Homemade Dinner Rolls, straight from Grandma's recipe box. So delicious, easy to make, and a family favorite, both for dinner and as a holiday side.
Homemade dinner rolls are a staple for special occasions and holiday dinners in my family. My grandma made these rolls every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter.
Just baking up a batch of these beauties brings back so many memories. I learned to make this recipe from my mom, just like she learned from her mom.
I'm not going to say this is a quick recipe because it's definitely not, but I will say it's easy. While the recipe is a bit time-consuming, and you do have the added time of waiting for the dough to rise, it's still an easy recipe to make and a great recipe to use for learning purposes.
It's definitely a recipe I cherish and one I'm in the process of passing down to my own boys, so that Grandma's legacy lives on. Jacob can pretty much already make these rolls even better than I can; in fact, he actually baked this batch just because he wanted to, and they turned out so light and fluffy.
We make these rolls with all our favorite Easter recipes, Thanksgiving recipes, and Christmas recipes, and sometimes in between. We have to pace ourselves, because some of us will eat rolls with every meal when we have them around.
TIPS FOR HOW TO MIX UP GRANDMA'S HOMEMADE BREAD ROLLS
- Stir the yeast, sugar, and warm water in a glass measuring cup or small bowl. Set aside in a warm place to rise. It will bubble and rise up.
- While waiting for the yeast mixture to rise, cream (or mix) the sugar and unsalted butter in a large mixing bowl. Note: Grandma used shortening in her rolls; I use butter instead.
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
- Add the yeast mixture to the butter mixture, along with an additional 1 1/2 cups warm water.
- Sift the flour and salt together in a large bowl.
- Gradually, add the flour in, and mix well. For this step, I like to use the dough hook on my stand mixer.
- Turn the dough into a large greased bowl or stockpot, and let it rise to the top or almost to the top (it can take 2 to 3 hours). Keep the bowl or pan covered.
TIPS FOR ROLLING OUT AND FORMING YEAST ROLLS
- Once the dough has risen, turn it out onto a floured surface. Coat generously with flour by turning and shaping. No kneading is necessary, though I still like to knead it a bit just for fun.
- To make rolls, roll the dough out to about a 1 to 2 inch thickness. Then cut round rolls with a cup, glass, or biscuit cutter.
- Place the rolls in greased baking pans, and let them rise (this will probably take another 2 to 3 hours).
- Once the rolls have risen well, bake them for about 20 minutes (maybe a little longer) at 350°. Halfway through baking, you may need to cover the rolls with foil, so they don't brown too much before they bake through.
When they're done baking, remove the rolls from the oven and allow to cool. Of course, I usually can't resist enjoying a hot roll with warm melty butter. They're so delicious, especially since I learned how to make salted butter; homemade butter is the best!
Serve your delicious bread rolls with apple butter, blackberry jam, or just plain butter. Better yet, dip your rolls in a bowl of delicious Instant Pot potato soup. Grandma's rolls also make delicious steak and cheese sliders.
LOOKING FOR MORE BREAD RECIPES?
Buttermilk Cornbread with Milled Corn
Easy Homemade Biscuits from Scratch
Quick and Easy Hot Dog Bun Breadsticks
KITCHEN TOOLS YOU'LL NEED TO MAKE DINNER ROLLS
Glass Measuring Cup – You can use this to mix up the yeast mixture.
Large Mixing Bowl – You'll need a large bowl to mix up the bread dough. I prefer to use my stand mixer.
Sifter – You'll need to sift the flour and salt together.
Rolling Pin – to roll out the dough for cutting.
Stockpot – Works so well for putting dough in to rise.
Biscuit Cutter – Handy for cutting rolls.
Baking Pans – for baking the rolls.
Aluminum Foil – You'll likely need to cover the rolls halfway through baking so they don't brown too much.
HOMEMADE DINNER ROLLS RECIPE
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Grandma's Homemade Dinner Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon cane sugar
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 2/3 cup cane sugar
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 6 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 teaspoons salt
Instructions
- Whisk together the yeast, sugar, and warm water in a glass measuring cup or small bowl. Set aside in a warm place to rise. It will bubble and rise up.
- While waiting for the yeast mixture to rise, cream (or mix) the sugar and unsalted butter in a large mixing bowl.
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
- Add the yeast mixture to the butter mixture, along with an additional 1 1/2 cups warm water.
- Sift the flour and salt together in a separate large bowl.
- Gradually add the flour mixture into the wet ingredients, and mix well. For this step, I like to use the dough hook on my stand mixer.
- Turn the dough into a large greased bowl or stockpot, and let it rise to the top or almost to the top (it can take 2 to 3 hours). Keep the bowl or pan covered.
- Once the dough has risen, turn it out onto a floured surface. Coat generously with flour by turning and shaping. No kneading is necessary, though I still like to knead it a bit just for fun.
- To make rolls, roll the dough out to about a 1 to 2 inch thickness. Then cut round rolls with a cup, glass, or biscuit cutter.
- Place the rolls in greased baking pans, and let them rise (this will probably take another 2 to 3 hours).
- Once the rolls have risen well, bake them at 350° F for about 20 minutes, or 'til golden on top. Halfway through baking, you may need to cover the rolls with aluminum foil, so they don't brown too much before they bake through.
- When they're done baking, remove the rolls from the oven and allow to cool. Of course, I usually can't resist enjoying a hot roll with warm melty butter. They're so delicious!
Can you refrigerate overnight for the second rise, if so should I remove early in the morning to warm to room temp before baking ?
Stoney, my son actually regularly refrigerates the dough overnight during the first rise, although he has never tried it on the second rise. It really tastes a lot better that way, and it’s more convenient. He mixes it up and let’s it rise a little over halfway on the counter before throwing it in the fridge overnight. He pulls it out the next morning, rolls it out, cuts out the bread rolls, and then he let’s them rise the second time on the countertop before baking. I hope this helps!
How far in advance can you make these?