No stand mixer, no knead, no special equipment required. These No Knead Dinner Rolls are perfectly soft and fluffy and are astonishingly effortless to make. Just combine the ingredients in a bowl and mix with a wooden spoon – that’s it! It’s the easiest recipe for bread rolls in the whole world!
This recipe for bread rolls will blow your mind!
These dinner rolls are:
made without kneading;
without a stand mixer or any other electric appliance;
take 2 minutes of active effort to mix the dough;
have golden tops and are soft and fluffy on the inside.
Every single time I make these, I am in utter awe of how effortless they are, and how amazing they taste. They are in every way just as good as classic dinner rolls, made by kneading the dough by hand (tired arms, tired arms!) or using a stand mixer.
I truly believe to my very core that only those with a refined palette and/or baking experts can tell the difference between these No Knead Dinner Rolls and traditional kneaded-tired-arms dinner rolls!
See how soft and fluffy they are??
Kneaded vs No Knead Dinner Rolls
In the interest of being completely open and honest, here are the differences that I notice between kneaded dinner rolls and these No Knead Dinner Rolls:
The kneaded rolls stay a wee bit more moist for longer. ie. they are slightly better the next day compared to the No Knead ones. But actually, homemade bread, muffins etc, being preservative free that they are, are always best consumed fresh so I don’t see this as a major disadvantage. Neither the kneaded nor No Knead rolls are great the next day. They lose their moisture and both need to be warmed up before serving to make them moist again. It is just that with the kneaded ones you could possibly get away with not warming up (but they aren’t great), whereas the No Knead ones definitely need warming up;
Kneaded rolls rise a wee bit more. Not noticeable for normal people, and you’d never say the No Knead ones aren’t soft and fluffy. They are, they really are. It’s just that the kneaded ones rise a touch more with the same amount of yeast.
I’m so convinced of the merits of no-knead breads however, that I have since posted No-knead Artisan Bread and Focaccia – both spectacular loaves in their own right that don’t require single minute of kneading!
Dump-and-mix NO KNEAD Dough
In terms of the prep, the batter is literally a dump-and-mix job. There is a major difference in rise time compared to kneaded dough which can rise in 30 – 45 minutes for the 1st rise, then around the same for the 2nd rise after forming the rolls. For these No Knead Dinner Rolls, the dough is much wetter than kneaded dough, so it takes longer to rise. 1.5 – 2 hours, depending on how warm it is where you are. If you use my ridiculous-but-effective tip of rising the dough in your (empty! warm!) dryer, it takes 1.5 hours. 🙂 (See recipes notes for details)
You can see in these photos how different the dough is compared to traditional bread dough. It’s not knead-able, it’s way too sticky. It’s almost more like a muffin batter!
Quick little tip: To get a beautiful golden surface, the dough needs to be rolled tightly and smoothly into balls. With sticky dough, this is tough to do. So here’s my work around: Press the dough down lightly, then bundle it up like a money-bag (mmm…Thai Money Bags…). Flip it over and you have a nice smooth surface with the dough stretched tightly = smooth golden surface. I demo this in the recipe video too (below recipe).
Make-ahead and bake on demand
Another big bonus for these rolls: you can roll the dough into rolls then refrigerate overnight (uncooked) and bake them fresh when you’re ready to serve! It’s quite amazing actually, I wasn’t sure it would work but it does.
Easter is coming up! That’s why I decided to squeeze these in so soon after sharing Hot Cross Buns (which you can make using this No Knead technique, the recipe is in that post). I know some people think baking with yeast is daunting. But I swear to you, watch the video. See how soft and irresistible these rolls come out. And be prepared to be blown away by how easy these are to make!
Carb Monsters unite! – Nagi xx
More No Knead Breads & Flavour variation options!
Cheese and Bacon Rolls (use this no knead dough for that recipe)
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
No Knead Dinner Rolls recipe video! No laughing at the Baby Hands – you’ll cop a serious eyeful in this video!
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SOFT NO KNEAD Dinner Rolls
Ingredients
Buns:
- 1 tbsp dry yeast (Note 1)
- 1/4 cup caster/superfine sugar , or sub with normal white sugar
- 1/2 cup warm water (Note 2)
- 4 cups bread flour + extra for dusting (Note 3)
- 1 1/2 tsp salt , cooking/kosher salt
- 1 cup milk, lukewarm, whole or low fat, (Note 2)
- 50g / 3 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter , melted and cooled
- 2 eggs , at room temperature, beaten with fork
Brushing:
- 1 tbsp butter , melted
Instructions
- Place the yeast and 2 teaspoons of the sugar in a medium bowl, then pour in water. Leave for 5 minutes until it froths.
- Place flour, remaining sugar and salt in a bowl. Mix to combine.
- Make a well in the centre. Add milk, butter, eggs and pour in the yeast liquid, including all froth.
- Mix until combined with wooden spoon – it will be like a thick muffin batter. Not pourable, but thick and sticky.
Rise #1:
- Leave dough in the bowl, cover with a wet (clean) tea towel and place in a warm place (25C/77F+) to rise for around 1 1/2 – 2 hours or until almost tripled in volume. See Note 4 for how I do this (you will laugh – but it works every time!). Dough surface should be bubbly (see video or photos in post).
Forming Balls (watch video, it’s helpful):
- Line a 31.5 x 23.5 cm / 9 x 13″ tray with baking paper with overhang.
- Remove tea towel and punch dough to deflate, then mix briefly in the bowl to get rid of the bubbles in the dough.
- Dust work surface with flour, scrape dough on work surface. Dust top of dough then shape into a log. Cut log into 4 pieces, then cut each piece into 3 pieces (12 in total).
- Take one piece and press down with palm, then use your fingers to gather into a ball, flip (so smooth side is up) then roll the dough briefly to form a ball. This stretches the dough on one side and that’s how I get a nice smooth surface on my roll. (For this step, use as much flour as needed to handle dough and avoid piercing inside into the wet dough)
- Place the ball with the smooth side up on the tray. Repeat with remaining dough. Line them up 3 x 4.
Rise # 2:
- Spray surface of rolls (or cling wrap) with oil (any), then place cling wrap over the tray.
- Return tray to warm place and leave for 30 – 45 min, until the dough has risen by about 75% (less than double in size).
- Partway through Rise #2, preheat oven to 200C/390F (standard) or 180C/350F (fan/convection).
- Bake for 15 – 18 minutes, or until the surface is a golden brown and the roll in the centre sounds hollow when tapped. The surface colour is the best test for this recipe.
- Remove rolls from oven. Brush with melted butter.
- Use overhang to lift rolls onto a cooling rack. Allow to cool to warm before serving.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
When he got sent to the naughty corner and he was wondering whether he was allowed back in….
Thank you Nagi, love this recipe. Made tonight to have with pumpkin soup and the family was blown away with how good they are …I was blown away with how easy they were and how good they turned out xx
I’m so glad you enjoyed them Chris!! They’re so easy you wont look back now!
It’s Super easy! Soft inside and crispy crust! Yummy!
That’s great Sharon! N x
Why do you use “Unsalted Butter” then add 1.5 tsps of salt ???
Is unsalted butter going to give you a better recipe result ?
Many Thanks
Tony ……
Hi Tony, I use unsalted butter so I can control the amount of salt going into a recipe. By all means you can use salted butter but you’d need to reduce the amount of salt that goes in. N x
Dear Nagi, this is my first attempt of making bread. Everything was perfect. The bun is super soft and fluffy. Tq so much for the recipe. I learned so much from your video tutorial. Keep up the good work! 💗💗💗 Much love from Kay, Malaysia.
I just made the dinner rolls, everything was done perfectly. I’m waiting to take them out of the oven.
Hi there,
Im try I g the recipe for the first time. Im in Canada so I used the 41/2 cup of flour conversion. The dough wasn’t sticky though. More like a thick biscuit dough.
Should I add 4 cups of flour next time? Also I only have bread machine yeast so I hope its similar enough to work out.
Hi Stephanie – best to go off weight, do you know what weight you used? N x
Awesome rolls!!!!!!
Thanks so much Julie! N x
We have never made buns before but tried this recipe last night to go with your leek and soup. It was a hit with the family. My 9 year old helped make the bread and enjoyed it. Thank you for such yummy simple recipes.
Perfect Priscilla, you MUST have bread for dunking! N x
Wonderful looking rolls
Thanks so much Juliann! N x
Really good, only thing not so good defrosted but I refreshed in oven. Xx
Hi Loopy, yes I talk about this in the recipe notes – I always microwave or oven mine to freshen up 🙂 N x
So easy, so good. Played with the amount of flour. First time I made it I used amount called for and it was too much. Next time, I was more cautious and added flour until I got the consistency that was described in video. Can the bun recipe be used to make loaf of bread?
Hi Michelle, what weight of flour were you using the first time? N x
Made this and loved it doing it again
Thanks so much for the great feedback Crystal! N x
Wow! Another great recipe. These rolls turned out beautifully. Love the dryer trick, which I’ll use from now on. Thank you again
I’m so glad you love it Berit, that’s great to hear!! N x
Hi, since we are just staying home and going out is quite a bit of a challenge, I would like to try an easy homemade bread, thanks to you I found this one! Anyway, can I use instant yeast as it’s the only available I have and can whole wheat flour works too?
Hi! Yes it’s instant yeast that’s used in this recipe 🙂 N x
Can you use buttermilk in these rolls & does it have to be unsalted butter??
Hi Judy, you can definitely use buttermilk! If using salted butter, just leave out the 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt 🙂 N x
Wowser! This was such an easy recipe, I speak skeptical about the no knead part but OMG I’m converted! These were super light and fluffy, rose wonderfully and tasted great! Thank you!
Wahoo! I’m so glad you tried it Laura! N x
Dear Nagi,
Thank you so much for this amazing recipe! I baked the buns, they turned out perfect shape and the dough was so easy to work with. I had one problem though, they smelled of yeast! why did that happen? I followed the recipe, only reduced sugar, used 2 tsp only. Thank you and look forward to hearing back!
Hi Robiya, they do have a decent amount of yeast in them so they rise and are fluffy – however I’ve never really noticed the smell of them. It could perhaps be the type of yeast you’re using. N x
When I made it, the dough became so sticky…i almost throw it :(… but then I thought that will so waste to just throw it.. So i mix a flour a lil bit and try to shape it like a ball… Let it rise & then bake it.. In the end it turns out well… Thanks for the recipe
Hi Monica, yes it’s supposed to be quite sticky – the video should be a good guide here to see the texture 🙂 N x
Best and easiest rolls ever made and tasted. I live in England so I warmed oven on 50° before making dough, switched oven off, made dough and proved the dough in the oven. Took about an hour to triple in size.
Sounds like you nailed it Loopy! N x
Really good, only thing not so good defrosted but I refreshed in oven. Xx
Thankyou for the recipe. Just made it it is so bouncy and delicious with butter and jam. Awesome stuff. Thankyou. For a first time trying, I’m so happy with the turnout.
YUM! Sounds like you nailed it Kura! N x