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, I hope you can help me figure out what I did wrong! I made these one time before with Gluten Free flour and they came out great. But… I cannot remember which type of Gluten Free flour I used (GF All Purpose or GF Baking Flour). This time around I used an All Purpose GF flour and the dough was not sticky like the video. I tried your dryer trick (Ha Ha!!) to help it rise and it took over 2 hours to rise, and didn’t rise that much either. The dough was a little crumbly, but when I dusted it and made the log to cut them, they cut easily and it seemed to work okay when shaping into balls. However, when I cooked them the tops NEVER browned (even after 25 minutes) and they were cracked on top. My husband was really looking forward to having some GF dinner rolls and I decided to take them out before they turned into rocks. The last time I made these, they were delicious, so I was very sad these didn’t turn out like last time. Do you have any idea of what I could have done differently? Any ideas? HELP!
Hmm, I’m not sure Marianne! I’ve tried this with GF flour and it wasn’t crumbly 🙁 Any chance the ingredients weren’t measured correctly?? N x
Ha! I am the type of person that HAS to have a recipe, and I follow it exactly. I think it is possible that I used GF Baking Flour last time, whereas this time I used GF All purpose flour. I always use the same brand of flour too (King Arthur). I used the 4 .5 Cups of flour for the U.S. and after I put that in is when it looked like cookie dough rather than the nice sticky dough in your video. I will try it using the GF Baking Flour and will let you know if that works better! As I mentioned, last time I made these they were perfect and yummy! I hope I can make these perfectly again! Thanks!
do you have to add zantham gum to the gluten free flour
Nope!
I forgot to put the egg. Can i still include the egg even i already risen the dough?
I had watched your video on Facebook one time and wanted to try your bun recipe. But I could not find it again. I told my sister I was searching for a recipe that was made by someone with very small hands,and I had searched but could not find it. So the next day she sent me your video. So awesome. I’m going to try them.
Is this recipe easily halved?
Yep it sure can! Just slide the scaler (hover over Servings) 🙂
I made these tonight and they were amazing! Thank you for the recipe. Looking forward to experimenting with my sourdough starter in this recipe.
WHOOT! So great to hear that Lindsay, thanks for letting me know! N x ❤️
Does it hurt if they sit in my dryer for longer, Lol? I need to run out for a bit before I do the next step.
Hmmm… it will affect the rise a bit. But it won’t kill the recipe! It will still work, it just won’t rise quite as much. 🙂 N x
I’m really happy to find this site. The dinner rolls are on for tonight. I got tired of my bread recipe collection and was looking for something that would be simple. These look just perfect. And, there are lots of other recipes I see that I’d like to try.
HOPE YOU LOVE THEM!!!
Great recipe! I’m currently living in Italy and wasn’t sure about what flour or yeast I was using but it turned out so good! Thank you
That’s wonderful to hear Laerke!! Thanks for sharing your feedback! N x ❤️
Is it possible to make these with gluten free flour?
Yes! Please see the recipe notes 🙂 N x
I made these today followed the recipe to a “T” and they came out perfect!! Thanks for quick tips n this delish recipe
I’m so pleased to hear you enjoyed this Dawn, thanks for letting me know! N x ❤️
thank you for the recipe! i tried it and turned out pretty well, only it was a tad dry. is there anything i did wrong? could it be baking abit too long?
Hi Darren! What type of oven do you have? Do you think it might run a bit hot? Was the colour of your rolls like mine? 🙂
mine is a normal oven
colour is similar, only the bottom is slightly browner though
Can I use instant yeast?
Yes! Please see notes! N x
Hi , First off , Thank you for this recipe .I stayed away from making bread because i didn’t think i could do it with out a good proof method, well my friend yours is fool proof (your little hands are cute by the way) So I am forever hooked..
ps They taste amazing too
Thanks for the words of support re: my baby hands!! 😂 So glad you enjoyed this recipe Lisa 🙂 N x
I’ll share my prime rib, mangoes and iced tea if you share your bread and butter and cheese! 😁
I can’t wait to try these rolls, do they hold up well to make small sandwiches for parties?
We’ll have a FEAST on OUR island!!! 😂 Terrific to make sliders / sandwiches for parties! N x
Couldn’t you freeze the balls on a cookie sheet and then bag them? That way, they wouldn’t stick together. By the way, I’ve made this recipe in loaves, too, and they turn out fabulous. I make all our bread from scratch, so I was so happy to find this recipe! It’s the one my husband always asks me to make. So, thank you! ~Le
Gosh yes that’s a great idea Le!!!
My deserted island food would be ice cream
Come on MY ISLAND!! 😂
this recipe works for break too but how long do you bake it for
It says at top of the recipe, Cook Time 15 minutes. Just remember when baking bread this is an estimate. I would turn the bread at 10 minutes for uniform browning and then check at 15 and decide if it needs more time or not.
For break?? Sorry I’m confused Anna!!
*bread?
I would like to make and bake what I need while freezing the rest unbaked. Can you tell me how I could do that?
It’s easy to freeze bread. When you form the rolls, just take the ones that you want to freeze and put them in an air tight container. Use something that they don’t get crushed before baking. Then when you want to bake, remove from the freezer and put on your sheet pan. Put in a warm place. They will thaw and then begin to rise. Once they have risen you are ready to bake.
Hi catherine! please see the recipe notes! N x
I worked in a bakery for a chain supermarket.
Did you know all their ‘fresh baked’ rolls start as little frozen balls of dough?
We set them up on pans to rise the night before.
Early in the morning, the first shift comes in and ‘fresh bakes’ them 🙂
This brings me to the question of “does anybody think these might be suitable
to freeze dough balls in quantity so they have them ‘fresh’ whenever they crave them?
You should be able to freeze them just like any other dough. Just make sure you use something between layers so they don’t stick together.
Love hearing that Ruth!!!