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….
I am making the dinner rolls so lets hope they will turn out i will put a picture up when they are done
They will they will! 🙂 N x
Can I use this recipe to make hotdog bun?
Nagi, just tired your dinner roll recipe to great applause at dinnertime! Thanks for the easy to follow recipe and great tips (I used your no fail dryer method). I also appreciate the conversion to US units – I will often search for an alternate recipe if it’s all in metric. Keep up the great work!
And I’m applauding too!!! YAAAAY!!! N xx
Awesome! It’s the first time I tried a dinner roll type baking and worked perfectly.
Question, I wanted half the number so reduced everything to half. Is that correct to do? I had to put in a tbsp of water during initial batter making.
Thanks,
Sanjay
Hi Sanjay – that’s exactly right! I have a recipe scaler which will help the next time you want to do that 🙂 Just click on servings and slide – it will change everything! N x
Great feature. Thanks.
Two more questions:
1) What is the substitute for egg (and quantity) for vegetarians?
2) Since exact amount of liquid can be tricky, how to adjust water next time. For example, my rolls were a little dense. Does this mean the water was more?
Thanks.
Watching you do this reminded me of watching my gran make rolls, and cinnamon rolls, she used the same base for both, except she never measured anything. AND yes she used her hands as well! Was happy to see you did not hide that part of the process, would not have believed you if you had denied it.
Ohhhh I LOVE hearing that!!! N xx
Hi Nagi, I just wanted to let you know I just got finish making these rolls and my roommate loves them!!!! Followed instructions to a T. They are delicious. Thanks
I’m glad to hear you and your roommate enjoyed this Anita!!! Thanks for taking the time to let me know 🙂 N x
Cant wait to try these rolls thank you
Hi Nagi
Lovely recipe and easy to follow with your detailed instructions..
Great to hear you enjoyed this Sanji! Thanks for letting me know 🙂 N x
What if I don’t have baking paper? What else can I use?
Grease with butter or spray with oil 🙂
I love this recipe! I especially liked the dryer tip…made these and put them in the refrigerator overnight, baked them for Easter dinner today, and they were perfect! Thank you for sharing…
FANTASTIC to hear Rendee!! Thanks so much for letting me know you enjoyed this 🙂 N xx
FANTASTIC recipe. Easy to make. Thanks for sharing!
I LOVE hearing that Cori! Thanks so much for letting me know! N xx
Hi Nagi
Sorry if you’ve already answered this before! Just needed to know if I could sub the all purpose flour for whole wheat flour instead??
Dear Nagi.
I made these rolls on Friday after seeing your recipe on Facebook.
I was very sceptical about it but thought I would try them.
I’m so delighted I did!!!!!
They are absolutely delicious and a triumph amongst my friends.
Can’t wait to make them again and serve them hot from the oven for breakfast.
Looking forward to making the Hot Cross buns and Cinnamon rolls.
This is the best dinner roll recipe I have ever seen! I made them for the first time when my daughter’s friends came over for a play day. Only 4 of them (5yr olds) but they finished 12 of these dinner rolls. lol they loved it so much, and so as my rest of family. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I hope you don’t mind me to use your pictures and video to share it with other people.
HIGH FIVE!!!
Thank you so much for this recipe! I was a bread baking virgin until today. I have been looking at no knead bread recipe’s for months, and finally had the guts to try one. Chose your recipe as it seemed really easy to understand, and the video helped A LOT as I was able to see how each step should be done. My rolls turned out so well! I put a little too much sugar in them, but I’ll know for next time to add less so they’re a little more savoury. I have been trying to learn to cook a few new things as my partners family is full of amazing cooks, so I felt I needed something to up my game a bit. And this is perfect for that! Thank you! Plus, I REALLY appreciated your tip of using the dryer for the rise. We only just hit Autumn here, and its chilly today, so this really helped with the process.
I absolutely love hearing that Tegan! So glad you enjoyed this! N xx
Nagi, how should I tweak the recipe if I were to use a 7 x 11″ pan instead of 9 x 13″ per recipe? Will it work it I substitute the caster sugar with brown sugar?
Hi Fiona! Just squeeze them in – they will just be taller! N x
Hi Nagi – this is a brilliant recipe, as is the cinnamon roll alternative. Thank you 😊
I’d like to make 100% wholemeal rolls, but I know that the wholemeal flour soaks up more liquid.
Following the general rule that, “wetter is better”, I’ve tried a half batch of these today with an extra 50ml milk – let’s see how they go!
Interested to know if you have tried this already and what you would recommend when using this type of flour.
Rosemary
PS: I over proofed my second rise on one bath of rolls, spectacularly, they did reshape and there was enough active yeast left to get a third (!) rise, but the taste was awful! Too fermented 😩
So pleased to hear that Rosemary! Thanks for letting me know! N x
These are the absolute best! I made them last night then popped them in the fridge overnight for the second rise. I omitted the eggs (simply because I didn’t have them) and they were still perfect. They’re going to become a favourite in our house very quickly. I can’t believe how easy they are to make. Thank you so much for this recipe!
Love hearing that! So glad you enjoyed this Kelly! N xx
Hey Nagi! I totally forgot to warm up my milk I already mixed it in and set it to rise. Will it still rise even though it was cold?
Hi Nagi… I’m not the best baker, but this recipe is absolutely nothing short of AMAZING! So easy and so perfect each and everytime. Thank you so much for sharing. X
So glad you enjoyed this Darne! Thanks for letting me know 🙂 N x