Artificial Food Coloring Free Soft and Buttery Dinner Rolls
Pillowy, golden, and brushed with melted butter straight out of the oven — these dinner rolls are the kind of thing that disappears from the table before anything else does. Every ingredient here is exactly what it sounds like: milk, flour, egg, butter, yeast, sugar, and salt. No dyes, no synthetic additives, no mystery components hiding in a store-bought package. That simplicity is actually what makes them so good, because clean, real ingredients let the yeast do its job and the butter shine through in every bite. The process is straightforward but genuinely rewarding — warm milk activates the yeast, softened butter gets worked into the dough gradually for that tender, almost brioche-like crumb, and two rises give the rolls their airy lift. When they come out of the oven deep golden brown and touching each other in the pan, the smell alone is worth every minute of the wait. A generous brush of melted butter and a pinch of flaky sea salt on top takes them from homemade to bakery-worthy. Serve them warm alongside a weeknight dinner or a holiday spread and watch them vanish.
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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
- flaky sea salt, for sprinkling (optional)
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. Add the flour all at once. Fit the stand mixer with the dough hook and mix on low speed until a shaggy dough forms and no dry flour remains, about 2 minutes.
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