Dinner Rolls Homemade Recipe ( Easy )

We’ve been searching for some time now to find a dinner roll that would live up to our expectation of what good Dinner Rolls Homemade should be. We’re talking soft pillowy rolls with just the right amount of sweetness, that stay soft and moist for several days, not several hours. Crusty bread rolls like our Easy No-Knead Pull Apart Bread Rolls are great for soups and casseroles, but when you want a soft dinner roll there is no substitute.

So bread using the Tangzhong method was suggested to make our Dinner Rolls Homemade and to our amazement delivered exactly what we had been searching for. We’re talking not just soft, but super soft, moist pillowy rolls all golden and perfect and the best part no special skills required!

Tangzhong is the secret to creating breads that have exceptional rise and excellent keeping qualities without the addition of bread improvers.

Making Tangzhong Couldn’t Be Easier And The Results Are Amazing

What Is Tangzhong

What is Tangzhong we hear you say,? Well to us in the West it’s a new concept, but to the East its origins have been lost in time except to say it is believed to have originated in Japan.

Popularized by Taiwanese author Yvonne Chen in the 1990’s in her cookbook called 65 degrees. In short, Tangzhong is a roux made of flour and water or milk that is cooked for 30 seconds to a minute until the mixture has reached 65 °C (149 °F) which causes the starch to gelatinize, that’s a technical term for “gloopy”

So now the liquid is held in suspension, allowing a higher percentage of liquid to be incorporated into the dough without creating the usual problems associated with high hydration doughs.

More liquid creates more internal steam which helps bread rise in the oven. 😃

At a Glance, This Is What You Need To Make Dinner Rolls Homemade

Let’s Get Started

How Should I Store Homemade Dinner Rolls Overnight

Homemade bread has a tendency to toughen very quickly and that’s why these dinner rolls are your new best friend for entertaining. The dinner rolls stay supremely fresh, soft and tender even baked the day before you want to eat them. 

Big event cooking celebrations such as Easter, Thanksgiving or Christmas are probably the times when you have the least amount of oven space to spare and this is where this recipe makes life easier.

Store your dinner rolls in an airtight container on the kitchen bench as cold air in the refrigerator can actually affect the starch molecules negatively causing the bread to go stale faster. Who knew!

As the bread is super soft and moist it stays fresh for several days, as long as air is not getting to the rolls. 

Proofing

How To Freeze Homemade Dinner Rolls

Once you’ve baked your glorious rolls and patted yourself on the back for such a good looking outcome you can freeze them ahead of using them. 

Allow the rolls to completely cool on the cake rack then wrap the rolls as one piece in plastic wrap, making sure the wrap is nice and snug. Next up wrap them in a sheet of foil and freeze them for 4-6 weeks.

Once you’re ready to use them simply remove the parcel from the freezer and allow them to thaw on the kitchen bench for a few hours still in their plastic and foil wrapping.

Portion And Shape

How To Reheat Homemade Dinner Rolls

There is nothing quite like pulling a dinner roll apart and have a waft of steam float from them then slathering on butter.

The tip for reheating in the oven is to leave the rolls together as they were baked and wrap the rolls loosely in foil in a preheated 180c (355f) oven for 5 or so minutes. This allows them to heat while still nice and snug leaving the rolls lovely and soft, as opposed to separating them and having the super soft sides dry out.

Another method is to heat them in your microwave. As all microwaves are different in so far as the wattage, again heat your rolls in a cluster (not separated) and give them a burst for a minute and check them. You may need to give them another 30-60 seconds depending on your microwave.

You can also keep them warm using a slow cooker.

Watch How To Make  Dinner Rolls Homemade

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Yield: 12

Dinner Rolls Homemade Recipe (Easy)

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Additional Time: 2 hours

Total Time: 3 hours

Dinner Rolls Homemade, we're talking not just soft, but super soft, moist pillowy rolls all golden and perfect and the best part no special skills are required!

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Ingredients

• 580 gms bread flour
• 60 gms sugar
• 12 gms salt
• 10 gms instant yeast
• 10 gms dry milk (powdered)
• 260 gms milk
• 50 gm egg - 
• 50 gm unsalted butter - room temperature (soft)

Tangzhong - room temperature

• 40 gms bread flour
• 200 gms water

Egg Wash

• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon of milk

Instructions

1. make the Tangzhong in advance as it needs to cool - see instructions below
2. using the dough attachment to your electric mixer add the flour, sugar, salt, yeast and dry milk to the bowl
3. briefly mix
4. add milk, egg and tangzhong, then mix only until combined
5. add the butter and knead 15 to 20 minutes until the bread passes the windowpane test - see notes below
6. form dough into a ball and cover with cling film, allow to proof until the length of your finger can be pressed into the dough and the hole doesn't close up immediately. - see video To speed the proofing up use your oven as a proofing chamber. (Do not turn your oven on) Place a baking tray on the bottom of the oven with 2 cups of boiling water in the tray, this creates a warm humid environment which is perfect for proofing. Place the bowl of dough on the middle shelf and close the door. Leave for 40 to 60 minutes until doubled in size.
7. lightly flour a bench and turn the dough onto it, divide into 12 equal pieces by weight - form each piece into a ball then evenly space into a baking paper lined tray 24 x 30cm / 9.5 x 12in. Cover with a damp teatowel - refer to the video for shaping the dough balls
8. preheat the oven to 180c/355f (bake no fan) if using a fan forced oven follow the manufacturers directions to adjust the temperature.
9. leave in a warm place until doubled in size - you can use the oven again as in step 6. to speed the proofing
10. once doubled in size lightly paint with the egg wash and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.
11. rolls are cooked when a thermometer inserted into the side of a roll that is in the middle of the tray registers 88c / 190f - see video

Tangzhong

1. in a small saucepan combine the flour and water until you have no lumps
2. turn heat to medium and stir until mixture thickens 30 - 60 seconds this should be at least 65C / 150F
3. allow to come to room temperature before using. That's It 🤪
   

Egg Wash

1. in a small bowl add the yolk and milk, then whisk until combined.

Scales and Digital Thermometers

We really can't recommend highly enough how using a digital scale and thermometer improves the outcome of the food you are preparing.

Baking is a science unlike making a casserole for example where one can just add a dash of sauce, if we just added a dash of yeast for example what would happen to our dinner rolls. Imagine spending time making these rolls and then crossing your fingers and hoping you had used enough yeast. 🥵

Do yourself a favour a buy a set of digital scales and a digital thermometer, they're not expensive and your baking will improve dramatically as a result.

Plus when you have a recipe that calls for grams or oz's you can easily change the unit of measure on the scales and be confident in the conversion. 😃

Convert your favourite soft breads and buns recipes

Whilst researching this recipe we came across a wonderful explanation written by King Arthur Baking on how to adjust your old favourite recipes to use the Tangzhong method, so we thought we would share it with you.

https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2018/07/23/how-to-convert-a-bread-recipe-to-tangzhong

Notes

Step 5. window pane test is a term used to describe dough when it can be stretched thinly without breaking and the shadow of a moving finger for example can be seen moving behind the dough. - see the video