Hands Down the BEST Homemade Dinner Rolls Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why are my homemade dinner rolls hard? ›

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.

If you want it to remain as fresh as possible, then you really have to enclose it in something like a plastic bag to retain its moisture. But the crust will be soft if you do that. For me, I just use bags to keep it fresher and then I will reheat a bun or loaf briefly to crisp the crust up again the next day.

This is most commonly done on lean dough rolls. Egg wash: Either egg yolk (to aid in browning), egg white (to add shine), or whole egg wash (for both) can be brushed onto the surface of proofed rolls before baking.

Dry Milk Powder

If you want a lighter fluffier bread loaf just add 2 Tbsp of dry milk to the flour per loaf of your bread.

Add a little bit of milk to your egg yolk before brushing over the bread/before baking. The milk helps keep the buns soft and the yolk gives them a good colour.

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.)

Too much flour results in a dry, crumbly dough that's unpleasant and difficult to work with. It doesn't stick to itself and tends to fall apart when kneaded.

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.

There may be several reasons for a dense, cake like texture in bread. It may indicate the kneading wasn't enough for the gluten to develop properly, or the dough was proved for too short a time or the dough may have been too dry. It is also worth checking the flour you used.

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.

Baking rolls on a baking sheet: These rolls can also be baked on a rimmed baking sheet if you'd prefer not to have the tear-away edges. Line the baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking liner and space the rolls a few inches apart.

The internal temperature of a loaf of crusty yeast bread when it is cooked to perfection should be 200 to 210 F. Soft breads and dinner rolls should be 190 to 200 F. The bread will pull away from the sides of the pan and will feel firm to the touch. The bread will sound hollow when you tap it lightly.

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).

Shape and Rise

Each dough ball will weigh right around 3 ounces, give or take. Space them a little bit apart in the baking pan and let them rise until very puffy and the sides are touching. Don't skimp on the rising! If they don't rise long enough, they won't reach their fluff-fluffy potential.

Incorrect Activation or Wrong Yeast. For the bread to appear soft and fluffy, You must ensure that your yeast ferments correctly. It's not just the temperature in your kitchen, but also the activity of the yeast. Also, you must add the yeast to warm water to activate it.