Pillow Soft Rolls Recipes

PILLOW-SOFT DINNER ROLLS

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water.
• Add the milk, shortening, eggs, sugar, salt & 3 cups flour; beat until smooth.
• Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.
• Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth & elastic, about 6-8 minutes (dough will be sticky).
• Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover & let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Punch dough down.
• Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide into 24 pieces. Shape each into a roll.
• Place 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets. Cover & let rises until doubled, about 30 minutes.
• Bake at 350 deg F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks.

SOFT DINNER ROLLS

Steps:

• Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.
• Place bread flour, water, sugar, egg, 2 tablespoons softened butter, yeast, and salt into the pan of your bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select the Dough cycle and press Start. When the cycle is complete, remove the dough and press down to deflate.
• Divide dough into 15 equal pieces and form into rolls. Place rolls in prepared baking dish, brush with melted butter, and cover dish loosely with plastic wrap; let rise until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Bake rolls in the preheated oven until the tops are golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes.

PILLOW-SOFT DINNER ROLLS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the milk, shortening, eggs, sugar, salt and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. , Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes (dough will be sticky). Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour., Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide into 24 pieces. Shape each into a roll. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. , Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks.

PILLOW-SOFT ROLLS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine 1-1/4 cups flour, sugar, yeast and salt. In a small saucepan, heat sour cream and water to 120°-130°. Add to dry ingredients; beat until blended. Beat in eggs until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. , Turn onto a lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and refrigerate overnight., Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; roll out to 1/2-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 2-1/2-in. biscuit cutter. Using the dull edge of a table knife, make an off-center crease in each roll. Fold along crease so the small half is on the top; press along folded edge., Place in a greased 15x10x1-in. baking pan, allowing edges to touch. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 25 minutes. Brush tops with butter. Bake at 375° for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

SOFT DINNER ROLLS RECIPE

Steps:

• In the bowl of your mixer, whisk together warm milk (about 110F) and 1 Tbsp sugar. Sprinkle the top with 1 Tbsp yeast and let sit 1 minute. Whisk together and let it sit for about 5 minutes until yeast looks foamy. Add 4 Tbsp melted butter, remaining sugar and salt.
• Add flour half a cup at a time until the dough whisking to incorporate. Once the dough gets too thick, switch to the dough hook attachment and mix on speed 2 (you can also continue mixing by hand with a stiff spatula). Add about 4 cups of flour, adding the last 1 to 3 Tbsp of flour only if needed. The dough should feel sticky and tacky but should not stick to clean/dry finger tips.
• Knead the dough with the dough hook in a stand mixer for 2 minutes or knead by hand (10 min), then place dough in an oiled bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it rise about 2 hours in a warm place or until doubled in size.
• Once the dough rises, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and cut it into 15-24 even pieces depending on the shape of your baking dish. Roll each piece of dough into a ball and place them onto an oiled 9x13 casserole dish or baking sheet.
• Cover the dinner rolls with plastic wrap and let them rise another 30-60 minutes in a warm place or until puffed (do not over-proof). Bake at 375F for about 23-25 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
• Immediately brush tops of dinner rolls with melted butter and set aside to cool to room temperature before serving.

SOFT DINNER ROLLS RECIPE

Steps:

• Whisk the warm milk, yeast, and 1 Tablespoon of sugar together in the bowl of your stand mixer. Cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes. *If you do not own a stand mixer, you can do this in a large mixing bowl and in the next step, mix the dough together with a large wooden spoon/rubber spatula. It will take a bit of arm muscle. A hand mixer works, but the sticky dough repeatedly gets stuck in the beaters. Mixing by hand with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula is a better choice.*
• Add the remaining sugar, egg, butter, salt, and 1 cup flour. With a dough hook or paddle attachment, mix/beat on low speed for 30 seconds, scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, then add the remaining flour. Beat on medium speed until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 2 minutes. If the dough seems too wet to a point where kneading (next step) would be impossible, beat in more flour 1 Tablespoon at a time until you have a workable dough, similar to the photos and video above. Dough should be soft and a little sticky, but still manageable to knead with lightly floured hands.
• Keep the dough in the mixer and beat for an additional 3 full minutes or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 3 full minutes. (See video tutorial above if you need a visual of kneading dough by hand.)
• Lightly grease a large bowl with oil or nonstick spray. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil. Cover the bowl with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise in a relatively warm environment for 1-2 hours or until double in size. (I always let it rise on the counter. Takes about 2 hours. For a tiny reduction in rise time, see my answer to Where Should Dough Rise? in my Baking with Yeast Guide.)
• Grease a 9×13 inch baking pan or two 9-inch square or round baking pans. You can also bake the rolls in a cast iron skillet or on a lined baking sheet.*
• When the dough is ready, punch it down to release the air. Divide the dough into 14-16 equal pieces. (Just eyeball it- doesn't need to be perfect!) Shape each piece into a smooth ball. I do this entirely in my hands and you can watch in the video tutorial above. Arrange in prepared baking pan.
• Cover shaped rolls with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow to rise until puffy, about 1 hour.
• Adjust oven rack to a lower position and preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). (It's best to bake the rolls towards the bottom of the oven so the tops don't burn.)
• Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown on top, rotating the pan halfway through. If you notice the tops browning too quickly, loosely tent the pan with aluminum foil. Remove from the oven, brush with optional honey butter topping, and allow rolls to cool for a few minutes before serving.
• Cover leftover rolls tightly and store at room temperature for 2-3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

ULTRA FLUFFY MILK BREAD ROLLS

Steps:

• Combine the water, milk and flour in a small saucepan, and whisk together until no lumps remain.
• Place the saucepan over low heat, and cook the mixture, stirring constantly using a heat-proof rubber spatula or whisk, until thickened to the consistency of loose roux and the spatula/whisk leaves lines in the bottom of the pan when dragged through; about 3 to 5 minutes.
• Transfer the tangzhong to a small bowl, cover with plastic wrap directly on its surface and let it cool to room temperature. (To quicken the cooling process, I put it in the fridge while preparing the other steps)
• In the bowl of a stand mixer (or any large bowl or bread machine) whisk together the flour, milk powder, sugar, salt and yeast to combine.
• In a 2-cup measuring cup (or medium bowl) whisk together the milk, egg, melted butter and cooled tangzhong until well combined.
• Pour the milk mixture over the flour mixture and with the mixer on low speed, knead together using the dough hook (or by hand or bread machine) until a dough forms. The dough will be very sticky when mixing begins, but resist the urge to add more flour; the dough will absorb the excess moisture and come together nicely as the mixing progresses.
• Increase the speed to medium low and continue kneading until a smooth, elastic dough forms and is no longer sticky; 15 to 20 minutes. Set the timer! (It takes me exactly 20 minutes until its not sticky enough to handle) At this point, the dough should feel tacky (slightly sticky but not messy) and should easily come together in a taut ball when handled with lightly oiled hands. If this is not the case, then knead in a little more flour, one tablespoon at a time. A good indication of telling when the dough is ready, is being able to stretch between your hands into a thin film without it breaking right away. When it starts tearing, it will tear in a circular fashion.
• Using lightly oiled hands, shape the dough into a ball, and transfer to a lightly greased large bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place, until almost doubled in volume, 60 to 90 minutes.
• Turn out the dough onto a work surface (you shouldn't need to dust it with flour). Pat the dough gently into an 8-inch square of even thickness. Using a bench knife or chef's knife, cut the dough into 9 pieces (3 rows by 3 rows). Separate pieces and cover loosely with plastic.
• Spray (or grease) an 8 or 9-inch square pan with non-stick cooking spray. Working with 1 piece of dough at a time and keeping remaining pieces covered, form dough pieces into smooth, taut rounds. To round, set piece of dough on unfloured work surface. Loosely cup hand around dough and, without applying pressure to dough, move hand in small circular motions. Place the rolls into the prepared pan. Cover the pan loosely with plastic wrap and allow the rolls to rise for 40 to 50 minutes, until puffy. In the last 10 minutes of rising, preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C. If you want to ensure browned bottoms on your rolls, place a pizza stone or baking sheet in the oven to heat.
• Prepare egg wash by whisking together the egg and heavy cream. When ready to bake, remove the plastic wrap from the pan, then gently brush the rolls with the egg wash. Bake the rolls (on top of the pizza stone/baking sheet, if using) for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown on top; a digital thermometer inserted into the center of the middle roll should register at least 190°F. (If the rolls tops are browning too quickly, loosely place a piece of foil on top of the rolls to prevent further browning).
• Remove the rolls from the oven, then immediately brush with the 1/2 tablespoon melted butter. Allow them to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then gently flip them onto a large plate then onto a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature with anything you please or slather with honey butter (recipe below). Store leftovers in an airtight container or freeze in freezer bags.
• Add the butter, honey and cinnamon in a bowl and whip with the whisk attachment of an electric mixer until light and fluffy; 3 to 5 minutes.
• Serve at room temperature but store in airtight container in the fridge.