BHA & BHT Free Classic Dinner Rolls
Soft, pillowy dinner rolls made from scratch are one of those kitchen projects that feel deeply satisfying the moment you pull the pan from the oven. Store-bought rolls are a surprisingly common source of synthetic preservatives like BHA and BHT, which are widely used to extend shelf life in commercial baked goods — so baking your own is one of the cleanest swaps you can make. This recipe keeps things beautifully simple: whole milk, yeast, flour, sugar, salt, egg, and real butter are all you need to build a rich, tender dough with no additives hiding in the ingredient list. The butter gets worked directly into the dough during kneading, giving each roll that soft, slightly rich crumb that makes them impossible to stop at just one. A double brush of melted butter — once before baking and once right out of the oven — creates that gorgeous golden top and keeps every bite moist and flavorful. They bake up touching each other in the pan, which means pull-apart edges that are soft and fluffy rather than crusty. Serve them warm straight from the pan and watch them disappear.
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Learn more →Ingredients
12 servings
For the dough
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast (1 standard packet)
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar, divided
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 1 tsp fine salt
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened and cut into pieces
For brushing
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
Instructions
- 1
Warm the milk in a small saucepan over low heat until it reaches 105–110°F (40–43°C) on a kitchen thermometer — warm to the touch but not hot. Pour into the bowl of a stand mixer, sprinkle in the yeast and 1 tbsp of the sugar, and stir briefly. Let stand for 5–10 minutes, until the surface is foamy and the mixture smells yeasty.
- 2
Add the remaining 2 tbsp sugar, the salt, and the egg to the yeast mixture. Fit the stand mixer with the dough hook and mix on low speed until combined, about 1 minute. Add the flour all at once and mix on low until a shaggy dough forms and no dry flour remains, about 2 minutes.
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