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 theย ingredients in a bowlย and mix with a wooden spoon โ thatโs it! Itโs theย easiest recipe for bread rolls in the whole world!
This recipe for bread rolls will blow your mind!
These dinner rolls are:
madeย without kneading;
without a stand mixer or any other electric appliance;
takeย 2 minutes of active effort to mix the dough;
haveย golden tops and areย soft and fluffyย on the inside.
Every single time I make these, I am in utter awe of how effortless they are, and how amazing they taste.ย Theyย 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 differencesย that I notice betweenย 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,ย are always best consumed fresh so I donโt see this as a major disadvantage. Neither the kneaded nor No Knead rolls are greatย the next day. They lose their moistureย and both need toย 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 arenโt great), whereas the No Knead ones definitely need warming up;
Kneaded rolls rise a wee bit more. Not noticeable for normal people, and youโd never say the No Knead ones arenโt soft and fluffy. They are, they really are. Itโs just that the kneaded ones rise a touch more with the same amount of yeast.
Iโm so convinced of the merits of no-knead breads however, that I have since posted No-knead Artisan Bread and Focaccia โ both spectacular loaves in their own right that donโt 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 canย rise in 30 โ 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 isย much wetter than kneaded dough, so it takes longer to rise. 1.5 โ 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. ๐ (See recipes notes for details)
You can see in these photos how different the dough is compared to traditional bread dough. Itโs not knead-able, itโs way too sticky. Itโs 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 hereโs my work around: Press the dough down lightly, then bundle it up like a money-bag (mmmโฆThai Money Bagsโฆ). 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 rollย the dough into rolls then refrigerate overnight (uncooked) and bake them fresh when youโre ready to serve! Itโs quite amazing actually, I wasnโt sure it would work but it does.
Easter is coming up! Thatโs why I decided to squeeze these in so soon after sharing Hot Cross Buns (which youย 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 byย how easy these are to make!
Carb Monsters unite! โ 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 โ youโll 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 โ 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 โ 2 hours or until almost tripled in volume. See Note 4 for how I do this (you will laugh โ but it works every time!). Dough surface should be bubbly (see video or photos in post).
Forming Balls (watch video, itโs helpful):
- Line a 31.5 x 23.5 cm / 9 x 13โณ 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).ย
- 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 thatโs how I get a nice smooth surface on my roll.ย (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 โ 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 โ 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 inโฆ.
Nagi scores again with this excellent recipe โ the best bread rolls I ever ate! Iโm sure I did something wrong too because my dough was so sticky after the first rise that I couldnโt do much with it.
But I managed to make some vague balls and the end result was excellent.
We have a cold house so I put then in the top oven for the second rise while it was heating.
Our number rolls. Weโve made these several times & is a staple for Thanksgiving.
Mine came out delicious but quite dense, and I was wondering if they are meant to be dense or if I just didnโt let it rise enough or something.
Hi Cheryse, did you use a big enough bowl for the rise? The dough needs to triple in size and get quite flooffy. That might account for why it was a bit dense?
These are sooooo good. I just took my first batch out of the oven and my 2 children and myself just devoured a roll, no spread, just warm fluffy bread roll ๐
Great buns & easy recipe to follow!
Great recipe. Only note is a standard Australian tablespoon is 20g not 9gโฆ I made that mistake but they just turned out extra fluffy
Can these rolls be used as surprise rolls with a filling? I have made these rolls many times & they are always a hit but now wondering if they will work work a filling inside.
Incredibly good. Next day, pan-fry: slice in half and fry in butter. They are even better, crispy and to die for. Iโm 8O, and this is my new go-to.
Ohhhh Joan, what a FABulous idea ๐ก๐๐ Kelly from Wales
Iโm definitely sharing rhis recipe with all my friends
Sorry, I forgot to give the rating.Itโs too bad.There arenโt six stars because they deserve at least six.
Iโve made the no need dinner rolls and the no need cinnamon rolls.I love it , itโs so easy and they taste wonderful. Iโm trying to teach my granddaughter a little bit of baking, and I would like for her to do some that takes needing.Can you possibly explain how I woud use the same dough?But with slight amount , with some kneading? Thank you for all the great recipes.My daughter uses them now as well.
Mine came out delicious but quite dense, and I was wondering if they are meant to be dense or if I just didnโt let it rise enough or something.
So good for hosting!! I was a bit worried that they wouldnโt be as fluffy since I did the second rise in the fridge and that they would be too yeasty since I 1.5x the recipe- but they turned out so amazing!! So good not having to knead them.
Praying for Dozer during his time at SASH, that he will recover and go home soon ๐๐
I have done this recipe several times with wholemeal flour, white flour and strong wholemeal flour, Every single time the bread is DELICIOUS, soft, and I have frozen the buns and when defrosted are soft and full of flavour, Very grateful with you who shared this recipe with us,
Best dinner rolls ever!
These are amazing, I wasnโt sure i I got them right at first, but so good,
I made these for a family dinner last weekend and they were perfect. This is my go to recipe for rolls now. Quick, easy, foolproof.
I make these buns on repeat. Delicious! I giggled when you suggested to rise dough in the dryer, however it works great.
This recipe is fantastic! Iโve made it a few times with great results. Could you knead this dough? And if so what do you think the results would be?
Best soft roll recipe but try it as a sandwich loafโฆ.it makes the best sandwich bread ever and even better toast.
So so good, will be definately be making these regularly, no more store brought!