Hands Down the BEST Homemade Dinner Rolls Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why are my homemade dinner rolls dry? ›

Too much flour makes dough too stiff to rise properly, creating a dry texture.

A 9×13 size would work well. It's best to have the rolls all touching each other when you arrange them in the pan, and I'll tell you why… Baking these dinner rolls all together in one pan is not only super convenient, but ideal.

I suggest using parchment paper to line the baking dish to ensure that the rolls are easy to remove from the pan to serve. Once the homemade dinner rolls are formed and placed in the baking sheet, let them rise again until they are doubled in size (30-60 minutes).

Well it's simple, bread flour has an increased amount of protein or more gluten which results in a lighter, fluffier dough which produces a less dense finished product. All-purpose flour can be used for bread but bread flour is always better if your goal is a “fluffier” bread.

Add Sugar

Adding sugar weakens the gluten structure, absorbs water, and eventually makes the bread lighter and softer. As a result, sugar improves the bread's taste, structure and texture. Yeast also eats up sugar to produce carbon dioxide, which raises the dough and makes bread fluffy.

Avoid adding too much extra flour to the dough.

Your instinct might be to add extra flour; however, any extra flour will create a denser, tougher roll instead of the light, fluffy, soft dinner roll we want.

For the softest dinner rolls, use whole milk. Nondairy or low fat milks work too, but whole milk produces phenomenal flavor and texture. Yeast: You can use active dry yeast or instant yeast. If using active dry yeast, the rise times will be a little longer.

Simply put, you have to control the temperature of the bread. Allowing ample time for your bread dough to rise and the yeast to form will create the holes in the bread that give it a lighter texture. Letting your dough get puffy and grow before it goes into the oven is critical.

Usually I use regular active dry yeast in my dinner rolls, but this time, I used instant yeast, which means you don't have to activate the yeast in warm water, you just add it together with the other ingredients.

Baked goods made with shortening are typically softer and more tender than those made with butter. They also tend to be slightly taller, as it has a higher melting point and doesn't spread as much.

Should rolls touch when baking? ›

Arrange the Dough For Baking

Arrange the rolls closer to each other, with enough room for them to expand into each other as they rise and bake. More traditional dinner rolls might be arranged on a baking sheet with lots of space in between so you get little orbs of golden brown goodness that don't touch.

Butter basting: Rolls can be brushed with butter before, during, or after baking. While it doesn't brown the surface as much as egg wash will, it does promote browning and adds a lot of flavor.

Since parchment paper doesn't have a helpful “this end up” sign with an arrow, it takes a little detective work. Just hold the paper up to the light and look for the side that's slightly glossier or shinier. It is the shiny or glossy side of the parchment paper that should be face up on your baking sheet or cake pan.

A basic saying to guide your use of papers in the kitchen: "Sweet treats need parchment sheets; grill or broil, go with foil," says Weaver. Foil conducts and distributes heat, making it able to withstand high temperatures from baking, broiling, roasting, or grilling. For anything above 400 degrees, use foil.

For baking light and fluffy bread, it is necessary to choose flour that has high levels of protein. If you choose to use flour with lower protein levels, you'll be left with the bread being dense.

Originally Answered: What is the secret behind baking soft and light roll 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.

The bread dough did not rise enough. Whole wheat, cake, self-rising and non-wheat flours such as rye, oat, barley, rice and soy all have too little gluten. Also, self-rising and cake flours are lower in gluten and therefore will not produce the best yeast bread.