Grandma's Best Homemade Dinner Rolls
Light and fluffy with the perfect combination of fresh-milled flour and all-purpose flour, these dinner rolls will be your go-to recipe for all future meals (whether it's a holiday meal or not!).
Servings: 16 rolls
Calories: 206kcal
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast equivalent to one packet
- 1/2 cup cultured buttermilk
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup salted butter
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 1/2 cups Spelt flour freshly ground (if using other flour types see notes section for adjustments)
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour I use organic, unbleached
- 3/4 teaspoon salt can add up to 1 teaspoon if using unsalted butter
Instructions
- Mix warm water and dry yeast together in a bowl and stir to combine with a whisk. Set aside and allow the yeast to bloom.
- Add buttermilk, egg, softened butter, and honey into the bowl and stir to combine.
- Add flours and salt and mix by hand using a dough whisk until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl (can use a stand mixer for this step if desired).
- Using the kneading attachment to your stand mixer, mix your dough on low for about four minutes, then turn the mixer off to give your dough a rest.
- Test the dough by doing the "windowpane" test (see post above for directions).
- If the dough tears before you can get it thin enough to see light through it, then let it rest for about four minutes, then knead it on low for another two minutes and do the windowpane test again.
- Remove the dough from the bowl, add some oil to your bowl to keep the dough from sticking, then place the dough back into the bowl, giving it a quick turn so all sides are coated in oil.
- Cover the bowl with a tea towel and place in a warm, draft-free area of your kitchen to rise for one hour (or until doubled in size).
- Remove dough from the bowl and place on the countertop.
- Divide the dough into 15-16 equal portions. You can get precise and weigh out your dough to ensure equal-sized rolls, but I just eyeball it!
- Place each ball of dough, seam side down into a greased pan (or well-seasoned cast iron skillet) leaving adequate space between each roll to allow the rolls to double in size.
- Cover rolls with a slightly damp tea towel and allow them to rise until doubled in size (about one hour).
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and bake rolls for 12-15 minutes.
- Rolls should be just starting to turn golden brown on top when they're done.
- When they're fresh out of the oven, take a stick of butter and rub it over the tops of the rolls generously.
- If you can, it's best to let the rolls cool for 30 minutes before eating, otherwise the centers may turn a bit gummy!
Notes
- For all-purpose or bread flour use 3 & 3/4 cups flour.
- For store-bought whole wheat start with 3 and 1/2 cups flour and only add more if it's too sticky to handle.
- See notes in the blog post above on how to do a "windowpane test".
- Read the notes in the blog post on using fresh-milled flour and how it acts differently than store-bought flours.
- Don't skip the step of melting butter on the tops of the freshly baked rolls! Trust me!
Nutrition
Calories: 206kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 28mg | Sodium: 174mg | Potassium: 50mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 207IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 15mg | Iron: 2mg
