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!
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
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 you use whole wheat flour?
Hi Michelle, yes you can!
thanks, i do have one called freezer rolls made very much the same. But yours look so yummy and I just gotta have them . Like a desert to me! yes, with real butter.
Freezer rolls?? So you cook them from raw out of the freezer? 🙂
Can you substitute with almond or coconut milk? We have a dairy allergy in the family.
Hi Cindy! I haven’t tried but pretty sure almond and soy milk will work just fine! 🙂
oh my goodness Nag, these rolls are amazing! I made them last night as I all of the sudden got the itching to bake. Since I had all the ingredients, better late than never. I don’t regret it although I might gain a couple pounds because of it! 🙂 Hubby and I enjoyed some more this morning with our breakfast and coffee and needless to say, I’m going to need to make more for dinner! They are easy, they are soft as a baby’s bottom, thick, heavy yet so soft and tasty!! Yeast rolls = guilty pleassure!! These will from now on be my go to dinner rolls forever and ever! Thank you for sharing! PS I love those baby hands 🙂
Yessss! So great you enjoyed this one Bev, thanks for letting me know! N xx
i LOVE EASY RECIPES, WILL BE MAKING THESE ALL THE TIME NOW
YES!!!!
Just as a note, a more sanitary way of rising dough is to turn on the light in your oven a few minutes before you start prepping your dough. When ready, just pop the dough in the oven. The light will warm the oven just enough to proof the dough with no chance of ending up with flour or dough in your clean clothes!
Great tip Bryan! I do that myself sometimes, but only in my oven because I tried it once in a holiday home and the oven was too strong and it killed the yeast!
Amazing recipe, Nagi!! I even made a mistake as I was making these (I accidentally added ALL of the sugar to the yeast at the beginning!) and they still turned out beautiful and wonderfully soft and delicious! I’m going to be making these again and again, we love them! Thank you!! 🙂
You tried these?? Wow, I’m SO super happy you liked it Jamieanne! Such a compliment coming from you 🙂 N xx
I made these for the third time since Easter. Today instead of making rolls, I cut the dough in half after the first rise and placed in a Bundt pan to finish. The loaf was beautiful golden brown and very tender inside!
That’s so fantastic Sally! I’m so pleased to hear it came out in a Bundt pan loaf, thanks for letting me know! N xx ❤️
Interesting with what you said about this being a wetter dough and taking a longer time to rise.
I find the wetter the dough the faster the rising time. I’ve 2 rye bread recipes and it’s the dense dough which takes longer to rise and the wet one does it much faster…by about an hour. Same with my potato water bread.
However, I shall be trying these very soon and look forward to it. They look scrummy.
You’re right – dense doughs take the longest, normal soft doughs are the fastest and this is in between 🙂 N x
I CANNOT.WAIT.TO.MAKE.THESE!
And I hope you do try them!!! 🙂
Low sodium diet: Any way to reduce the salt or use KCL sodium reduced? How about a no knead bread recipe for whole wheat. Love You!
Hi Peggy! Sure, reduce the salt! And yes to whole wheat, another reader tried it 🙂 N xx
I have joined for free emails and cookbooks. But can’t get the cookbooks. I wish I can recieve them. Love different recipes and cooking. Thank you
Hi Cheryl! Links for the cookbooks will also be in every new recipe email I send to you 🙂 Otherwise just shoot me a message through Contacts on my page and I’ll send the links to you!
Very simple recipe. Instructions are very easy to follow. Tried this recipe with regular flour the first time. Now trying with bread flour. Delicious!!!!
So pleased to hear you enjoyed it Richard! 🙌🏻 Thanks for letting me know. 🙂 N xx
Thanks so much, i made it , superb, easy and delicious.
So pleased to hear you enjoyed it Clara! 🙌🏻 Thanks for letting me know. 🙂 N xx
Hello. Can I make this without the eggs.
I’m sorry Kamine, it won’t work 🙂
Thank you so much for the recipe it came out fine
That’s great to hear Grace!
Thank you so much for sharing this. I made some this afternoon. They look and taste amazing. My husband asked had I been down the shops to buy some. I will definitely be making these gorgeous rolls again x
That’s so wonderful to hear Josie! ❤️ Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed it! N xx
I made these. It was a HUGE mistake because my island food is bread, too! I had to give them away or else the fire dept would be cutting me out of my house. Everyone I gave them to absolutely loved them. This is my go-to from now on. I’m making more today, but I’ll be freezing this batch.
BA HA HA!!! You are TOO FUNNY!!! So if we’re on a Deserted Island together, it’s going to be Carb City. YESSSS!!!
O my goodness! These rolls are just THE BEST EVERRRRR! Super easy (just need to get the timing right so they can be ready in time). I have tried many times to bake buns before with no success….these came out PERFECT the first time I’ve tried! My sons LOVED them! I couldn’t believe my eyes when they gobbled up the whole batch in one sitting! They begged me to make them again…..and so I did! I will NEVER use another recipe again! These soft buns are just perfect in every way! Thank you sooooo much! I feel like a pro when taking these out of the oven!
I am new to your blog and can’t wait to see what you are going to teach me next!
AWESOME!!!! 🙌🏻 Thanks so much for taking the time to come back and let me know! N xx ❤️
Do you have to use bread flour?
It’s better but still amazing with normal flour!