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….
Experienced bread maker here. For some reason I found the dough quite dry. I carefully meadured all ingredients. I found the dough rather dense also. I live in a very dry climate, at a higher elevation. Not sure. It is on it’s first rise now.
Hi Kat – that’s so odd! So when you mixed the batter together – i.e. before rising – the dough didn’t look like the wet sticky batter you see in the video??
Just had the dinner rolls, they were great. But my wife forgot to add the eggs, so next time we will make sure that we add the eggs.
So thrilled to hear they worked out EVEN without eggs! Wow! 🙂
I just finished prepping my dough and it is sitting in the bowl for the first rise as I type this. I felt that I really needed to post a warning for everyone regarding the measurement of the flour…
PLEASE WEIGH your flour instead of using measuring cups! I measured out four cups using my dry measuring cups, as I always do with flour or other dry ingredients, and thought it seemed a bit short. So I decided to weigh my flour just in case and lo and behold, what did I find? I discovered that this recipe was done using liquid measuring cups! Four cups of flour using levelled off dry measuring cups will only give you about 400 grams or so of flour. So after adding enough to get to 600 grams, another two cups of flour plus, I decided to pour the flour into my 4 cup LIQUID measuring cup and it filled it to the brim.
So if anyone out there is making this recipe using dry measure cups, be aware that you will be seriously short in your flour measurement. What this will do to the final result I do not know but it cannot be good! And whenever possible, WEIGH your ingredients if you have both volume and weight measurements in a recipe. It is ALWAYS more accurate.
Anyways… the dough is rising, then I will put it in the fridge for a 4 hour or so second rise while I prep my turkey. I figure by the time my turkey is almost done, these will be ready to go into my convection oven and when the turkey is carved, the stuffing ready and the mashed potatoes nice and fluffy, the buns will be ready to serve right along everything else! 🙂
Hi Robert! Thanks so much for your input 🙂 The dough IS very wet and sticky, so sticky it seems like you can’t handle it. But when you tip it out onto the work surface, the outside of the dough is sprinkled with enough flour so it can be handled for cutting / rolling. If you pierce the dough, yes it’s too sticky inside! The flour was measured using dry cups, not liquid, and in response to your very useful feedback (I never thought of anyone using a LIQUID measuring jug for flour!) I have added an extra note about measuring the flour. And also, this recipe is VERY forgiving re: adding flour as required, so I am sure they will come out terrific! HAPPY EASTER! I bet your turkey is a ripper!!! N xx
I just realized when reading the latest No Kneed Cinnamon Rolls email that I never posted how everything turned out! Well the turkey and stuffing and mashed spuds turned out great, but the surprise hit was the rolls! They turned out fluffy, light and oh so good! Not one went to waste as the left over buns were eagerly grabbed up by my friends who dropped by for dinner and spirited away at the end of the evening. I was notified later that they were just as good warmed up the next day. 🙂
My only problem is that I made them in my old faithful combination microwave/convection oven set to convection only. What I did not realize is that the heat in this oven comes from the center of the top where the fan circulates the air and due to this, I felt the buns were a little undercooked at the bottom and the larger ones quite doughy in the bottom. No one else noticed or cared in the slightest when I mentioned it but the next time I will bake them in my regular oven to eliminate this possible problem.
But for my first attempt at baking buns, or anything really, from scratch, they were a great success! Hot from the oven with butter or just soaking up gravy, these are going to be a regular feature any time I make a roast.
I am so pleased to hear that Robert! WOW what a feast! 🙂 N xx PS Is that microwave convection oven smaller than normal ovens??
It is slightly smaller than a regular stove oven but considerably larget than most microwave ovens. It is a quite old, 1985, Panasonic Dimension 4 oven. I actually use it to do most of my cooking as it is faster and takes less energy than a regular oven. It is also able to do combination cooking, microwave and convection together, but that requires a sensor that I no longer have to ensure proper cooking temp. This oven is an absolute marvel for everything other than baking I guess. I found an old advertisement for it on YouTube. here is the link. People still sell the cookbook that came with it on Amazon and you can even find a working unit for sale on occasion. But I think most people who have one would never give it up without a fight!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7TvVuKf53k
I got confused with the tempature and cooked on 200…flat but tasty.
And hopefully still kind of fluffy! 🙂
In addition to the melted butter for the tops, I am wondering why there is melted butter listed in the ingredients, but no where is it added in the process steps? Therefore, I didn’t notice till after I had made these!!!!??!!
Hi! Step 3 says “add remaining ingredients” 🙂 I’ve now expanded it out!
The recipe ingredients calls for 1 cup of milk however I cannot find anywhere in the directions where the milk is used?? It says to pour water over the yeast and sugar. Is this where the milk is to go too??? Help!
Hi Tammi! Step 3 says “add remaining ingredients” 🙂 I’ve now expanded it out!
Making these right now. I doubled the recipe but forgot to separate the dough for the first rise. Oh well..it’s my first time making anything like this. Live and learn. Happy Easter!
Out of curiosity, how did it go? 🙂 I suspected it wouldn’t rise unless separated? N xx HAPPY EASTER to you too!
It did rise (thankfully I used a large bowl and a warm oven) but it was sticky. I’m not sure if I mismeasured the flour or not. However, I added a little more flour here and there as I worked it into balls and, while they weren’t as pretty as yours, they actually tasted good and were a hit! My mom, who does a lot of baking, was impressed. She said the first time she made rolls they could have been used as weapons. Definitely a keeper!
That’s terrific Krista! I have definitely found that the stickiness of the dough is affected by weather – temperature and humidity – so the amount of flour I sprinkle on to be able to cut / shape into rolls differs every time. But it can take it! 🙂
If using instant yeast do I have to add it to warm water or can I just put it in with the dry ingredients
Hi Bill! Please follow the recipe, you could just add it to the Dry Ingredients but it works putting it in the liquid so for the sake of consistency, I follow the same recipe. In fact, most of the time I make this using instant yeast. 🙂
thank you this came our exactly like in the video… I did them for easter breakfast, so we could have a “ham cutter” thick juicy slices of farmers choice ham in a “salt bread” (barbadian /bajan) thing and they worked wonderfully.. I am in Barbados..
I’m so pleased to hear that Paula!! Happy Easter – and thank you for coming back to let me know you enjoyed them! N xx
Can you use this recipe to make bread? Not just rolls?
Hi Janice! It works great with a long bread, like french stick / baguette. I don’t recommend it for a loaf because it is a bit more delicate than traditional kneaded bread so it’s not ideal for slicing and spreading with butter. So it works great for rolls but not so much as a loaf. Creating a loaf version is on my list!
I just finished step 2 I am going to wait until tomorrow Easter Sunday to cook them I made 24 they look and feel great cant wait to taste thanks for the recipe Martha
Happy Easter Martha! I hope you LOVE THEM! N xx
What temperature do you bake them at? Not using convection. 390 degrees seems like an odd temperature.
Hi Maureen! Yes it’s 390F for non convection 🙂 That’s the exact translation of 200C which is what I use here in Australia.
Im trying your recipe right now . Rolls are in oven cooking. . It rised beautifully in my oven ,sorry did not use dryer, to lazy to take clothes out of it.lol I was wondering if i could make the dough sweeter for a fruit kolche, my next project.
I hope you LOVE it Irene! Yes you can make it sweeter, have a look at my Hot Cross Buns recipe which also has a No Knead version. 🙂 It is sweeter. Change up the spices and fruit for whatever you want!
This is a great recipe! Thanks for sharing it. I made these on Wednesday and they still aren’t dry. I did do one thing different from your recipe. Instead of adding my wet ingredients to all the flour, I added the wet ingredients as you said but to just 2 cups and whisked that smooth, then added the other 2 cups of flour and mixed with a spoon. Just curious if that really made a difference in the texture. I used just regular all purpose flour. Thanks again, these are delicious!
HI Debbie! I’m glad you enjoyed this, thanks for letting me know! I don’t think that would make a difference, I have had to do massive “salvage” efforts with these, like when I had a brain implosion and added way less flour than I should have so it was like a runny cake batter, then added flour later to get the right consistency. And the rolls came out no different!
Could i use gluten free flour to make these. My daughter has coeliac disease. Would they turn out the same.
I’m sorry Lisa, I haven’t tried 🙁
Hello!
Thank you for a memory. I remember as a child my mother made rolls almost exactly like that! I live about 4400 feet above sea level ans would love to try this using fresh ground wheat fur. ( I have a stone grinder). What would you suggest?
Haha wheat FLOUR
BA HA HA! I seriously though that was some kind of fancy type of flour!!!! Fresh ground flour should work fine, I haven’t done it myself but can’t think of a reason why it wouldn’t. Only tip is to weigh rather than use cup measures – like parmesan, I suspect 1 cup of freshly ground flour will weigh less than store bought ground. 🙂
Hi Lori! I’m sorry to say I don’t have experience in wheat fur. I’ve been researching high altitude baking it and am pretty sure that if you are generous with the flour when cutting / rolling out i.e. enough so you can just handle it, then it should be fine. The dough for this recipe is actually very forgiving – because it’s so soft, yeast “works” easily. Hope that helps!
Sadness. Apparently this recipe doesn’t like high altitude, or something. I read the recipe over. Reread a couple more times, then proceeded to follow to a T. After the first rise, I had a thick batter that would not hold a shape even if I bought it spanx. I’m at over 6000 feet above sea level, Could that affect it, or did something else go wrong?
Hi Katie, I’m sorry to hear about that. High altitude does affect yeast baking and I haven’t tested this at high altitude. Did you try adding more flour to make the dough consistency like what you see in the video after the first rise? N x
What about adding a few tablespoons of wheat gluten. That usually helps with the rise in baking. I am making this for Easter Sunday’s dinner. However, I did follow it to a “t”…but I did add a few tablespoons of wheat gluten. I think I could have gotten 15 rolls. It rised so good. I can’t wait to see how they do for the second rise. I too was thinking I would like to try it with 1/2 wheat flour…then maybe eventually adjust the recipe to more wheat than white. This was so easy to make. I love the fact that there is no-kneading. I always worry that I will knead too much or not enough. Thanks. Look forward to trying some of yoru other recipes! 🙂
Oh WOW! What a fantastic tip, I will try it out! 🙂
Hi I live at about 2000 feet above sea level
I added slightly more liquid
And used a bit more flour at the roll stage
They were absolutely delicious
Great recipe, thank you
Yes! So fantastic to hear Rouhana and thank you SO MUCH for the high altitude tips! N xx
Hi. I love your recipe. 🙂 I made bread before and didn’t have a good experience. Yours rocks! 😉
By the way, the humidity in Singapore is fine for rising. Just add more flour as you shape the buns. That worked for me.
However after baking, they stuck to the base of the baking pan, so they don’t exactly look presentable at the bottom. How do i resolve that? Do you spray oil on the base as well?
Another coffee addict :p
Oh that’s a great tip, thank you SL! I was reading that the humidity makes the dough bit stickier. I’ll update the notes!! Regarding the rolls sticking to the pan, did you line the tray with paper per the recipe? 🙂
Can’t believe i read the recipe many times, but missed that part out. Haha. Guess i need more coffee!
So anyway, i tried it again today and it’s even more amazing than my first try. It was so soft and fluffy when it came out of the oven! However when i had it a couple of hours later, it was abit denser. Is that the same with your’s too?
Thanks for the recipe and your personalised response to everyone! 🙂
WHOOT! So pleased to hear that SL!!! N xx ❤️
My deserted island foods are bacon, Bacon and BACON, PS I don’t share. Lol, but I do love bacon and easy ways to make rolls.
Ahh. Come on my island! I need bacon!!!
I would love to make these as they do look great! Can you use the fast action dried yeast, which just goes in to the mixture straight from the packet (I live in France at the moment and have 5grm sachets)? If yes, does it alter the recipe at all? Thank you!
Hi Debbie! I actually make this using what we call “Instant Yeast” which is also known as fast action yeast. I also use this same recipe using normal dry yeast. Same steps for every type of yeast!
Thank you, I have my son and daughter in law staying with me at the moment and we all love to cook so we will be trying some of your recipes over the next few weeks – slow roast lamb on Saturday!