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….
Can I make the dough a night before and let it sit on the counter for first rise?
Or let it sit in the fridge?
Thanks
Hi Baozi, After the first rise, roll into the buns and place in the fridge. You can then coo the next day ☺️
Can this recipe be used to make loaves of bread? Or do you have an easy, tasty homemade bread recipe? I love your recipes!
Hi Laurie, I find this bread very soft – it would be ok to make small loaves but not one giant loaf unfortunately – N x
Can I use whole wheat flour instead of white?
Yes! –Nx
Thank you!
Spot on I’m 72yrs never made bread before and these really are first class. Start my their batch tomorrow.
I was blown away for my successful 1st bread baking using just all-purpose flour and the ingredients following your step by step guide. Friends and family love it and asking for more 🙂
Thanks Nagi 🙂
p/s: I’m asthmatic and white flour sometime trigger the coughing, Can I substitute with oat flour ? any tips will be greatly appreciated.
Nagi, Hugs to you for all you do. I have been comparing several Japanese Milk Bread recipes, but sigh! Do you have one you have perfected? You are my recipe go-to QUEEN!
Made this recipe for dinner with guest yesterday and it was a big hit! Thank you for a wonderful recipe.
Awesome Norma, I’m so happy you loved them!
If I only wanna make 6 rolls, can I exactly halve all the listed ingredients ?
Hi Pam, you sure can – N x
I’ve made these twice now and wow. My family loves them. I have fibromyalgia and degenerative disc disease and loved making bread but could no longer knead. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I’m making bread again. Wish I could put a pic on. Fantastic. Your my bread hero can’t wait to try the rest of your recipes xxxx
That’s so nice to hear Claire, I’m so glad you can enjoy baking bread again ❤️
I.try the recipe I find it very nice and my family really appreciate it.
I’m so glad you love it Yogita!
Great recipe! Its -25 celcius here today, and while we are comfortable, I used my heated blanket wrapped around and draped over my rising dough, and it worked like a charm 😀
I love this!!! ☺️
Desert Island Food.
N0.1 Beef
No.2 Bread.
No.3 Vegetables
I love this!
Great stuff
Thanks so much Telencia!
Thank you , I have tried so many recipes and wow I made bread , you covered everything so well. I’m just extatic:)
Hi Nagi,
I love this recipe because I love bread just as you do!!But I am really on here to say how much I love your Food Blogger Central. Those bloggers helped me when my Zip List plugin stopped working and I thought it was the end of my blog. I love all your help for blogging too. As an 80 year old granny who loves to blog about my family’s Italian recipes, I could not do it without your kind help and advice. Love you on this valentines Day.
Thanks so much, I love hearing this ❤️
These rolls came out PERFECTLY! Very easy to make and delicious. To reiterate one of your notes, these were great the next day too – just zap them quickly in the microwave. I drape a moist paper towel over them while they’re heating. Thanks for the recipe!
Wahoo! And great idea about the paper towel!
I am considering trying my hand at making your bread roll, hot cross bun and cinnamon scroll recipes.
My question is have you had experience in making them with gluten free flour?
I find gluten free flour dense and the bread doesn’t rise as much unfortunately ❤️
My deserted island foods are:
1: Pizza, non-specific, meaning I could have different kinds of pizza on different days, including dessert pizza. Idc about your rules.
2. Savoury roasted sweet potato
3. Ice cream
I love this!!
I made this rolls they are the best.
Awesome!
Omg this was the first time I used this no need bread rolls and the were tasty and they were very nice and golden brown ….. I will definitely use this again
Great Linda!