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No Thanksgiving table would be complete without rolls, and these Easy Flaky Pull-Apart Dinner Rolls are my go-to this year.
If there’s one thing that absolutely has to be on every holiday table, it’s got to be rolls. Or at least that’s the case in my house (ok a few of the brothers would definitely say turkey over rolls). However, not one family member, not even the pickiest, would ever decline a roll. In fact, the rolls are probably the very first item to completely disappear.
Everyone loves them.
Over the years, I’ve made a few different varieties of dinner rolls. My favorites are these easier homemade crescent rolls, but I always love making those for Christmas dinner. For Thanksgiving, I love something a little more doughy. Enter these super easy, super flakey, extra buttery dinner rolls.
Oh man, does my family love these. Even after having been served these rolls about four times over the last month (they took a bit of testing to get just right). Each time they were gone in minutes…seriously my family loves rolls.
Here’s the thing, I know bread baking intimidates a lot of people, and I get it. When you read a recipe that requires kneading the dough for ten minutes, has a rising time of four hours, and a crazy complicated rolling/shaping process, that’s not only scary, but daunting too.
Whenever I set out to bake bread, I always try to find the easiest and simplest way. Bread does not have to be hard to be delicious, and this recipe is an example of that.
The dough is made up of a few simple ingredients that you probably have in your kitchen right now. Mix up the ingredients in one bowl, let the dough rise, roll it out, spread on some butter, cut into squares, let it rise one more time and then bake. Nothing fancy or complicated, and the best part?
These rolls are delicious.
Again, soft, buttery, and extra flakey. Aka, what every dinner roll should aspire to be.
So what’s the secret that makes these rolls so good?
Umm? Can you guess?
A layer of butter…
Obviously.
When working on this recipe, I first baked up a roll that was more dense than I wanted. I’m not real big on dense rolls and what I really wanted with these rolls was more of that flakey layer, like what you get from the Pillsbury canned biscuits. Yes, I did just write Pillsbury canned biscuits. My mom used to buy them for family parties and even though I have not had them since I was probably ten or twelve, I remember them being delicious. Come on, you know you loved them too.
So, I did some thinking and ended up using my favorite technique from my crescent recipe and smeared a layer of butter (salted, because it’s my favorite) over the dough, then folded it up like a letter and cut into squares. The layer of butter ripples through the rolls creating three flakey, doughy layers. It’s what makes these pull-apart rolls better than any other.
Because let’s be real, who does not lover, buttery, doughy layers?!
They are the best.
And now you guys see why you need these rolls in your life. Especially come Thanksgiving Day.
They are the perfect rolls for soaking up all that gravy and then eating for breakfast the next morning. Trust me on this, you have to give these rolls a try. There’s nothing not to love.
And guys? Speaking of rolls, my mom and I are in NYC this week and I really want to take her to a great bakery for croissants and pastries since they are her all time favorite. From your guys recommendations so far, I need to go to Levin Bakery, any other hidden secrets I need to know about? Let us know!
In the meantime, start plotting out your Thanksgiving rolls and then give these a testing this week…
Easy Flaky Pull-Apart Dinner Rolls
Servings: 12 rolls
Calories Per Serving: 240 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm whole milk
- 2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 large eggs
- 3-4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 tablespoons salted butter, at room temperature, plus melted butter for brushing
- flaky sea salt, for topping (optional)
Instructions
- 1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the milk, yeast, honey, eggs, flour, and salt. Using the dough hook, mix until the flour is completely incorporated, about 4-5 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons butter and mix until combined, about 2-3 minutes more. 2. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 1 hour or until doubled in size.3. Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish with butter.
4. Punch the dough down and roll out on a lightly floured surface into a large rectangle that’s about 1/4 inch thick. Spread the remaining 4 tablespoons of softened butter all over dough, being careful not to break through the dough with butter.5. Fold one half of the rectangle towards the center and fold the other half over the top of the first layer so you have three dough layers. Cut the dough into 12 equal squares. Arrange in the prepared baking dish. Cover the pan, and let the rolls rise for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, until they're puffy. Alternately, you can place the pan in the fridge to rise overnight. 6. reheat the oven to 350. Bake the rolls for 20 to 25 minutes, until they're golden brown on top.7. Remove them from the oven, and brush with the melted butter, sprinkle with salt, of desired. Pull them apart to serve warm.
All good cooks test their recipes before Thanksgiving day. Just sayin’
This post was originally published on November 7, 2017
Can I use reg milk?
Hi Rachel,
Yes, that is perfectly okay to use. I hope you love this recipe, please let me know if you give it a try!
The recipe says 3-4 cups of flour. I don’t see a note explaining why there might be a range- should it be 3 cups or 4 cups? Thanks!
Hi Rachel,
I would recommend starting with 3 cups of flour. As long as your dough ball forms nicely, you do not need to add more flour. If your dough is too sticky, I would add 1/4 cup more of flour at a time. I hope this helps!
Hi Tieghan! Could I make these one night and leave them in the fridge for 24 hours and then bake them the next night? Planning/Prepping a drop off meal for some friends and these are my go-to roll for that but I’ve never done it on a week night when I’ve had to work all day!
Hey Em,
Totally, that will work well for you! Let me know if you have any other questions!
Can you use active yeast instead of instant? Can’t wait to try but I literally cannot find instant yeast anywhere lol.
Hi Autumn! Yes, you can use active yeast in this recipe! That should work great! 🙂 xT
I made these last night. They were good; not flaky at all, though. There were the 3 distinct layers, from the butter and folding, but still a very chewy texture. I feel like less mixing in the beginning might better serve the end result… or laminating the bread by using small chunks of butter (pea sized), rather than spreading the softened butter between the layer. Still very yummy.
Hey Rachel! Thank you SO much for this feedback, I really appreciate this! 🙂 xT
This has become my go-to roll recipe!! I’ve made it for Thanksgivings, Friendsgivings, and simply yummy dinners at home. It’s pretty easy for bread and the end result is always absolutely scrumptious. Thanks Tieghan for such a winner!
Hi Lacy,
Happy Thursday! I appreciate you making this recipe so often and your feedback, love to hear it always turns out nicely for you! XxT
Absolutely delicious! We use and love many of your roll recipes but this was a hit — even with the picky eaters in our family! Love it!
I doubled the recipe so we could “test” them before Thanksgiving. And I added pumpkin spice and brown sugar in-between the layers with the butter. They turned out so good!
Hi Nikki,
Amazing! Love to hear you enjoyed this recipe, thanks for making it and your comment! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving! xx
I did it!! I have tried numerous times to make rolls from scratch and always an epic fail. These dinner rolls were easy and delicious and they turned out perfect. Thank you Tieghan!
Yay!! Thanks so much for trying this recipe, Colleen! I’m so glad to hear they turned out well for you! Happy Thanksgiving! xx
Made these last year and absolutely loved them! They were a hit for the whole family! Can I use a gluten free flour to make these instead of all purpose flour?
Hi Kenzie,
So glad to hear this recipe was enjoyed by your family! Yes, totally fine to use gluten free flour. Happy Thanksgiving! xx
These are amazing, my entire family loved them! They were great the next day when we had a reheat them also.
Thank you so much Trista! xT
Hi! Such a huge fan, do you think I could sub almond milk for the whole milk?
Hi Mike,
You bet, that will work nicely for you! Happy Thanksgiving! xx
Yum! Made these tonight. Will definitely make again. Thinking about making a Parmesan/garlic for next batch! Thanks for the recipe!
Hey! Thank you so so much! Love to hear that you enjoyed this recipe 🙂 xT
This looks delicious! Do you know if it’s possible to substitute instant yeast for active dry yeast? Cant wait to try!
Hi Tieghan!
If a stand mixer isn’t available, does mixing my hand work? Thank you!
Hi Taryn,
You bet! Just mix with a wooden spoon and knead by hand until you have a smooth dough ball. I hope you love this recipe! xT