Here’s our favorite method of “aromatherapy.” There’s nothing quite like the smell of hot bread baking to bring back memories of what it was like to grow up in a home where you were loved. Making perfect dinner rolls every time is an art form few bread bakers master. It’s simply the difference between understanding a little bit of “science” and using the right tools. You can make almost perfect dinner rolls every time if you follow some basic rules. This recipe features a basic dinner roll dough, but with delicious Italian herbs added to the dough. We’ll also teach you a simple method for shaping rolls into a “rosette” shape.
Let’s start with the recipe:
- 3½ to 4 cups bread flour
- 2 Tablespoons instant yeast
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon basil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup minced onion
- ¼ cup powdered milk
- 1½ cups warm water
- 2 Tablespoons butter or margarine
- 1 egg
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 Tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- In a large mixing bowl, combine 2½ cups flour, instant yeast, sugar, garlic, oregano, basil, salt, minced onion and powdered milk. Stir to combine and then add warm water, 2 Tablespoons softened butter, egg, and ½ cup Parmesan cheese.
- Mix in bread mixer with the bread hook attachment until well-combined, and then add flour just until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and begins to clean the side of the bowl. Allow bread mixer to knead the finished dough for at least 6 minutes.
- Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until dough has doubled in bulk. Punch down dough and form into balls or shape into rosette rolls. Brush tops with egg wash or melted butter and sprinkle on more Parmesan cheese. Let raise again until rolls are puffy and light. Bake for 20-25 min in 375 degree oven or until golden brown.
If this is your first attempt at dinner rolls, the following tutorial may be helpful:
1. Start with the right ingredients. We use instant yeast and bread flour in most of our bread baking. You can see the bubbles in this photo from the yeast starting to do its job. Sometimes, I like to just add all of the ingredients and let the whole bowl sit for 3-4 minutes to give the yeast a head start. This way I can make sure the yeast is active and the bread is going to raise nicely later.
2. Be careful with the water temperature. Water should be warm to the touch but not hot. If your water is too hot, you’ll kill the yeast and your bread will fail.
3. Once you start mixing ingredients, you’ll want to add the last few cups of flour slowly until the dough clings to the dough hook and starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Add just enough flour until you see this happening. Too much flour will make your rolls tough and dry.
4. Here’ you can see a better view of the dough after it has mixed for a few minutes. Notice that the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl and cleaned all of the dough off from the sides. This tells you that you’ve added the right amount of flour. Continue mixing for at least 6 minutes to allow the gluten to develop in the dough.
5. If you’ve used your mixer and let the dough hook knead the bread for at least 6 minutes, you won’t need to knead the dough by hand. Simply dump it into a greased bowl. Turn the dough once so that the upper surface of the dough is lightly greased. This helps keep it from drying out while it raises. Allow dough to “proof” or rise in a warm place until it is double in bulk. This takes about an hour. Make sure you cover it with a clean dish towel to keep the surface of the dough moist.
6. Once the bread dough has risen completely, it will look like the image above. The dough will have doubled in bulk and will look light and airy. Punch your fist into the center to release the air bubbles.
7. Now you’re ready to start rolling out your rolls. I simply spray my work surface with spray oil. Roll the dough into a “rectangle” shape about 18 inches long and 12 inches wide.
8. Using a pizza cutter, section the dough into about 12 pieces.
How to roll a Rosette dinner roll shape
Start with a section of dough and stretch it to about 12 inches.
Fold dough in half
Start twisting the sections together.
Twist the sections of dough together and stretch the entire rope to about 12 inches in length again.
Start the rosette shape by looping one end of the dough into a “d” shape with a small section overhanging
Tuck the loose end underneath.
Curl the free end of the dough up and over the top of the circular coil of dough.
Here’s the coil of dough. Now you’re just going to tuck in the loose end
Tuck the loose end of the dough strip down into the center of the rosette. Shape gently with your fingers to make a circular rosette shape if needed.
Simple, huh? Now to prep the rolls for baking:
9. Place rolls on a greased cookie sheet and leave plenty of space around the outside so that rolls can raise.
10. If desired, mix an egg with 3 tablespoons of water and whisk. You’ll use this “egg wash” to brush the tops of the rolls prior to raising.
11. Just brush the egg wash on gently with a pastry brush.
12. Sprinkle on some grated Parmesan cheese and allow rolls to raise again in a warm place until they are light and puffy.
13. Bake for about 20-25 minutes in a 375 degree oven. If you don’t like your Parmesan cheese “browned,” add it during the last 5 minutes of baking instead. Notice that the egg wash gives these baked rolls a shiny glazed look.
14. Serve warm, and if desired, brush the rolls once more with garlic butter prior to serving. You’ll love the aroma of these rolls which are a nice compliment to any meal.
Bread memories! I remember going to grandma Tanner’s house in ID and arriving late into the night to the smell of her fresh made rolls before we sacked out on the floor. She seemed to aways time it that we would arrive when they were still warm even if we came after midnight. And there were no rules to how many you ate that I remember either. MMMMMMMM!