Hallelujah!! I have found it! The best dinner roll recipe ever! These are PERFECT for Thanksgiving dinner 
But, before I turn you loose, there are a few things you need to know about yeast!
1st- You cannot add yeast to water that is too hot! It will die! So when a recipe say’s that the water or milk needs to be a certain temperature, make sure you use a thermometer!
2nd- Make sure that the yeast you are going to use is at room temperature.
3rd-Yeast always rises best in warm water with some sugar! If the yeast is not bubbling up, it wont allow the bread to rise, so start over!
With that being said, here is the recipe!
Ingredients
- 2-1/4tsp fast acting yeast (or 1pkg)
- 1/4c warm water (105°F-110°F) usually the hottest your tap gets is the right temp.
- 2tsp sugar
- 1c milk, just to scalding hot (do not simmer or boil) I microwaved my milk for 30 sec. then tested it, then 30 sec. more. It was perfect after that. It’s important to take the break between each 30 sec.
- 1/3c sugar
- 1/4c butter
- 1tsp salt
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 4 ½ c bread flour (dough will be somewhat sticky, but the less you use, the lighter the rolls)
- the remaining stick of butter for rubbing on top of the rolls right as they come out of the oven!
Directions
1) Dissolve yeast in 1/4c warm water. Stir in the 2tsp of sugar. Let sit for about 5 minutes until mixture foams up.
2) Heat milk in microwave or in small saucepan on stovetop.
3) Add sugar, butter, & salt to hot milk and stir until butter is melted. Cool to 105°F-110°F.
4) Pour milk mixture into bowl of stand mixer.
5) Add the yeast mixture & egg and mix together.
6) Mix in all-purpose flour, beating to form a soft dough. Knead with mixer for 5 minutes, adding extra flour, if needed. (This is where a dough hook is your best friend!)
7) Place dough in warm oiled or buttered bowl, turning greased side up. Cover with parchment paper and let rise in warm place ( I turn my oven on to about 400 for a minute to warm up slightly then I put the bowl in there, like an incubator) until doubled in bulk, about 60 minutes.
8) Slightly punch down dough. Divide dough into 12 pieces and shape into round rolls. I do this by dividing the dough in half, and stretching it out into a loaf then cutting them into 6 equal parts. ** See below for how to shape the rolls, it’s super easy! Place them, not touching, in greased 13×9×2 baking pan.
10) Cover with parchment paper sprayed with non stick spray & let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 30–45 minutes.
11) Bake at 375°F for 18–20 minutes or until tops are golden brown.
12) Brush tops of rolls with butter.
**To shape the dough, hold a section of dough in the palm of your left hand. Make a circle with your left pointer finger and left thumb. Using the thumb of the right hand, push the dough through the (tight) circle you are creating with your left hand. This reminds me of playing with play dough when I was little! When you get the dough pushed all the way through, pinch together the bottom and there you go! Add them to the pan pinched side down!
Ooooh yummy! I love rolls. Thanks for posting.
I would like to print this receipt. Don’t see where I can.
Use the print option like printing anything else but select only the first 3 pages, otherwise it will print 21 pages. Hope this helps!
Hey, I came across your blog through a google search finding these rolls. Tried the recipe this afternoon Great tasting except for I killed the yeast. Oh well. Still did pretty good. Thanks for posting.
Thanks for the recipe!
I loved these and so did the ladies at our luncheon. Thanks for the post – definitely bookmarking it
This is by far the best dinner roll recipe I have ever made. I just made these tonight and they are SO soft and light in the middle. A perfect accompaniment to any dinner. Better than any restaurant and much better than any grocery store rolls. Aside from the taste, the best part is they are super, super easy to make. Highly, highly recommend making these!!!
The ingredient list says Bread Flour but your directions say All Purpose. Was this just an oversight or can you use either?
@Isabel Gurrola- I didn't even notice that I had conflicting flours listed!~ Thanks for pointing it out. The recipe I found called for Bread Flour, but I used All-Purpose and it worked just fine!
Do you know if I can make the dough ahead of time, freezing it to bake “the day of’ ?
Yes you can, just give it about 30 more minutes to thaw.
What step do you freeze them at?
I would freeze them right after I turned them into balls, as dough. Place them on a cookie sheet and freeze them solid. Then you can put them in a bag together. About 5 hours ahead of time I would pull them out and fill my cake pan with them and let them thaw and rise in the pan, then cook them.
Omg! Very good
easy to make<br />Does anyone know the Cal. Count?
Great recipe! They came out just like they are supposed to. In you ingredients, you specify bread flour, but in directions you say all-purpose. I used the bread flour and will stick to that. Also, for those having difficulty, always take the temperature of the water. 110 – 115 degrees added to the yeast and sugar for ten minutes and you are good to go!! Love these rolls, thanks!!
Very easy to make and l like that the ingredients are in cups and spoons which is easy to work with. Love love them, soft and tasty. I brushed the top of mine with sugar in hot water and they tasted yummy….
Have you ever made the dough in a bread machine?
No, but I’m sure it would work!
I’m going to try it in a bread machine. My hands are such that I’m not able to knead with them. I’m thinking of making a loaf. We’ll see!
I made these for dinner tonight. They were fabulous! Great step by step directions. (I used exactly 4 1/2 cups of All-Purpose flour.) Thank you for the recipe!
Thanks Cheryl! I’m glad they turned out for you!
these dinner rolls are…. well…. theyre incredible. ive made them about 15 times in two months. the family cant get enough of them. id probably make them almost every night if i had an actual mixer, rather than doing it all by hand.
i also did a bit of experimenting and found out this super light poofy recipe makes really good cinnamon rolls. i just rolled it out instead of making the balls and added cinnamon, sugar, and melted butter, rolled it up, cut it up, then let them rise like the dinner rolls.
Great Jesse! I’m so glad they work for you!
Feb 15/2016
Best Bun Recipe !!!
Thanks Shelly!
Hey, just wanted to let you know how much we love this recipe!! I made the rolls for Thanksgiving last year and got many compliments, including being told that the buns were the best part of the whole meal! Thanks so much for posting it!
Yay Cheryl, thanks so much for taking the time to come back and leave a comment. I’m so glad they worked out for you.
Can these be frozen? I’m wondering if I froze them before the baking stage, if they would do well? Have you tried this? Also wondering if after baked, then frozen. It would be a great asset to be able to freeze several recipes of these to have handy for meals, especially for those large crowds I’m feeding during the holidays. :).
Hi Mary Ray, I haven’t tried freezing them but I would suggest freezing them once rolled out and NOT raised. Then if you thaw them and let them raise that should work. I’m sure freezing them after baking would work too!
I would if I could use active dry yeast instead. What do you think?
Active dry yeast would work too!
I wonder if the dough can be refrigerated overnight after the last rise? Would like to do these the day before Thanksgiving and then bake them on Thanksgiving for FRESH warm rolls.
I have never tried to refrigerate the dough. Let me know if it works.
I made these today… I have tried making dinner rolls before and they were never quite right… I read ALL your tips and a few others… I followed your recipe to the last step… I set the timer to make sure I didn’t rush each step… They are PERFECT!!! Can’t wait for Thursday (Thanksgiving)!!! I’m making them again. Amazing!! Thank you.
That is so amazing Julia! Thanks so much for the comment. I’m glad they worked out for you.
i am making these right now
i hope they turn out!!1 thanks for the post
I just have a question about the yeast. The receipt calls for rapid rise yeast. Doesn’t that need a higher temperature of water 120-130 degrees. But the recipe says for water to be 105-110 isn’t that the temp for active dry yeast? Just want to know before I make it.
I have found that this temperature works the best for these rolls.
Thank you
Thanks Annette for this recipe, I made these rolls yesterday for Sunday dinner with meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and slow cooker barbecue green beans. I followed your roll recipe and they was good.
You’re a lifesaver! This was the 3rd recipe I tried this week and they’re perfect. Just in time for Thanksgiving. These were great! I followed your directions exactly.
So I’d probably need about 36 rolls. Should I make smaller rolls? Or would doubling/tripling work?
Thanks!
Also, right out of the oven they seemed slightly doughy, not bad though…was that just because it was warm? The tops were perfectly golden brown. I used a stoneware pan.
Hi Lacey, Thanks for your question. You might be at a different elevation than I am. I would lower the temperature of your oven about 25 degrees and cook them for a longer amount of time. When you press on the top of the rolls, they should spring right back when they are cooked in the middle.
Thanks! I’m in Utah. I’ll check that out.
I would make smaller rolls if it’s for Thanksgiving. Since everyone will be eating so much other food.
Thanks! Would doubling them also work? Any thing I have to do to make it successful?
I made this tonight. It is soft but not airy. I didn’t kill the yeast so not sure what’s wrong. Nothing like the photo above or the ones I’ve tried at Golden Corral. Could it be the yeast brand? I let the dough sit for more than an hour and it did double in size then cut them into pieces and let it rise much longer.