Looking for an easy dinner roll recipe? These soft yeast rolls will make your mouth water and trust me, they are so easy you won’t believe you have never made them this way before!
When it comes to cooking, I have very few problems. When it comes to baking, I am sometimes all thumbs and burn marks. Bread I specifically have issues with. It doesn’t matter if it pops out of a can or mixes in a bread maker, I swear I could set every timer in the house and STILL burn the bread.
But not this homemade yeast roll recipe!
These soft dinner rolls are so incredibly simple and a perfect easy yeast roll for beginners.
Why you will love this Homemade Bread Recipe
Homemade rolls make the best dinner side dish matching everything from macaroni salad to sweet corn pudding. And because they are pretty quick to make, you won’t be intimidated or worried when it comes to this recipe.
Why this recipe is an Easy Yeast Roll for Beginners
Homemade dinner rolls only take about 15 minutes to whip up, 20 minutes to rise and then an additional 15-20 for them to bake. You don’t need any special equipment like a dough hook (just your hands will do) or even plastic wrap!
- They are little to no knead.
- This recipe makes a ton – about 15 in a batch.
- You do not need a bread maker or mixer of any kind.
- You don’t need hours and hours to make them – one hour is usually enough to mix, let rise, and bake!
- Perfect yeast rolls make a classic Thanksgiving Side Dish.
Dry Ingredients
- all purpose flour – You do not need bread flour.
- salt
- rapid rise instant yeast + cups of warm waters
Wet Ingredients
- vegetable oil
- egg
- white granulated sugar
- butter – Melted on butter helps make the best golden brown roll top.
Instructions
- 9×13 baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. In a large mixing bowl , add measured out flour, salt, oil and egg.
- In a separate bowl, add warm water, sugar and yeast and mix well until completely dissolved.
- Add to a mixing bowl with flour mixture and stir well. Dough should pull away from the sides of the bowl to create a dough ball in the center of the bowl.
- Turn soft dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide dough into 5 equal parts. Then cut each part into 3 pieces.
- Shape dough into balls and place into a prepared baking dish. While its good to keep balls of dough as even as possible, it’s not an exact science so don’t be too hard on yourself.
- Place the pan onto the top of the oven and preheat it to 375.
- Let the pan set for 20-25 minutes or until doubled in size while the oven is heating.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until brown on top. Spread melted butter on top of bread and return to the oven for 1 additional minute to slightly brown tops. Remove from the oven. Let sit for a few minutes before cutting apart and serving.
Expert Tips
Progress, Not Perfection: It’s important to note that when making the little dough balls that they are not always perfectly smooth. The bread will “smooth” out as it rises so perfection need not be a thing.
A Note about using Yeast: Rapid rise yeast doesn’t need water. While we do add it to the wet ingredients to keep it simple, it’s not to activate the yeast-like in traditional bread. In fact, Fleishmann’s RapidRise yeast can be added right to the dry ingredients side if you prefer.
Sticky Hands: Keep a bit of all-purpose flour on your hands so the dough doesn’t stick too much and reapply as needed.
Don’t overdo it: Concerned about too much excess flour on the dough in the pan? It’s fine to brush with a little melted butter prior to putting it in the oven. It won’t change the recipe much but sorta dust off that excess flour. This does not replace actually brushing with butter prior to serving for a golden brown top.
FAQs
The only real difference is how it’s activated. In regular yeast, you need to make sure it’s activated in warm water, and in RapidRise yeast, it can go right into the recipe without being put into the water first.
You want the dough to double in size and basically fill the baking dish up so you do not see the bottom anymore. This will often depend on the warmth of your home, which is why I go ahead and preheat the oven for this process. To hurry it along, you can also place a clean dish towel over the dish so it essentially traps the heat. In my home, it takes about 25 minutes in total to properly rise.
Serve with homemade butter, honey, jelly, or just eat and enjoy plain.
If your dough seems sticky even after turning it on a lightly floured surface, it’s fine to add a bit more flour to it. Just be careful not to over flour the recipe or it will be too dry.
Related Recipes
- Christmas Tree Pull Apart Bread
- Italian Easter Bread
- Brown Sugar Butter
- Cloud Bread
- Zucchini Bread
- Ice Cream Bread
- Apple Butter Bread
- Banana Chocolate Chip Bread
- Parmesan Bread
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Easy Yeast Rolls for Beginners
Ingredients
- 3-1/2 cup flour - plus a bit excess for hands and counter
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- 1-1/4 cup warm water
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 3 .25 oz fast acting yeast - 0.25 oz each, also known as rapidrise or instant yeast
- 1 tablespoon melted butter - for top of rolls
Instructions
- Grease a 9×13 baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add all purpose flour, salt, vegetable oil and egg.
- In a separate bowl, add warm water (not hot), granulated white sugar and RapidRise yeast and mix until dissolved.
- Dump wet ingredients into dry mixing bowl that contains the flour and stir well. I use a wooden spoon to stir and a spatula once its starts to firm. Dough should pull away from the sides of the bowl to create a dough ball in the center of the bowl.
- Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide dough into 5 equal parts, and of those parts into 3 pieces, for a total of 15. Shape dough into a ball and place into prepared pan. Set pan on top of stove.
- Turn on oven to preheat to 375 degrees.
- Let dough set about 20 minutes to rise. The heat from the preheating oven will help this process. The dough is ready when its about double in size.
- Bake rolls for 15-20 minutes or until slightly browning on top.
- For additional golden brown that most people come to know with bread, remove rolls from oven and spread melted butter on top of rolls and return to the oven for 1 additional minute.
- Remove from oven. Let bread set for a few minutes before cutting apart and serving with jelly, butter and honey.
