Don't we all love the smell of homemade dinner rolls?
Or the smell of any bread baking? It just draws us to the kitchen, and it's one of my favorite memories — coming home to Mom baking up something delicious for us. I love to do the same for my family now.
I'm glad I know how, because besides making homemade dinner rolls with this recipe, you can also make hamburger buns, cinnamon rolls, and all sorts of other things. (It's not easy finding hamburger or hotdog buns without trans fats, chemical preservatives, or high fructose corn syrup, so I started just making my own. It's really not difficult, it just takes a little thinking ahead.)
And it only takes about 12 minutes of kitchen time to make these!
Mom gave me her recipe years ago, and I found the original in her recipe box after she passed. Everyone loved her homemade dinner rolls, and she took countless pans of them to sick or grieving friends around town. My family said mine tasted just like hers when I made them, which made me happy and sad at the same time…
Mom's Homemade Dinner Rolls
Note that I mentioned in the video that possibly 3 or even 4 batches of the rolls could fit in the Bosch. I tested it and 3 batches was too much! So I'd stick with 2 to be safe!1 batch makes about 3 dozen rolls (a little bigger than golf ball size, but you can get more or less depending on how big you roll them)--these fit into a 9x13 pan plus a square pan. I usually double it when I'm taking some to friends, they go really fast!
Servings: 3 dozen
Ingredients
- 2 cups warm water not hot, it'll kill the yeast
- 2 teaspoons yeast
- 1/2 cup sugar, or a little less is fine if you're watching your carbs.
- 1 egg
- 6-7 cups flour see recipe notes below
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons melted butter or shortening
- 1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- More melted butter for the bottom of the pan and for brushing on top
Instructions
- Combine water and yeast and let set for a few minutes. Add the other ingredients and the salt last. Start with less flour and add more if needed to clean off the sides. Knead for 2-3 minutes in the Bosch or by hand for 8 minutes or so. Roll into balls and set into a buttered pan (Mom would roll them in a little more flour, but I've found it's not necessary.) Let rise, it takes 2-3 hours or so, even less in a warm environment. Sometimes I'll put them into my oven warming drawer on low to speed this up a bit. Bake at 400* for 15-20 minutes until nicely golden brown.
- Serve with lots of butter of course!
Notes about this recipe:
- If you're using a Bosch mixer (I love mine so much!), you can get TWO batches in here at once -- it'll be quite full, just mix slowly at first.
- This makes about 3-4 dozen homemade dinner rolls, depending on how big you want them. I make them a little bigger than golf-ball size.
- Always add the sea salt last after the flour, since salt can kill the yeast, but the flour protects it.
- You can use raw honey (local is best) instead of sugar.
- For best results and best rising, use organic all-purpose flour, but they're still really good with organic bread flour too and part all-purpose einkorn. I also sometimes add part whole grain flours, but not all, because they just don't rise quite as much so they're not quite as light. When I add whole grain flour, I sometimes will grind my own in this grain mill so it's more fresh and has more nutrients. (Read more about grinding grains here.)
- If you use shortening instead of pastured butter, you could use this palm shortening.
- If you're just making a loaf of bread or some rolls to go with dinner, try adding 1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning for extra flavor.
- I didn't set my dough in the fridge for a while as the pictured recipe card says (but that'd be great if I was making it ahead of time like Mom often did — up to a week ahead it says in her writing on the bottom of the recipe above), this time I just made them into rolls right away.
- Depending on your room temperature, sometimes they'll take longer to rise than expected so start early if possible. I love using my stove's warming drawer to speed things up when needed!
- If they get too big too fast and you're not eating for a while (or if you just want to bake some ahead of time) you could partially bake them just 'til they're starting to get golden on top, then pull them out. Later just before serving, brush with more melted butter and put them back into the 400* oven for 5 more minutes or so until they're golden brown.
- You can use this same recipe for a loaf of bread, homemade burger or hot dog buns, and for homemade cinnamon rolls or pecan rolls — see more on this below as far as timing, etc.
- This would also work fine in your bread machine using the basic dough setting. I just use my kitchen mixer, it's totally hands-free! Or you can do what my Mom always did and mix everything up by hand.
- If you'd like to make a little better-for-you version of homemade dinner rolls (or buns or whatever), or if you want to make 6 loaves at once, go to this recipe for homemade “soaked” bread that I make in my Bosch or see the variations of that recipe here for making buns, etc. But this one is just a faster version if you don't have time to make it ahead.
- Note that if you want your rolls or buns more pretty and perfectly round, just space them further apart on the pan so they're not touching as they rise.
Now you have many options for what you can do with this dough:
- Loaf of bread: shape your dough into a loaf-size and put the dough into a greased bread pan, let rise, and bake at 350* until golden brown, about 30-45 minutes depending on your oven. If you use pans like mine, you can make nice toaster-sized loaves. This recipe should make 2 - 3 loaves.
- Cinnamon rolls: when the dough beeps done, or when it's well-kneaded, roll it out onto a lightly floured countertop until it's about 18″ x 12" rectangle. Spread/sprinkle over the top: 1 stick of melted butter, maple syrup or palm/coconut sugar or organic brown sugar and plenty of cinnamon over all of the dough -- just shake it on 'til there's some all over. Start at one edge and carefully roll it up. Slice into about 3/4″ sections and place them into a buttered baking dish. Let rise 2-3 hours, more or less depending on your yeast and room temp. Bake 15-20 minutes or until golden in 375* oven. If you want them to be extra dreamy you can put more melted butter, sugar, cinnamon, and crispy nuts in the bottom of the pan before you put the rolls in, let them rise and bake. When they're done, invert them onto a platter. YUM.
- For an even easier way to make cinnamon rolls (no rolling the dough out) — this is how my Mom made hers: prepare the pan as described above (butter, sugaror maple syrup, cinnamon and pecans if you want them into the bottom of a baking dish), fill a small bowl 2/3 full with cinnamon and sugar…not sure how much, I just guessed – I like it very cinnamony. Grab pieces of your dough out of the breadmaker (or the Bosch) – between a golf ball and a tennis ball size. Shape the dough into a ball, and then work it around in the cinnamon & sugar mixture, flip it, stretch it in, just get as much as you can all through the dough, then make it back into a ball shape. Place with any folded or tucked pieces down, so they stay put, into the prepared pan. Let rise and bake the same as above. Much easier, and just as yummy.
- Homemade buns: Hotdog, hamburger, whatever – just shape your dough however you want to, remembering that it will rise. This recipe makes about 20 or more big hamburger buns. I make them sort of tall because, obviously, when they rise you'll want to slice in half like a store-bought bun. When they're a good height and have risen to about the size you want them, bake at 400* until golden (about 15 minutes, but remember oven temps vary).
- "Bagel" Dogs! One batch of dough is enough to wrap around about 23-24 of your favorite hot dogs or brats, then let rise 30-60 minutes or so and bake 20 minutes at 400*.
Watch a video of how I make these (plays after the ad)!
Check out my new post where I easily adapted this recipe to sourdough!
(Two batches fit into the Bosch perfectly.)
More you might like:
- You could also try this homemade breadstick recipe
Sally Oh says
Thank you for this one, too! Can I use lard instead of butter? We rendered and it’s pretty clean…
KitchenKop says
Definitely!
Mary says
I’m not a bread baker at all but I LOVE your mom’s homemade roll recipe! I made them for the third time today. They take a little longer to rise in my cold kitchen but they always taste great! My family really enjoys the cinnamon rolls! No, they aren’t the healthiest thing we will eat all day, but they don’t have any artificial ingredients or preservatives and they are made with love. Thank you for sharing your mom’s recipe. ❤️
KitchenKop says
Hi Mary, I’m so glad you love them too and yes, those are all very good reasons to make them. Mom would be happy that others are enjoying this recipe too. 🙂
Kelly
Candy says
Don’t forget to make sure your flour is iron free. ( Or basically not enriched with it.)
Jan O'Brien Schaefer says
Love cinnamon rolls.
Ruth Parrish Ankney says
Was your maiden name Beardsley? My first husband (now with the Lord) was a Beardsley. Wonder if they were related? Really don’t see that name that often. 😀
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
@Ruth Parrish Ankney — I had to ask my sister to be sure, but no, no relation, just old family friends. They were neighbors to my family (before I was born) when my parents lived on Falcon Road in Jackson, MI and my sister said they were very close with them. What’s your husband’s name?
Ruth Parrish Ankney says
His name was Ron. His Dad’s name was Clifford. Most of their relatives were from the Lapeer/Oxford area on the east side of the state. Interesting. Thanks for responding.
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
@Ruth Parrish Ankney — my sister said she doesn’t recognize those names, maybe they’re relatives of theirs.
Jill says
Has anyone made cinnamon rolls with sourdough? I have a birthday coming up and would love to try this.
Jill
Ann says
Kelly,
I want to try this recipe. I’m wondering if you have tried to make it with 100% sprouted wheat flour?
Also, I have a Zojirushi Bread Machine and I’ve always put the yeast on top of the dry ingredients (which are both on top of the liquid ingredients.) Do you really put the yeast in with the liquid first?
Thanks!
KitchenKop says
Hi Ann,
If you’ve had good luck doing it your way, I bet that will be fine for this, too.
As for 100% sprouted flour, I am positive that this wouldn’t make a nice loaf… Sprouted flour is very particular about who it plays nice with. Once I tried using sprouted flour (not 100% but at least half I think) and my dough was TERRIBLE. It was all gummy, then my loaf never got a good rise. If you master it, let us know!
Kelly
KitchenKop says
Hi Tracy,
Here’s some info:
“Certain forms of trans fatty acids occur naturally in dairy fats. Trans-vaccenic acid makes up about 4% of the fatty acids in butter. It is an interim product which the ruminant animal then converts to conjugated linoleic acid, a highly beneficial anti-carcinogenic component of animal fat. Humans seem to utilize the small amounts of trans-vaccenic acid in butter fat without ill effects.”
From https://www.westonaprice.org/The-Oiling-of-America.html
Good question!
Kelly
Tracy says
kelly,
doesn’t butter have some trace of trans fat too? you used quite alot of butter in your cinnamon rolls.
KitchenKop says
Katie,
I’ve heard/always thought that adding in extra gluten wasn’t good – it’s been a while since I’ve looked into it, though, and I can’t remember specifics. However, my problem (and ongoing struggle) is, what’s better? 100% whole wheat with gluten? Or part white flour with whole wheat flour and without extra gluten? So just because I haven’t been into experimenting with bread lately (been working on other things), I haven’t tried more recipes with 100% ww – in the past they were hard as a rock, won’t rise well, etc. (We will buy 100% ww and fermented/Little Rooster bread, though, and it’s great – we all love it.)
Take care,
Kelly
Katie @ Kitchen Stewardship says
Kelly,
Hard to tell tone in text, but I’m wondering: is there any problem with gluten, or do you have someone in yr house (teenager?) who doesn’t stand for 100% whole wheat? I’ve been surprised to see the white flour on your site, so I was wondering…
Katie
KitchenKop says
Katie, thanks for the scoop! I’ll bet you’ll need that gluten though. I haven’t had good luck with 100% ww when I’ve tried it w/o.
Kelly
Katie @ Kitchen Stewardship says
Kelly,
I made these tonight but altered it so it’s 100% whole grain plus soaked!
Try using white whole wheat (from hard white spring wheat berries instead of red) flour in place of the bread flour. I also added 2 Tbs gluten b/c it seems like a lot of whole wheat recipes call for that, but I might cut down to 1 or skip it next time, just to see what happens. I used about 1/2 cup whey and the rest water, and mixed together everything but the yeast and salt the night before. I tossed the yeast and salt on top and let my breadmaker do its job today, then used the dough for Kimi’s beef and cabbage rolls (so yummy!). I did make a few regular rolls just to test the dough, and they look great! Thought you might like the healthy upgrade (you can win the white whole wheat flour at my site this week, too.)
🙂 Katie
Erin says
Kelly, I have your bread in the oven as I type! I can’t wait to see how it turns out! I did make 1/3 into hamburger buns, my boys LOVE burgers, so I am really super excited to see how they like – they have been pretty accepting & encouraging of most things I’ve tried so far… but they do love their In-n-Out & Fuddruckers…so we shall see.
I also did 1/3 into cinnamon rolls (I’ve NEVER done the filling with out Brown Sugar, so I’m a bit nervous about it just being butter, cinnamon & maple syrup! (I did sprinkle some chopped pecans on it before rolling though…;) So all that is freezing now…
And the last 1/3 I shaped into a loaf & stuck straight into the oven, it’s looking pretty good, but taking a bit longer than I expected to bake. I must say I am VERY pleasantly surprised at how nicely it rose in the oven (with no rising time before that), I guess I’ve never done that before either! :0 See how you challenge me!
I’ll post another comment to let you know how it all turns out – Cheers!
Anonymous says
It’s funny you mentioned the “Pioneer Woman” blog, because just the other day I stumbled upon it through someone else’s blog!! How ironic is that?! I think she calls herself Pioneer Woman because she actually LIVES on the prairie like an 1800’s pioneer woman. I am a pioneer woman in the year 2008, in a modern house, trying to weed out extraneous things that pull on me 24/7 and do things the way women used to years ago….like many of your readers. I think it is hard to be that woman in these circumstances. Wouldn’t it be easier to live on the prairie without the extraneous things pulling every direction?? Have a fantastic, blessed day!
Sue E.
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
Hey Sue,
Did you know someone already stole your "Pioneer Woman" title? It's a good website, although her recipes aren't all that healthy.
Stand by because SOON I'll be posting an even healthier (but still super easy & yummy) recipe for homemade bread, buns, rolls, etc.!!!
Kel
Anonymous says
Kelly, made your hamburger buns for the second time and they are so easy!! I will comment that I am able to get 12 buns out of mine. Also, I heat my water to about 100 degrees (for anyone who would like to put a number on “very warm”). It is so empowering to make my own hamburger buns. Now I have really earned the “Pioneer Woman” title my family calls me sometimes….:)
Sue E.
Bamboo says
Kelly,
Thanks so much for your ideas. I guess I sliced them waaay too thin because I ended up with 3 round pans of rolls, lol. Anyway, that way I’ll try each one differently and see what happens. One I had already put in the freezer so I’ll leave it there. The other 2 are rising right now.
Thanks!
Beth
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
Hi Beth,
OK, I’ve got an idea that I’m almost positive would work well, but I haven’t tried it, so don’t be upset with me if it flops!
I would go all the way through the recipe, right through the baking, but take them out of the oven about half-way through the bake time.
In the morning, just preheat the oven and bake them the rest of the way until golden.
Let me know if that works…if not, I’m sorry!
The only other option I can think of isn’t as appealing in my opinion. Just go through the recipe, get them into the pan and ready to bake, but don’t bake at all. Put them in the frig. Set your alarm for about 4 hours (???) before you want to bake them and set them on the counter. Now go back to bed and while you’re snoozing they can come to room temp and then rise. If it’s all timed right, when you get up in the morning you can pop them into the oven.
One other thing comes to mind. You could make them ahead, put them into the pan, then freeze. Pull them out to the counter just before bed and hope that they don’t rise too high while you slept…yah, maybe that one isn’t a good idea…I’m thinking as I type.
Let me know what you try and how it goes!
Kelly
Bamboo says
Kelly,
I’ve been using your recipe and we really, really like it. I’m wanting to make the cinn. rolls but can’t see how it will work out for breakfast. Do you make it all the way through and then save it for the next day and reheat; make it until the rolls are in the pan and then refridgerate or freeze until ready to bake; or let rise the 2-3 hours before refridgerating/freezing? The 2-3 hour rise is what is getting me. As you can tell, I still have a lot to learn about bread! And: is it better to freeze or refridgerate? Say that I’m making the rolls today but we want to eat them for a special breakfast tomorrow, what would you do?
Thanks!
Beth
(hope my question makes sense!)
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
Stephanie recently emailed me with this question:
“I make our own bread and I use the urban homemakers recipe. What I want to know (she hasn’t answered this question) is the best way to freeze the dough for later. Most websites say to do it after the first rise and before the second. Her recipe only has one rise, though. If I borrow my friend’s Bosch and make a lot of dough ahead of time, I want to freeze it the best way. Last time I froze it before the first rise and thought it wasn’t very good. I haven’t heard you talk about bread, so maybe you don’t know.”
My reply:
“I haven’t made Marilyn’s bread recipe, but I make homemade bread a lot. What I do is this: I make the dough and get it through all the stages until you’re to the last step where you shape it. I’ll shape it into breadsticks or rolls or whatever, set them on a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet and freeze until hard – 2-3 hours or so. Then I’ll take the bread and put it in a freezer baggie, then back to the freezer until I’m ready to bake. On bake day I’ll take them out at around 10 or 11 am if I want them for dinner, so they have time to thaw, then rise well. Obviously, depending on the temperatures, this can vary. Then bake like normal.
cheeseslave says
Hi, Kelly, thank you!
OK I’m going to do a test run today and see how they come out. Worst case scenario, I noticed they had sprouted hamburger buns at our local health food store (just in case I can’t get mine to work).
We’re also doing grass-fed hot dogs and burgers, baked beans made with molasses and honey, deviled eggs with coconut mayonnaise, lacto-fermented pickles, french fries in beef tallow, lacto-fermented ketchup, blueberry pie, cherry pie, and homemade vanilla ice cream (with raw cream and pastured egg yolks).
(My birthday is the 4th of July)
Hugs –
AM
PS: You do not look 40!
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
Happy early birthday, Ann Marie! (I’m 40 too, and feel great!)
First, just a note, you may want to use more white flour than whole wheat for this recipe if there will be a lot of people at the party who aren’t used to whole grains – the more whole wheat you use, it really is a heavier bread.
I’ll start with a warning: I haven’t had a lot of experience making bread without a bread maker, so please google this to make sure I’m telling you correctly, or maybe others will add their tips, too.
I think you can just mix the ingredients together until it gets difficult to stir, then start kneading it with your hands on a lightly floured counter for 10-15 minutes or so – it should have a good feel to it, not too dry and not too sticky. (You can add a little more water or flour until it feels good to you.)
Put it into a buttered bowl and let it rise until it’s real high in the bowl, punch it down, and let it rise again. Then grab out pieces to form the shapes for the buns, set them on a buttered cookie sheet, and bake.
Again, please check with someone who has more experience at this before you make a ton of buns for your party!
Kelly
cheeseslave says
Kelly, I want to use this recipe make hamburger and hot dog buns for my upcoming birthday party (I’m turning 40 on July 4th).
I’m going to go buy some sprouted flour today and yeast.
How do I do this without a bread machine? Can you direct me?
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
Hi Beth,
You could easily make a not-very-healthy icing with powdered sugar, butter & milk, but I never do, because the sugar/cinnamon/butter mixture in the bottom of the rolls drizzles over the top when you flip them over onto a serving plate, and that is enough yummy goo for me. 🙂
Kelly
Bamboo says
Kelly,
Do you make an icing to go over the cinn. rolls?
We made this recipe for hot dog buns a few weeks ago – thanks so much for this recipe and the options for it.
Beth
Kelly says
Nicole,
That’s the least I could do, since you’ve been helping me do some research lately! 🙂
Let me know how you like them.
Nicole says
Aww, you posted the cinnamon rolls just for me didn’t you!? 🙂