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….
Hi Nagi, thanks for posting this recipe. I made a half batch of this over the weekend and ran into a similar problem as one of the other commenters. Basically, I got rolls that were hard on the outside with a soft biscuit-ish texture on the inside. I retraced my steps and I think I may have made the following mistakes. I wanted to run them by you and get a little feedback:
1. I didn’t have bread flour and attempted to make my own by mixing 1 tsp Vital Wheat Gluten with the flour but I didn’t add more water to the recipe as some bakers might recommend. I also used half all purpose and half whole wheat flour.
2. My first rise went for 3 hours instead of 2 and might have over proofed.
3. I shaped and refrigerated the rolls overnight before baking but forgot to spray the plastic wrap. Might they have dried out a little in the fridge?
4. For my second rise, I tried to create a warm environment by turning my oven to 175 F and then turning it off. But perhaps this was way too warm for rising? The inside of the oven did get pretty hot and I left the rolls in for about 30 min before baking.
I intend to try again and be more vigilant in following rise times more exactly. Thanks!
Hi Julie! I can’t comment on #1 because I’, not familiar with the gluten you mention, sorry. On #2, go by eye – so yes if it had already risen by 2 hours and you left it for 3, then it over proofed which takes the rising strength out of the yeast 3) If you forgot to spray the plastic wrap, yes that would have affected it as well because when you peeled the cling wrap off, I expect it ripped the skin off which was stuck to the cling wrap. This deflates the dough 🙁 #4 – 175F is 80C and yes I’m afraid that’s too hot for yeast, it kills it. Sorry to disappoint! 🙂 N x
Thank you so much for the feedback. I will try again and stick very close to the recipe. Baking with yeast is a bit of an exact science, as I’m learning. I’m hopeful that this time will yield better results. Thank you again!
OMG ! I just made this for tonight dinner. It is so fluffy and so soft dinner roll ever I made !
Our family member is only 3 adult ,so I don’t need 12 of them. So I decided half of potion I make. It is no problem even I did half of amount. And also I was using with my bread machine . Even so any problem whatsoever !! I love this ,and definitely my repeating recipe. thank you so much !!
I’m so pleased to hear you enjoyed it Yuri! Thanks for letting me know! N xx
Did the daught last night, laughted at it as i put my daught in the dryer lol and it did work!! Yay! So today i m taking them out of the fridge and baking them!! Lets see how it goes in a few minutes!
15 mins later…perfectly cooked and sooo soft ! My husband just told me that i should have made them a bit sweeter than this but oh well he also said that these are soooo good! And i did put my eggs cold from deidge and also my milk soo again with mistakes it worked nice and ooh no bread flour so all purpose flour! Good recipe!! Thankss!
I know, it feels ridiculous carrying the bowl into the laundry, doesn’t it – ba ha ha!! So glad you enjoyed this Marion! N xx
I just tried this and the bread turned out great! however, wished there is no butter so can be healthier. if you have another recipe without butter, pls share, that would be great! thks
Hi Tan! So glad you enjoyed this 🙂 Sorry to say I haven’t tried this without butter, sorry!
hi, it’s ok. thks for replying! hv a hpy CNY
Hi! I made these last night- wow! I am a beginner. I knew I’d have lots of beginner mistakes, and sure enough, got started and then didn’t have enough flour. I looked in my cabinet and found some (out of date) whole wheat flour. Should I scrap the project or go for it? I went for it. Everything seemed to go smoothly, though you should have seen me shaping the rolls! Well, they turned out REALLY good! Even my mistakes were forgiven with your FABULOUS recipe! Can’t wait to try more from your website!
That’s wonderful to hear Amanda! Thanks for letting me know! N x ❤️
I absolutely loved this recipe! Thank you so much for sharing it! Super easy to make and delicious. My kids loved them.
lots of love all the way from Brazil!! 🙂
Nagi, you are wonderful, I made these tonight and for me it was a big undertaking as I am a home baker and have always had success with cakes, pies, cookies, etc but yeast breads and rolls terrify me as I have not had much success with them. Your recipie looked easy and delicious, I followed the it exactly I even had my kindle in tbd kitchen in front of me. Well they rose well and I was excited, but my dough was not sticky. I made the little pouches and they looked great. I baked them and they did not Brown and they were good but are not fluffy they are more biscuit like. I a. Proud that I tried. And they taste good,but what did I do wrong, not enough liquid, liquid too cold?? I want to make these again. Please help me…. Thank you.
Hi Jeanette, I’m sorry to hear that you had troubles with this I wish I was there to help troubleshoot! If the dough was not sticky then it sounds like there was not enough liquid, is there a chance it was mis measured? 🙂 N x
making this recipe now will post a comment later on how it turns out 😀
thanks in advance
Hi…Nagi, I just made these rolls today. They were very light and fluffy. My husband made a sandwich with this. It looks so good. Thank you very much another easy and tasty recipe.
That’s terrific to hear Lisa ! Thanks for taking the time to let me know – N x
I made mine with 2 cups of Whole Wheat and 2 Cups of White Flour and it didn’t have it sticky like yours it was more on the dryer side. Would that be because I used Whole Wheat flour?
Hi Louise! I’ve made this with whole wheat and it was still fine with the same quantities 🙂 Just add a touch of warm water, this dough is actually very forgiving!
Fantastic recipe! I wanted them less sweet so i added less sugar and omg!! cheese filled. This is how they turned out: https://instagram.com/p/Bd7T39cH5qS/
The best rolls I have ever made! Super easy and fun to make. My daughter is learning to bake and was very easy for her to follow the recipe and the directions. Thank you so much
I love hearing that Cheri!! Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed it! N x
Great recipe but I put in 1and a half teaspoons of salt and it was misleading, think it should have been just a half whoops! They were still lush and easy to make
Hi Karen! 1 1/2 tsp of salt is right! N x
can these be make into hamburger buns
YES!!!
Hi can I make this without eggs please…am a vegetarian
Wow! I rarely comment, but these were so easy and extraordinarily good. I followed your recipe exactly, to include the measurements by weight. The only addition I made was to brush the rolls with melted butter mixed with rosemary and garlic powder and sprinkle on some kosher salt, right before baking.
These were a delight with sausage lentil soup. Delicious!
I’m so pleased to hear that L!! Thanks for sharing that! N xx
I didnt read all the notes and put only 4cups of flour :/ hope for the best !
I made these twice both times the rolls turned out flat. What am I dong wrong?
I usually don’t have much success with yeast rolls, but these were great! I found the dough to be quite wet and was afraid to keep adding extra flour. I ended up making smaller rolls (17 in all) since these seems too large for one person to eat. Since the dough was too wet to handle much, I ended up just plopping the rolls in the pan wet and let them rise. Not to worry; the rolls rose nicely and the tops smoothed out. They looked great when baked, and I ate two at a time. Great flavor and texture! Thanks for the easy peasy rolls (except for sticky fingers when trying shaping, lol.)
Made these tonight and they were fabulous! Cannot believe how easy and the texture was incredible. So good thank you for a great recipe.
I think the Baby Hands in the video are amazing. This child is destined for culinary greatness.