Artificial Food Coloring Free Classic Yeast Rolls
Soft, pillowy, and golden-brown straight from the oven, these classic yeast rolls are the kind of baked good that disappears from the table before they've even had a chance to cool. Every ingredient here is a pantry staple — milk, flour, butter, egg, sugar, yeast, and salt — which means there's nothing synthetic sneaking into the dough. Store-bought rolls and packaged bread products are notorious for containing dyes and artificial additives that can be hard to spot on a label, so baking from scratch is genuinely the cleanest route. The method is straightforward: bloom the yeast, build the dough with a stand mixer, let it rise twice, and bake until deeply golden. Brushing with melted butter twice — once before baking and once right out of the oven — gives these rolls a rich, glossy finish that tastes as good as it looks. They come out tender and slightly sweet, with that satisfying pull-apart quality that makes them perfect alongside a big family dinner or holiday spread. Once you've made a batch this way, going back to the packaged version is going to feel like a real step down.
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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 the yeast and 1 tbsp of the sugar over the surface, and let stand for 5–10 minutes until foamy and fragrant.
- 2
Add the remaining 2 tbsp sugar, the salt, and the egg to the yeast mixture. Add the flour and mix on low speed with the dough hook until a shaggy dough forms, about 2 minutes.
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