No-Knead Make-Ahead Dinner Rolls with Honey Butter

by Averie Sunshine on June 16, 2013

There’s nothing almost nothing better than warm, fresh, buttery homemade dinner rolls.

The only thing better than the rolls is that the dough is a make-ahead and no-knead dough.

The rolls are so easy to make. I adapted the dough from my Challah recipe, which uses the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day method.

The principle is that you make a big batch of dough, keep it in the fridge for up to 5 days, and just bake off what you need on that particular day. It sounds too good to be true but it works.

They’re practically work-free because there’s no-kneading involved.

Since there’s no kneading, I don’t even use my stand mixer and stir everything together with a wooden spoon in a bowl.

Simply combine warm water, yeast, two eggs, honey, oil and flour.

Stir, cover it for about two hours to rise, and from there you have options.

…Two Hours Later

You can either bake with some of the dough now, or bake later. I usually use about one-quarter of the dough, and refrigerate the rest.

The recipe will yield about 14 to 16 dinner rolls, but I don’t only make rolls with this dough.

Sometimes I make mini-challah loaves. Mini food tastes better.

Or I make mini loaves of bread in Mini Loaf Pans. These pans and they come in handy for so many things and I just love them.

I bake rolls in them, too. We are a family of 3 and 4 rolls is fine. We don’t need carb mania every night.

You can see how much mileage I got from one batch of dough. And it’s not even that much dough, just a 3 1/2 cups flour recipe, but I love the flexibility of it.

Sometimes I form the dough into balls and keep them in the fridge in a covered pie dish. About an hour before I want to bake them, I put the dish on the counter to warm up and rise.

Bake for 15 minutes.

Instant dinner rolls.

The recipe is perfect for anyone who’s never worked with yeast because it’s almost impossible to screw up.

If you can dump ingredients in a bowl and stir, you can make these.

I like to brush the tops with honey butter before baking and it makes them even more irresistible.

Schmear the extra honey butter on after they’ve baked as you’re devouring them. So good.

The rolls are light, soft, and fluffy.

I just want to rip them apart and drench them in honey butter.

Nothing beats warm, fresh, homemade bread.

And for the rest of the day, your house will smell like a bakery.

If you literally need to butter someone up in your family, these will do the trick and earn you some major brownie points.

You can just pretend that you slaved away over them.

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These soft, light, fluffy dinner rolls are so easy. They're practically work-free because there's no-kneading involved. The beauty of this dough is that you can make it ahead of time, refrigerate it, and when you're ready to bake, grab a hunk and bake off only what you need. You can use it for more than just dinner rolls, too. Try challah or mini-challah, mini loaves of bread, or even cinnamon rolls. So many possibilities and knowing you have dough in the fridge waiting makes having fresh bread or rolls an easy reality.

Yield: 12 to 24 dinner rolls, depending on size

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 18 minutes

Total Time: 3+ hours, for rising

Rolls
7/8 cup water (scant 1 cup), warmed to about 125F for Platinum yeast, about 105 to 115F for most other yeast
2 1/4 teaspoons instant or active dry yeast (one 1/4-ounce packet, I use Red Star Platinum)
2 large eggs
1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil, or 1/4 cup butter (oil creates a softer loaf, butter creates a crustier crust; butter-based dough is firmer and slightly easier to work with, but I have no trouble with oil-based dough and prefer the bread)
1/4 cup honey
pinch salt, optional and to taste
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I have also used 2 1/2 cups bread flour and 1 cup all-purpose; bread flour creates chewier, firmer bread; AP creates softer, squisher bread and it's not quite as high-rising)

Honey Butter
1/4 cup (half of one stick) unsalted butter, very soft
2 to 3 tablespoons honey

For the Rolls - Pour water into a microwave-safe measuring cup or bowl and warm it to manufacturer's directions on yeast packet, about 45 seconds on high power. Take the temperature with a thermometer. If you don't have one, water should be warm to the touch, but not hot. Err on the side of too cool rather than too hot because you don't want to kill the yeast.Pour water into a large mixing bowl and sprinkle the yeast over the top; wait 5 to 10 minutes, or until yeast is foamy. This means it's alive and will work. (This is proofing and technically with instant dry yeast you don't have to proof it, but for this recipe, I do)Add the eggs, oil, 1/4 cup honey, optional salt, and whisk to combine, about 30 seconds.Add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon to incorporate the flour. Stir for about 1 minute more. This is as much 'kneading' as the recipe requires. Dough will be thick, lumpy, bumpy, and not smooth. This is okay. Make a ball with the dough in the center of the bowl. Cover bowl with plasticwrap and place in a warm, draft-free place to rise until doubled in bulk, about 2 hours. Tip - Create a warm environment by preheating your oven for 1 to 2 minutes to 400F, then shutting it off. This creates a 90F-ish warm spot. Slide the bowl in and wait while the yeast works. Just make sure your oven is off.At this point you have a choice... If you plan to bake now (through step 11) punch dough down, remove it from bowl, and turn it out onto a well-floured surface. Knead it only so much as necessary to shape it into balls for rolls (I divide the dough in half, and if I'm making rolls, I make 8 rolls from each half, for 16 rolls total, they're just a bit bigger than golf balls). Or form desired shapes such as mini loaves, challah, breadsticks, pretzels, etc. Use only what you need and save the rest for later in the refrigerator.Place balls of dough in a cooking sprayed round baking dish or pie plate, or in an 8x8 or 9x9 pan; size depends on how many you're making. They can be close to each other, but if they're overly squished they'll bake into each other.Cover baking dish with plasticwrap, and allow rolls to rise in a warm, draft-free environment for about 1 hour, until almost doubled in size. I use the preheated oven trick again.In the final minutes of rising, preheat oven to 350F.For the Honey Butter - Stir to combine the butter and honey. Generously brush or spread the mixture over the top of the dough before baking. Reserve remainder to serve with rolls after bakingBake rolls for about 15 to 18 minutes, or until lightly golden and puffed. Baking time will vary greatly based on how many rolls you're baking, or if it's another shape such as a mini loaf, the size of the pan, and personal preference. Watch your bread, not the clock.Serve as soon as bread is cool enough to handle. Rolls are best fresh, but will keep airtight for up to 4 days at room temperature or may be frozen for up to 4 months.If you plan to bake later - Take dough that's risen for about 2 hours from step 5, keep it covered, and refrigerate it. Dough may be kept refrigerated for up to 5 days before baking.When you plan to bake, pick up at step 5 and follow through step 11.

Recipe from Averie Cooks. All images and content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or simply link back to this post for the recipe. Thank you.

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Thanks for the entries in the 25 Restaurant Copycat Recipes and CopyKat Cookbook Giveaway

Do you make dinner rolls or bread? What’s your favorite recipe?

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