Dinner Rolls Recipe

These are the soft, pillowy pull-apart rolls that belong on a holiday table or alongside a weeknight dinner: golden tops, fluffy white interiors, and sides so tender they tear apart at the seam where they baked together. They are enriched enough to feel special but simple enough to be a genuine beginner project — no pre-ferment, no braiding, no special equipment.

The ratio is built for softness. Milk at 55% replaces most of the water, and its fat and sugars give a finer, more tender crumb than a water dough ever could. Butter at 12% and eggs at 12% keep the rolls rich and the crumb close; 8% sugar makes them faintly sweet and helps the tops brown. The 2% yeast is a touch higher than a lean bread so the rise stays quick — these are designed to go from bowl to oven in an afternoon. Salt holds at 1.5%, slightly restrained to let the milk-and-butter softness come through.

The only technique worth attention is shaping and proofing. Divide the dough into even pieces (a scale helps the rolls bake uniformly), roll each into a tight ball with a smooth top, and nestle them close in the pan so they rise into each other and become pull-apart. Proof until puffy and touching, brush with egg wash or melted butter, and bake until the tops are deep golden — the residual softness comes from not overbaking.

Because the ratio is so close to the white sandwich loaf with a little more dairy and fat, it is a good next step once you are comfortable with a basic pan loaf: same fundamentals, a slightly richer dough, and a more impressive result.