the fat percentage in the milk have been my biggest contributors to a difference in texture.
Kat says
What about without a bread machine? I don’t have one and imagine your granny didn’t either. Thanks.
girlinspired says
Hi Kat, Scroll down in the post – there is a full section on making them by hand. 😘
Julie says
What kind of flour am I supposed to use? Self rising?
girlinspired says
I just use regular all-purpose flour. Not self-rising. xo
Bridget Cave says
These are perfect! I have made them and baked them same day—wonderful! I also have made them and formed them on day one and put them in the fridge, day two, bring to room temp (1 hour) bake—wonderful! This year I formed the rolls, froze them on a cookie sheet, then in a baggie. Can take them out, thaw for two hours, bake—wonderful!