Paraben Free Soft and Buttery Dinner Rolls
Warm, pillowy, and brushed with melted butter straight out of the oven, these dinner rolls are the kind of thing that disappears from the table before anyone has a chance to sit down. The ingredient list is refreshingly straightforward — whole milk, flour, egg, butter, yeast, sugar, and salt — which is exactly what makes them such a reliable choice when you're being careful about what goes into your food. So many store-bought breads and packaged rolls contain preservatives and synthetic additives that can be hard to track down on a label, so baking from scratch puts you fully in control. The enriched dough gets its incredible softness from the gradual addition of butter during kneading, a technique that creates a tender, slightly chewy crumb without any shortcuts. A double rise gives the rolls their light, airy structure, and that final brush of melted butter with a pinch of flaky sea salt takes them from simple to genuinely special. Whether you're serving them alongside a holiday roast or just a weeknight soup, these rolls bring serious comfort with nothing you didn't put there yourself.
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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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