Homemade Dinner Rolls

Barbara Mackey, my mother, was famous for her homemade dinner rolls! 

By the same token, having had several people come up to me, asking for her homemade dinner rolls recipe, I decided to share it.

Here is a “how to make dinner rolls” for anyone that would like to eat my moms rolls again. 

Growing up, I remember many people calling and ordering large pans of dinner rolls to serve to their guests.  My parents ran a catering business in our small town and everyone wanted her soft dinner rolls to be served.  

At family gatherings my mom was expected to bring her super soft dinner rolls and she would always make way too many so everyone could take extras home.  

So, when my mom passed away unexpectedly, I had never gotten a copy of her homemade dinner rolls recipe.  

After that, feeling devastated that I had never asked my mom for her bread recipe, I thought that recipe was gone with forever.  

Whats more, I read a Facebook post from my Aunt Vicki about a year after my mom’s passing.  

She mentioned that she was making my mom’s recipe for homemade dinner rolls for an event she was attending.  A light bulb went off in my head!  

A light bulb moment!!

OMG! Mom’s classic dinner rolls were not lost!  Messaging my aunt to see if she would give me a copy of the recipe.  Mom had worked with my aunt to make the perfect rolls. 

After talking with my aunt, I was able to get that copy and the legacy continues!  So, I would like to share the recipe for making dinner rolls from scratch with you!!  

As a matter of fact, with this recipe you can make bread, small bread, cinnamon rolls, monkey bread, and individual bread rolls.

In other words, you should try this best ever, light and fluffy, dinner roll recipe is to see what everyone is talking about! But, many people have compared them to Hawaiian dinner rolls.

How Do You Make Dinner Rolls From Scratch?

Start by gathering all of the ingredients that you need to make the rolls.  

In a mixing bowl fitted with a dough hook, add the sugar, oil and the hot water (use tap water).  After that, turn on slow to mix ingredients.  

Secondly, in a separate bowl combine the flour, yeast and salt.  

What kind of yeast should I use? 

As a matter of fact, baker’s yeast is available in three forms: compressed, active dry and instant dry.   

Compressed yeast is also known as fresh yeast and must be refrigerated because of the moisture content.  In fact, it should be crumbly with a fresh, yeasty smell and creamy white in color.  Above all, compressed yeast that has gone bad will develop a sour odor, have a slimy film or be brown in color.  

So, active dry yeast has virtually all of the moisture removed by hot air.  Therefore, it allows the yeast organism to be dormant and to be stored without refrigeration for several months in a cool, dry place before it is opened.  

When active dry yeast is open it should be stored in the refrigerator.  To use this yeast, it generally needs to be rehydrated in a lukewarm (110 degrees Fahrenheit) liquid before adding to other ingredients.  

Instant dry yeast is the most popular because of its ease of use.  It is generally added directly to the dry ingredients without rehydrating when making bread.  Hence, the water in the recipe will active the yeast.  

All yeasts should not be exposed to temperatures above 138 degrees Fahrenheit because the living organisms in the yeast will be destroyed.  I use instant dry yeast when making this dinner roll recipe.

Back To The Homemade Dinner Rolls Recipe…

Thirdly, add the flour mixture to the mixing bowl along with the liquid ingredients.  Using the dough hook combine all ingredients until a dough forms.  After that, mix for about 2 more minutes.  

In a separate large bowl spray with cooking spray, then place dough ball in the center of the bowl.  Then cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap.  

After that, place a towel over the bowl and set in a warm area to let the dough rise/ferment.  In fact, my perfect place to sit my bowl is somewhere by the stove. 

When I’m in a real hurry to get my dough to rise/ferment, I will turn the oven on warm and place the bowl on the back of the stove.   Drape the towel on the back of the stove and then cover the bowl, the warm heat will help the dough to rise.  

How long should the dough rise/ferment?  

Most important of all, the dough needs to double in size. To demonstrate, draw a circle on the plastic wrap with a sharpie on what the starting size is of the dough.  

That way when you look at the dough several minutes later you can reference the circle that you drew on the plastic wrap.  Subsequently, dough fermenting times vary depending on the room temperature, humidity, and the freshness of the yeast.  

Once dough has doubled in size, punch down the dough.  

Finally, it’s time to portion out the dough.  But you need to watch the video on how I was taught by my mom on how to do this. 

Therefore, line the roll dough up in a greased baking pan.   After that, cover the pan with a towel to proof.  And then proof until doubled in size.  

Lastly, bake rolls pre-heat convection oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.  Bake rolls for approximately 30 minutes or until golden brown.     

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Yield: 3 dozen

Homemade Dinner Rolls

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These soft Homemade Dinner Rolls are super easy to make! This dinner roll dough recipe can be used to make cinnamon rolls, loaf bread, individual rolls, and even monkey bread.

Prep Time 20 minutes

Fermenting/Proofing Time 2 hours

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 2 hours 50 minutes

Ingredients

• Hot Water, from the tap 2 cups
• Sugar, granulated 3/4 cup
• Oil, Vegetable 3/4 cup
• Flour, All Purpose 6 cups
• Yeast, Instant Dry 1 Tbls
• Salt, Iodized 1 tsp

Instructions

1. Gather all of your ingredients for the dinner rolls.
2. In a mixing bowl with a dough hook add the sugar, oil and hot tap water (100 Degrees). Mix until sugar is dissolved
3. In a seperate bowl combine the flour, yeast and salt.
4. Add the flour mixture to the mixing bowl with the liquids.
5. Mix all ingredients until dough is formed. Mix an additional 2 minutes.
6. Spray the inside of a large bowl with cooking spray and then add the dough.
7. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Use a sharpie to draw a circle on the plastic wrap on the current size of the dough.
8. Then cover bowl with a towel and place bowl in a warm place to ferment the dough.
9. Let dough rise so that it doubles in size.
10. When dough has doubled, punch dough down.
11. Portion dough out (like in the video) and place in a greased baking pan.
12. Cover pan with a towel and proof dough until it doubles in size.
13. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
14. Bake rolls for about 30 minutes and rolls are golden brown in color.

Nutrition Information

Yield

36

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 97Total Fat 1gSaturated Fat 0gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 0mgSodium 67mgCarbohydrates 20gFiber 1gSugar 4gProtein 2g

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If you enjoy these dinner rolls, you may enjoy the following recipes: Venison Tips and Noodles and Rhubarb Apple Crisp