Homemade soft dinner rolls are the best to go with cinnamon honey butter. This homemade soft sweet dinner rolls recipe, I have made many times and my kids always ask for more. Also, these homemade dinner rolls are great for making pull pork sandwiches or any slider sandwiches. Let's learn how to make homemade soft sweet dinner rolls.
Love bread? Check out these Japanese milk bread rolls, rosemary garlic bread, garlic cheese bread sticks, ciabatta, Chinese hot dog, pineapple buns, coconut buns and sugar donuts recipes.
What are dinner rolls?
A bread roll is a small, usually round or oval shaped bread that is served as a meal. In America most people call it dinner rolls and often serve it as a side for a meal. For a traditional Thanksgiving feast, dinner rolls are a must side dish. Dinner rolls are the best to serve with butter, jam or lunch meat to make sandwiches.
Baking is chemistry. When you miss some ingredients, it doesn't turn out good. Although you have the same recipe, every time you make it, the rolls are slightly different because temperature and weather changes. In fact, I tried many different dinner rolls recipes before. However, this soft homemade wonder dinner rolls recipe is the best homemade dinner rolls.
What are the ingredients for soft sweet dinner rolls?
The ingredients are very basic and simple: active dry yeast, water, sugar, vegetable oil, salt, bread flour, vital wheat gluten and dough enhancer. In this homemade soft dinner rolls recipe, I like to add vital wheat gluten and dough enhancer because these two ingredients have some sort of magic to make the dough texture and bread taste even better.
Cooking tips for how to make soft homemade dinner rolls:
Dough:
- Personally I like to use a Bosch mixer for mixing the dough.
- Add water, yeast, sugar and oil into the mixer and let it wait for 5 minutes.
- In the other bowl, add bread flour, sugar, salt, vital wheat gluten and dough enhancer. Mix it well.
- Turn on the mixer to the lowest setting #1. Slowly pour the flour mixture into the Bosch mixer with yeast mixture. Let the mixer run until the dough comes together. Then, change the setting to #3 medium/ high speed and let it run for 10-15 minutes.
- My trick to speed up dough rising time is by preheating the oven at 200F, then turning off the oven. Put the dough into the oven and cover with a wet towel. The dough will rise in 30 minutes.
- Spray some oil on the wet towel because this can prevent the dough from sticking on it.
- Roughly divide the dough into 28-30 pieces depending on how big the rolls you want to be. After that, roll the dough into a ball.
- Spray some oil on the parchment paper over the cookie sheet and place the rolls on the parchment paper. Cover the dough with the wet towel for 15 minutes before baking.
Baking:
- Preheat the oven at 350F and bake it for 18-25 minutes until it’s golden brown.
- Melt a tablespoon of butter and brush it on the freshly baked dinner rolls.
FAQs:
Bread flour is a strong flour. It is because of the high gluten protein. (Around 11.5-13.5% protein.) The protein binds to the flour to capture carbon dioxide released by the yeast fermentation process. Therefore, it results in a stronger rise and more chewy crumb.
For this homemade soft dinner rolls recipe, I prefer to use bread flour instead of regular all purpose flour because it has better texture.
Vital wheat gluten is a powder form. It is produced and sold as an additive for baking or used to make seitan. Also, vital wheat gluten is nearly all gluten and almost no starch.
When it is used as an additive in baking, it adds elasticity to flours and improves the rise of the raw dough. Besides, it improves the texture and chewiness of the final product.
A dough enhancer or dough conditioner is a flour treatment agent. It is a bread improver that strengthens the dough's texture.
For the oven: wrap the dinner rolls in foil and place them on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 F for 10 to 15 minutes.
For microwave: cover the dinner rolls with a moist paper towel and warm it for 10-20 seconds.
This homemade soft sweet dinner rolls recipe can last in the refrigerator up to 5-7 days. You can also freeze them and it lasts up to months.
Instructions for how to make homemade dinner rolls:
Preparation:
1. Put 2 cups of warm water, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 2 tablespoons of yeast and ⅔ cup of vegetable oil into a Bosch mixer (I prefer using Bosch mixer because the dough mixed evenly.)
2. Turn on the Bosch mixer to the lowest setting #1 and let it mix a little bit, then turn off. Let it sit for 5 minutes.
3. After that, in another mixing bowl, add 6 cups of bread flour, ½ tablespoon of salt, 6 tablespoons of sugar, 1 tablespoon of dough enhancer and 1 tablespoon of vital wheat gluten. Mix it well.
4. Next, turn on the mixer to the lowest setting #1, slowly add the flour mixture from step 3 into the Bosch mixer.
5. When the dough comes together. Cover the lid and change the setting to #3 medium/high speed. Let the mixer run for 10-15 minutes until the dough is well mixed.
Dough:
6. The following step, take the dough out and put it into a mixing bowl and cover with a damp towel. (Spray some oil on the wet towel because this can prevent the dough from sticking on it ).
7. Wait around 30-45 minutes to rise at room temperature. (My trick to speed up dough rising time is by preheating the oven at 200F, then turning off the oven. Then, put the dough into the oven cover with a wet towel. The dough rises in 30 minutes.)
8. When the dough rises, roughly divide the dough into 28-30 pieces. (I did 28 pieces, depending on how big the rolls you want.)
9. Spray some oil on the parchment paper over the cookie sheet. Then, roll the dough into a ball. Place the dough on the cookie sheet and cover the dough with a damp towel. Let it sit for 15 minutes before baking it. (Spray some oil on the wet towel because this can prevent the dough from sticking on it.)
Baking:
10. Preheat the oven at 350F and bake for 18 -25 minutes until it’s golden brown.
11. Lastly, melt one tablespoon of butter in the microwave for 15 seconds. Then, brush the melted butter on the freshly baked dinner rolls.
Enjoy this simple and delicious homemade soft sweet dinner rolls recipe! Also, check out these taro ice cream, pad Thai noodles, beef broccoli and California rolls recipes.
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Dinner Rolls
Video
Ingredients
Yeast mixture:
- 2 cups Water
- 2 tablespoons Sugar
- 2 tablespoons Active dry yeast
- ⅔ cups Vegetable oil
Flour mixture:
- 6 cups Bread flour
- 6 tablespoons Sugar
- ½ tablespoon Salt
- 1 tablespoon Vital wheat gluten
- 1 tablespoon Dough enhancer
Instructions
- Put 2 cups of warm water, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 2 tablespoons of yeast and ⅔ cup of vegetable oil into a Bosch mixer (I prefer using Bosch mixer because the dough mixed evenly.)
- Turn on the Bosch mixer to the lowest setting #1 and let it mix a little bit, then turn off. Let it sit for 5 minutes.
- After that, in another mixing bowl, add 6 cups of bread flour, ½ tablespoon of salt, 6 tablespoons of sugar, 1 tablespoon of dough enhancer and 1 tablespoon of vital wheat gluten. Mix it well.
- Next, turn on the mixer to the lowest setting #1, slowly add the flour mixture from step 3 into the Bosch mixer.
- When the dough comes together. Cover the lid and change the setting to #3 medium/high speed. Let the mixer run for 10-15 minutes until the dough is well mixed.
- The following step, take the dough out and put it into a mixing bowl and cover with a damp towel. (Spray some oil on the wet towel because this can prevent the dough from sticking on it ).
- Wait around 30-45 minutes to rise at room temperature. (My trick to speed up dough rising time is by preheating the oven at 200F, then turning off the oven. Then, put the dough into the oven cover with a wet towel. The dough rises in 30 minutes.)
- When the dough rises, roughly divide the dough into 28-30 pieces. (I did 28 pieces, depending on how big the rolls you want.)
- Spray some oil on the parchment paper over the cookie sheet. Then, roll the dough into a ball. Place the dough on the cookie sheet and cover the dough with a damp towel. Let it sit for 15 minutes before baking it. (Spray some oil on the wet towel because this can prevent the dough from sticking on it.)
- Preheat the oven at 350F and bake for 18 -25 minutes until it’s golden brown.
- Lastly, melt one tablespoon of butter in the microwave for 15 seconds. Then, brush the melted butter on the freshly baked dinner rolls.
Notes
Cooking tips for how to make soft homemade dinner rolls:
Dough:
- Personally I like to use a Bosch mixer for mixing the dough.
- Add water, yeast, sugar and oil into the mixer and let it wait for 5 minutes.
- In the other bowl, add bread flour, sugar, salt, vital wheat gluten and dough enhancer. Mix it well.
- Turn on the mixer to the lowest setting #1. Slowly pour the flour mixture into the Bosch mixer with yeast mixture. Let the mixer run until the dough comes together. Then, change the setting to #3 medium/ high speed and let it run for 10-15 minutes.
- My trick to speed up dough rising time is by preheating the oven at 200F, then turning off the oven. Put the dough into the oven and cover with a wet towel. The dough will rise in 30 minutes.
- Spray some oil on the wet towel because this can prevent the dough from sticking on it.
- Roughly divide the dough into 28-30 pieces depending on how big the rolls you want to be. After that, roll the dough into a ball.
- Spray some oil on the parchment paper over the cookie sheet and place the rolls on the parchment paper. Cover the dough with the wet towel for 15 minutes before baking.
Baking:
- Preheat the oven at 350F and bake it for 18-25 minutes until it’s golden brown.
- Melt a tablespoon of butter and brush it on the freshly baked dinner rolls.
Laur
I had to Google what a dough enhancer is. I'd really like to see in a recipe what kind you used - the internet says anything from a purchased mix at a store to vinegar to potato starch to milk powder.
Tracy O.
Hi Laur,
I use this dough enhancer or dough conditioner. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08NWBF2WN/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B08NWBF2WN&linkCode=as2&tag=ohmyfoodrecip-20&linkId=552e79e1331e3da0d16dffbc3bce7ae9
In this recipe, I used vital wheat gluten and dough enhancer.