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….
O.m.g this recipe is AMAZING! I am not a baker by any means and my rolls came out perfect! Fluffy, delicious and perfectly golden brown! I’ll need to work on getting them all the right size but that just means I’ll be making these again really soon! 😃
I have not tried these yet but I will. Thanks
This bread recipe is so good and easy to make. I love the idea of leaving the dough in the dryer to rise; so clever!
It’s amazing how well it works isn’t it Grisel!!
Made these for Thanksgiving and everybody raved about them. I followed your recipe to the T for the first batch. Which made them ok, for me. Second batch I doubled the sugar, used salted butter(before and after baking) and cut them a little smaller. Oh my goodness! This is my roll recipe for ever and ever. Thanks!
I’m so happy you love them Cheryl!!!
Dear Nagi! Thank you! I usually fail at kneading flour or making bread but this recipe is super easy and it comes out perfect every time!! My kids love it! I show off on IG and FB when I make these! I’ve made these about 3 times already and was brave enough to try it with half whole wheat flour! Thanks you thank you thank you!!
You’re so welcome Marissa!! I’m so happy you love this recipe!
I made these and they were easy to make and so light and yummy.
Great Beverly!
These look yum! I know he sugar is used to feed the yeast,but can the rolls be made without adding the remaining sugar?
You can cut back on the sugar Shantelle, but you definitely need some in there to help the dough rise ☺️
Wondering if I could make the dough and freeze it to make rolls at a later date?
Hi Gail, yes I have tried this and it’s worked perfectly fine!
These buns turned out great! I didn’t have unsalted butter so I used salted butter and omitted the salt. Next time I’ll add some extra salt anyway.
Woot! Awesome news Sandra! 🙌
(LOL) I absolutely love the way you brush that butter so lovingly!! All of your recipes look amazing.
Just made these. I was really nervous. I live in Denver and I’ve never made bread or rolls before however these were super simple and came out perfect!
I’m so happy you loved them Amber, you won’t look back now!
I made these twice this Christmas season. These are the best. I will put away all the other recipes I wished were as good as this. Your recipe is a keeper and is now my go to for dinner rolls and burger buns. Thank you so much.
Wahoo! Great Stuff Anne!
I’m curious if anyone has attempted these with gluten free flour?
I have never baked bread before!
I have, they are honestly not as good – they are more dense and don’t rise as much as the original recipe.
Thank you!
Never made homemade rolls before yesterday’s Christmas dinner. They turned out perfect!
The second batch of these incredibly delicious Christmas meal dinner rolls has just emerged from the, um, dryer. Whatever works! Here in the northern climes, if we need the laundry room to raise the rolls, then that’s just gonna have to be OK. Socks be damned.
These rolls are soooo good that’s all I make now nice and easy love them
Thanks so much
Okay, I haven’t made these yet (prepping now) but your instructions are AMAZING (and hilarious). I’m a novice baker and you just made this so easy to understand and follow.
THANK YOU!!!!!! I appreciate you more than you know!!
My son and I made these last year and again just now. Sooooo easy and amazingly delicious. Repeating last year, we make them smaller (4 x 5) for 20 rather than 12 and liked the smaller size better. We also made them a day ahead and put them in the refrigerator till the next night. Everyone was mightily impressed! A new family tradition. Can’t wait to try the no-knead cinnamon rolls!
I am so excited to try these. I love your tip for rising, although I don’t actually have a dryer at the moment. I have been known to put bread dough on the shelf in the back of my car to prove, which works awesomely if the weather is just right.
As for my desert island foods, cheese, bread and good champagne would all be high on my priorities too, but if you’re willing to share then I’ll add fruit (fruit means all fruits, OK? If you can do it with cheese I’ll do it with fruit), red wine and peanut butter. And if you aren’t sharing your bread, I still want peanut butter; I’ll just have to bring a spoon 😂