Your Thanksgiving Dinner Needs These No-Knead Rolls
There’s a time and a place for chewy, crusty homemade bread. Bread that requires 12 minutes of constant kneading to prepare. Bread full of great, elastic gluten. This place is not a Thanksgiving dinner table. The crusty bread makes an amazing turkey sandwich the next day, but it definitely makes a lousy wrap.
Dinner rolls should be soft and pillowy – the kind of bread you can slather with butter, mop up with gravy and shove into your mouth. This is where no-knead bread comes in. It’s easy on your hands and gluten-free, making it ideal for dinner rolls.
A regular bread recipe can be turned into scones, but the catch is that these recipes use high-gluten flour to give it the strength needed for a chewy, springy texture and good rise. For the perfect soft dinner roll, there should be just enough gluten to hold the structure, and shorteners like eggs and butter should be present to keep it soft and moist.
No-knead bread is not kneaded (surprise!) and this recipe uses all-purpose flour, eggs and butter. All these factors ensure that the gluten content is lower than in lean crusty breads and that gluten formation is minimized.
In addition to this, I also added instant mashed potato flakes. This extra starch (along with the eggs and butter) helps produce a soft roll that stays that way even after two days at room temperature. I shaped them into a Parker House Roll, but you can give them the classic round shape if you prefer. (If you need help forming the dough balls, watch my video .)
How to make rolls without kneading
1. Knead the dough
Pour the room temperature milk into a medium to large bowl, sprinkle the yeast on top and let it rise for a minute while you prepare the other ingredients. Add yeast until the milk becomes thick and cloudy. Whisk the sugar, potato flakes and egg. Add flour and salt. Mix these ingredients with a spoon until they are partially combined. The spoon will become difficult to use and the dough will still look unkneaded. This is when you add butter.
The oil should be soft, like mayonnaise. If it’s too tough, cut it into tablespoon-sized pieces and microwave in a separate bowl for a few seconds. Stir and grind to the desired consistency. Reheat in the microwave if necessary. Scrape the dough off the spoon and add the butter. I recommend wearing a rubber glove and mixing the dough by hand rather than using a spoon – at this point it’s similar to a meatball mixture and easier to do by hand. No gloves needed, just wash your hands afterwards. (If you’re thinking, “This is kneading!” It’s not, it’s unifying. Kneading is much more extensive and violent.)
2. Proofing the dough
Once the oil is added, scrape the dough into a mound. Cover the bowl and let it sit for an hour to 90 minutes. (It’s cool in my apartment right now, so this took a good 90 minutes.) It won’t double in size, but it will become noticeably bigger and plumper. You have to be patient with the yeast – it increases quickly during the last 30 minutes, so if you need more time, give it more time. It will get there.
3. Form buns
Grease a baking dish with oil. You can use a cake pan, pie pan, or rectangular Pyrex pan. Your choice will change the shape, but everything will work. Keep in mind that if you choose a smaller dish, you may need two of them. I used a 13-by-nine-inch Pyrex dish so there was plenty of room in my Parker House buns. If I wanted a tall and thin roll, I would choose a smaller dish.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. The dough will be sticky. Fold it in half towards itself. Turn the dough 90 degrees and repeat the same. Repeat this two more times, keeping the same side down and shaking off excess flour. You tighten the outside and make the smooth side.
Now gather the four “corners” or edges up and into the center, like a handbag. Pinch and twist to seal well. Stretch the dough into a rectangle measuring approximately nine by twelve inches. Brush the whole thing with melted butter.
Cut it into 12 approximately equal rectangles. Fold these rectangles in half to create squares or short rectangles. This creates a small butter pocket that can be easily separated and filled with turkey during dinner. Place the rolls in a greased pan.
4. Prove them again
Cover the dish and let it rise for another hour. It’s helpful to use a glass bowl because after the proofing time has passed, you can look underneath and see the bubbles the yeast has created in the dough.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350°F. You can either brush the tops of the buns with butter or use egg wash to give them a shiny, deeply toasted look. This time I chose butter, but then, as always, I wanted to use egg liquid. Butter adds flavor, but it doesn’t brown as quickly, so the buns will still look light even when they’re done. The egg wash adds a little sexiness to the buns.
5. Bake dinner rolls.
Bake the buns for 20-25 minutes or until they are puffed up and the centers spring back when pierced. Brush them with, oh yes, more butter and sprinkle with full-fat flaky salt before serving warm.
They can sit at room temperature for four days, covered. Just refresh them in the oven (350°F for five minutes) before serving. If you want to make them ahead of time, simply remove them from the pan, bag and freeze. To reheat them, bake them in a skillet at 350°F for 15 minutes before serving.
No-Knead Soft Dinner Rolls Recipe
Ingredients:
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1 ¼ cups milk at room temperature
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1 tablespoon instant dry yeast (I use SAF yeast )
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1 tablespoon sugar
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¼ cup potato flakes
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1 egg, room temperature
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2 ½ cups all purpose flour (+ extra for shaping)
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1 teaspoon salt
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5 tablespoons butter, soft like mayonnaise
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Washing eggs (optional)
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3 tablespoons melted butter (for serving)
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Salty salt (for serving)
1. Sprinkle the yeast over the milk in a medium to large bowl. Let the yeast rise for a minute. Beat sugar, potato flakes and egg. Add flour and salt. Mix the dough with a spoon, it will be thick. Once the batter is about half combined, scrape it down with a spoon. Add butter and stir the dough until completely smooth. I used my hand to make sure the butter was completely mixed into the dough.
2. Scrape down the edges so the dough comes together in the center. Cover the bowl and let it rise for an hour to 90 minutes, or until it has puffed up and risen by about 50%.
3. Grease a 13-by-nine-inch pan, or slightly smaller if you need taller buns. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Fold the dough in half. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and fold it in half again. Repeat this two more times. Lift the outer edges of the dough and gather them in the center like a purse. Twist and squeeze to seal it. Stretch the dough into a rectangle measuring approximately nine by twelve inches. Brush the surface of the rectangle with melted butter and cut the dough into 12 equal rectangles. Fold each small rectangle in half and place the buns on a greased baking sheet. Cover the dish.
4. Let the buns rise for an hour. Preheat oven to 350°F. Brush the tops of the buns with egg or brush with melted butter. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until they are set when you pierce the centers. Brush the buns with butter and sprinkle with some flaky salt. Serve while still warm.