These dinner rolls are one of the easiest and most delicious bread recipes I have. I first learned how to make dinner rolls from one of our previous employer’s wife, on the Fulton Quien Sabe Ranch. She was a great cook and made many things from scratch but boy could she make a bread recipe now! She always had to make double because each cowboy would eat 4 or 5 rolls each. Yes, they were that good.
I haven’t made dinner rolls with her recipe for a long time and since I had to cook for the ranch today, I thought it’d be a good time. Two important things about this recipe. Try to follow directions exactly to have the softest rolls ever. So when it says little flour, use VERY little flour if any. And when it says to butter them, be generous! Enjoy y’all!
INGREDIENTS
- 1 envelope Active dry yeast
- 1/4 cup very warm water
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup scalding hot milk
- 1 egg –lightly beaten
- 4 1/2 cups of sifted all purpose flour
- 2 Tablespoons of melted butter for brushing rolls
DIRECTIONS
Sprinkle the yeast over very warm water in a large bowl. (warm water should feel comfortably warm when dropped on wrist) Stir until yeast dissolves.
Add sugar, the 1/4cup butter and salt to hot milk and stir until the sugar dissolves and butter is melted. Cool mixture to 105 to 115 degrees.
Add milk mixture to yeast, then beat in egg. Beat in 4 cups of flour, one cup at a time to form soft dough. Use some the remaining 1/2 cup flour to dust a pastry cloth. Knead the dough lightly for 5 minutes, working in the remaining flour (use if for flouring your cloth and hands).
Place dough in a warm buttered bowl; turn greased side up. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hrs.
Punch dough down and knead 4 to 5 minutes on a lightly floured pastry cloth. Dough will be sticky, but use as little flour as possible for flouring your hands and the pastry cloth, otherwise the rolls will not be as feathery light as they should be.
Pinch off small chunks of dough and shape into round rolls. Place in neat rows, not quite touching, in a well-buttered 13x9x2 pan. Cover rolls and let rise in warm place until doubled, 30-45min.
Brush tops of rolls generously with melted butter, then bake in a 375′ oven for 18-20minutes or until nicely browned.
Serve warm with plenty of butter. I pour melted butter on top of the rolls right when the come out of the oven.
Recipe makes about 2 dozen!
I served up my rolls in my brand new, very pretty Tuscan Everyday Baker. I love that color!
Let me know if you make them!
About A Cowboy's Wife
I adapted this recipe to make hot cross buns – YUM!!
I soaked the raisins in an almond liqueur, added almond extract to the dough and iced with Royal icing. Add the raisins in while you’re adding the flour, though, or the dough doesn’t want to take them.
For me, the recipe makes 24 rolls in a 9×13 cake pan. They pull apart easily, very moist and steamy.
That sounds delicious Karen!!! DROOL! I would have never thought of that but maybe I’ll give it a try.
fabulous recipe.. totally drooling over that dish.
Just made two batches of these rolls for the first time today and they are awesome!!
The best rolls ever. Thanks for sharing!!
Hi, can I make the dough in a bread machine? Would it give me the same results as by hand? Thank you!
Honestly Ashley, I have no clue. I haven’t used a bread machine in years.
Maybe someone else will know!!!
I measured everything out, added the yeast to the water, but then dumped it into my bread machine pan. As that was doing it’s thing, I mixed the sugar, butter and milk together then when it cooled enough poured it on thop of the yeast & water. I continued down the recipe exactly as you specified but added everything to my bread machine pan and set it to the dough cycle. Wow!!!! This is the best, tastiest, easiest rolls I have ever made. Thanks so much for the recipe!
This is the same recipe I had when I went to 4-H back in the 50′s-60′s. It is absolutely the best yeast dough recipe ever. I still have my original 4-H Recipe Book, with the page turned to the recipe, held with a clothespin.
I have made plenty of dinner rolls and I keep trying new recipes to get the texture I like. These dinner rolls are really soft and fluffy. These so far are the best rolls, I have tried. They were gone within 10 mins of taken them out of the stove and before dinner was served. So I give them a 10. One thing I will note is that I thought it had too much salt in it and I did increase my sugar content to 1/2 cup. Next batch which will be Sunday, I will decrease the salt to 1/2 teas instead of 1 teas. I also melted my butter with the mixture and I used two package of instant yeast ( which is something I do when I make rolls). My rolls never come out right w/ 1 package of yeast.
Wish me lucj going to try and make these for Easter. Today is trial run for Sunday!!! I have never been able to make decent bread, but I and bound and determined to do so! God Bless
That would be… LUCK!!!!
Sometimes I think it would have been better if I had never discovered this recipe…. The rolls are absolutely great. So good that now anytime any of our kids come to visit they tell mom “Dad will be making his rolls, won’t he?” It has arrived at the point where I always have to double the recipe. About a third of them we’ll have for dinner and the other two thirds I make up on cookie sheets and put it in the freezer. Once they’re frozen, I put them in a plastic sack so the kids can take them home with them. Thaw them out & let them do their 2nd rise, and they’re ready to go.
Great rolls. I use the recipe “as is.” I have made some variations just for fun such as sprinkling some course ground salt on the tops of them, or sprinkling sesame seeds on them. Mostly though the tried and true original remains pick of the litter.
Awww, I love that story John! Thanks so much for sharing and I love that I had a small hand in creating family memories:) I had never froze them before so it’s nice to hear that you can do that and they turn out just as good. Maybe I’ll do that for my family and friends!
Have never ever used yeast or attempted to make bread rolls before and tried this and have just pulled the batch out of the oven and they ARE THE BEST ROLLS i have ever tried. Thanks
I have been looking for a Soft Dinner Roll recipe for ages. And Finally I am so Happy I found Yours. For I can’t Stand Crusty Roll’s.
I tried these Rolls yesterday . But with Time restraints could’nt be bothered doing it by hand, so I mixed them up in my Bread machine on the Dough Setting. I Just added the quick rise Yeast to the flour ,and slowly incorporated it into the wet ingredients in the machine. Worked out Perfect !They are the ” Best ” I have ever made. They are Soft ,Tender, Buttery with a slight Sweetness.
I made 2 batches of dough .1 For Rolls and the other batch, I rolled out and wrapped around stuffed Hambuger Patties and Baked them. And WOW amazing ! Wonderful Dough!!
Thank’s Ever so much!
can i use instant yeast instead of active dry yeast in this recipe? i love this bread recipe sooooooooooooo bad but i think it’s too sweet.
These were absolutely AMAZING. I’ve really been bombing with bread lately, and was beginning to think maybe I was destined to never have success with yeast, but these were AWESOME! THANK YOU!!!
We’re trying these tonight, I figure the best way to learn something new is to make something different every night if I can. I googled and came across this site and all the comments they sound like it will be really yummy! I’ll let you know how they turn out, and thank you very much for sharing!
These came out soooo yummy! We didn’t have real butter atm, so I used shortning. It came out almost the same as the pictures, I think the butter helps it brown alot more though, so I’d suggest only using the substitute if you have to. I’m thinking about using this for a beefroll, or little pizza rolls now….yum yum!
I made these rolls for xmas last year and they were a big hit. But the last 3 times I’ve tried, I can’t get the yeast and dough to rise. they are still good but turn into paper weights if not eaten right away.
Can anyone help me? Thanks. My wife says I should just give up on the baking. I need to get this.
Thanks for any help….
I’ve had them fail as well. I’m pretty sure my problem was the milk was too hot when I added the yeast, and I cooked the little fellas. Check that, and check the expiration date on your yeast.
That happened to me a few times and I didn’t know what I did wrong, I had made these rolls many times. One reason, I found, was that my yeast was no longer good. I had bought in bulk, put in a container, and had no idea when it expired. Now, I aso make my dough in the breadmaker so I also had changed how I layered my ingredients too. Good luck and check your yeast.
I followed your receipt. when the bread was taken out very warmly, it taste very good.
but once it becomes cold, it is not puffy and soft. it is very stick and hard.
I baked a couple of times. only one time, when bread was cold, it was still very soft and puffy.
do you know why?
Thanks
I made them but they came out flat and kind of hard but not that hard and they never doubled in size when i put them in a warm place
Hi again,
I am still making these Bun’s and they turn out Great every time ! Hot, Warm or Cold they are soft and fluffy. We really enjoy them.
Don’t know why so many have trouble with them .
Thank’s again.
I’m making theses tonight for dinner hope their great
awww my one came out funny. its not soft it hard and moist inside like still pastry or raw.
I made these rolls for the first time today, and I couldn’t believe how light and fluffy they are! I’ve been looking for an easy delicious roll recipe. FOUND IT!! Thank you so much for including pictures, it’s a huge help and very reassuring to see what things are supposed to be looking like during the transformation from sticky sloppy mess to light, fluffy, warm, buttery goodness! My family didn’t let them make it to the dinner table, we actually just stood around the island in the kitchen by the butter dish eating the hot rolls almost straight out of the oven! Delicious! These have already been voted a favorite in my house, thanks again!!