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….
These are EXCELLENT in every way. Mine baked for about 28 mins. So yummy, thanks!
Best buns ever! We like them smaller, so I make 18 instead 12.
I made this a few months ago and again today as I have a crowd to feed and they are super duper easy peasy!!
What part of the oven do you place the rolls to bake them?
I made these for Thanksgiving this year, and they were an instant hit. I am now proofing my fifth round of these rolls since then for Christmas lunch tomorrow because my family said not to show up if I didn’t have them with me😂
I made these for the first time the morning of thanksgiving and they turned out amazing! I actually kneaded them a little bit with a wooden spatula while they were in the bowl because I wanted them to be extra fluffy – and extra fluffy they were! Love how easy this recipe is since we don’t have a stand mixer. I’m making them again today for a Christmas party!
A staple in our home! These rolls are delicious, so soft and melt in the mouth. They turn out perfect every time.
What the your building up my confidences in the kitchen ty
Wow! I have made a lot of rolls and bread in my life and these hands down are my favorite. They are soft, fluffy, high and just perfect. THANK YOU!
Made these rolls for Thanksgiving, and we loved them! This will be a go-to when craving some great fresh-baked rolls without having to leave the house 🙂
Hi Nagi, I live in the US and always weigh my flour. I was confused by the recipe as it didn’t include a weight for flour. I use 1 cup equals 120 grams. I wasn’t sure if you were calling for 480 grams or 540 grams or some other amount. Hi Dozer!
E
If you click the “metric” button (next to cups) it will change the units to grams, which Is I think the original recipe amount.
Wanted to try a no knead recipe, of course I had to choose the DAY before Thanksgiving lol. I either didn’t add enough flour or let them rise for too long. I’m thinking the latter because I went back and saw it said “almost 3x size” and mine was definitely almost 4… 😅. I noticed when I went to cut the dough mine was SIGNIFICANTLY bigger than hers. But I went ahead and followed the rest of the instructions. Put my oan in the fridge for tomorrow and since my oan wasn’t big enough I had 4 rolls left over so I went ahead and did a quick second rise (unfortunately the space was a lil hotter than it should’ve been so they went a lil flat) and baked. And they taste great! Same flavor as a different knead recipe I used. Definitely a very forgiving recipe! Wish me luck for the rest of them tomorrow! I’ll likely use the bread I did make for sandwiches since it’s the perfect height! ❤️ Adding this one to my recipe book for sure
I was so nervous to make these for Thanksgiving dinner and wow!! I’m never buying store bought again and these are now in my regular baking cycle. Thank you so much. I wish I could post pictures because they are beautiful.
SO good! what a great recipe!! i had one right out of the oven! i let them to under the broiler just a bit so i could get the tops browner. all nice and moist inside.
I tried this bread today and it was one of the best no knead bread recipes I have ever tried.
The bread came out so soft and delicious. Highly recommend this recipe to anyone baking soft, no knead, dinner rolls.
You’re no knead rolls are absolutely the easiest thing and so delightful. I make bread from scratch all the time and sourdoughs, but these just take no time or effort. I think they would be a great for any level of cook! They are making that Thanksgiving meal.
I am wondering if a 9×13 pan is big enough for 12 buns the size of baseballs. Wouldn’t they turn into one huge bun? I am used to baking buns on a baking sheet separately.
Thank you so much for this recipe came out great ,I did use olive oil because I didn’t have any butter
I’m seriously impressed
Wonderful, easy recipe with a delightful light flavor. Love the tip about the dryer!!
The absolute easiest and best dinner rolls I have made yet! Do the dryer trick!