No stand mixer, no knead, no special equipment required. These No Knead Dinner Rolls are perfectly soft and fluffy and are astonishingly effortless to make. Just combine the ingredients in a bowl and mix with a wooden spoon – that’s it!
Bread is my #1 Deserted Island Food*.
Actually, “bread and butter” is my top choice. I say it really fast “bread ‘n’ butter”, and declare that it counts as one food. Despite jeering by whoever I’m playing the game with.
So the day I discovered how to make no knead bread was a game changer. GAME CHANGER.
* The Deserted Island Food game is often a topic of conversation at dinner parties I am present at, usually after a few wines and usually because it’s me who initiates it. The game is to go around the table and for everyone to name the top 3 foods they would take to a Deserted Island to live on forever. You do not have to worry about nutrition and no one puts on weight on my island. And despite much pressure, I stand firm that you are unable to grow, catch or kill anything on this island. You can, however, trade foods with other people on your island. So choose your friends wisely.
These No Knead Dinner Rolls will BLOW YOUR MIND!!! Every single time I make these, I am in utter awe of how quick it is to make the dough, and how amazingly soft and fluffy they are. They are in every way just as good as classic dinner rolls, made by kneading the dough by hand (tired arms, tired arms!) or using a stand mixer. I truly believe to my very core that only those with a refined palette and/or baking experts can tell the difference between these No Knead Dinner Rolls and traditional kneaded-tired-arms dinner rolls.
In the interest of being completely open and honest, here are the differences that I notice between kneaded dinner rolls and these No Knead Dinner Rolls:
- The kneaded rolls stay a wee bit more moist for longer. ie. they are slightly better the next day compared to the No Knead ones. But actually, homemade bread, muffins etc, being preservative free that they are, are always best consumed fresh so I don’t see this as a major disadvantage. Neither the kneaded nor No Knead rolls are great the next day. They lose their moisture and both need to be warmed up before serving to make them moist again. It is just that with the kneaded ones you could possibly get away with not warming up (but they aren’t great), whereas the No Knead ones definitely need warming up;
- Kneaded rolls rise a wee bit more. Not noticeable for normal people, and you’d never say the No Knead ones aren’t soft and fluffy. They are, they really are. It’s just that the kneaded ones rise a touch more with the same amount of yeast.
In terms of the prep, the batter is literally a dump-and-mix job. There is a major difference in rise time compared to kneaded dough which can rise in 30 – 45 minutes for the 1st rise, then around the same for the 2nd rise after forming the rolls. For these No Knead Dinner Rolls, the dough is much wetter than kneaded dough, so it takes longer to rise. 1.5 – 2 hours, depending on how warm it is where you are. If you use my ridiculous-but-effective tip of rising the dough in your (empty! warm!) dryer, it takes 1.5 hours. 🙂 (See recipes notes for details)
You can see in these photos how different the dough is compared to traditional bread dough. It’s not knead-able, it’s way too sticky. It’s almost more like a muffin batter!
Quick little tip: To get a beautiful golden surface, the dough needs to be rolled tightly and smoothly into balls. With sticky dough, this is tough to do. So here’s my work around: Press the dough down lightly, then bundle it up like a money-bag (mmm…Thai Money Bags…). Flip it over and you have a nice smooth surface with the dough stretched tightly = smooth golden surface. I demo this in the recipe video too (below recipe).
Awesome Make Ahead Tip! Another big bonus for these rolls: you can roll the dough into rolls then refrigerate overnight (uncooked) and bake them fresh when you’re ready to serve! It’s quite amazing actually, I wasn’t sure it would work but it does.
Easter is coming up! That’s why I decided to squeeze these in so soon after sharing Hot Cross Buns (which you can make using this No Knead technique, the recipe is in that post). I know some people think baking with yeast is daunting. But I swear to you, watch the video. See how soft and irresistible these rolls come out. And be prepared to be blown away by how easy these are to make!
Carb Monsters unite! – Nagi xx
PS In case you interested – because this is critical information, after my #1 Deserted Island Food of “bread ‘ n butter” (counts as 1 food item), #2 is cheese (all cheeses in this big wide world) and #3 is French Champagne (the really good stuff). Who wants to be on MY Deserted Island? And more importantly:
??WHAT ARE YOUR DESERTED ISLAND FOODS??❤️
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SOFT NO KNEAD Dinner Rolls

Ingredients
Buns:
- 1 tbsp dry yeast (Note 1)
- 55 g / 1/4 cup caster sugar (superfine sugar), or sub with normal white sugar
- 1/2 cup / 125 ml warm water (Note 2)
- 600 g / 20 oz bread flour (4 1/2 US Cups, 4 Cups everywhere else exc Japan)+ extra for dusting (can use all purpose / plain flour) (Note 3)
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup / 250 ml milk, lukewarm, whole or low fat, (Note 2)
- 50 g / 3.5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 2 eggs, at room temperature, beaten with fork
Brushing:
- 1 tbsp butter, melted
Instructions
- Place the yeast and 2 teaspoons of the sugar in a medium bowl, then pour in water. Leave for 5 minutes until it froths.
- Place flour, remaining sugar and salt in a bowl. Mix to combine.
- Make a well in the centre. Add milk, butter, eggs and pour in the yeast liquid, including all froth.
- Mix until combined with wooden spoon - it will be like a thick muffin batter. Not pourable, but thick and sticky.
Rise #1:
- Leave dough in the bowl, cover with a wet (clean) tea towel and place in a warm place (25C/77F+) to rise for around 1 1/2 - 2 hours or until almost tripled in volume. See Note 4 for how I do this (you will laugh - but it works every time!). Dough surface should be bubbly (see video or photos in post).
Forming Balls (watch video, it's helpful):
- Line a 31.5 x 23.5 cm / 9 x 13" tray with baking paper with overhang.
- Remove tea towel and punch dough to deflate, then mix briefly in the bowl to get rid of the bubbles in the dough.
- Dust work surface with flour, scrape dough on work surface. Dust top of dough then shape into a log. Cut log into 4 pieces, then cut each piece into 3 pieces (12 in total).
- Take one piece and press down with palm, then use your fingers to gather into a ball, flip (so smooth side is up) then roll the dough briefly to form a ball. This stretches the dough on one side and that's how I get a nice smooth surface on my roll. (For this step, use as much flour as needed to handle dough and avoid piercing inside into the wet dough)
- Place the ball with the smooth side up on the tray. Repeat with remaining dough. Line them up 3 x 4.
Rise # 2:
- Spray surface of rolls (or cling wrap) with oil (any), then place cling wrap over the tray.
- Return tray to warm place and leave for 30 - 45 min, until the dough has risen by about 75% (less than double in size).
- Partway through Rise #2, preheat oven to 200C/390F (standard) or 180C/350F (fan/convection).
- Bake for 15 - 18 minutes, or until the surface is a golden brown and the roll in the centre sounds hollow when tapped. The surface colour is the best test for this recipe.
- Remove rolls from oven. Brush with melted butter.
- Use overhang to lift rolls onto a cooling rack. Allow to cool to warm before serving.
Recipe Notes:

Nutrition
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
No Knead Dinner Rolls recipe video! No laughing at the Baby Hands – you’ll cop a serious eyeful in this video!
And now there’s NO KNEAD CINNAMON ROLLS!
LIFE OF DOZER
When he got sent to the naughty corner and he was wondering whether he was allowed back in….
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Thank you , I have tried so many recipes and wow I made bread , you covered everything so well. I’m just extatic:)
Hi Nagi,
I love this recipe because I love bread just as you do!!But I am really on here to say how much I love your Food Blogger Central. Those bloggers helped me when my Zip List plugin stopped working and I thought it was the end of my blog. I love all your help for blogging too. As an 80 year old granny who loves to blog about my family’s Italian recipes, I could not do it without your kind help and advice. Love you on this valentines Day.
Thanks so much, I love hearing this ❤️
These rolls came out PERFECTLY! Very easy to make and delicious. To reiterate one of your notes, these were great the next day too – just zap them quickly in the microwave. I drape a moist paper towel over them while they’re heating. Thanks for the recipe!
Wahoo! And great idea about the paper towel!
I am considering trying my hand at making your bread roll, hot cross bun and cinnamon scroll recipes.
My question is have you had experience in making them with gluten free flour?
I find gluten free flour dense and the bread doesn’t rise as much unfortunately ❤️
My deserted island foods are:
1: Pizza, non-specific, meaning I could have different kinds of pizza on different days, including dessert pizza. Idc about your rules.
2. Savoury roasted sweet potato
3. Ice cream
I love this!!
I made this rolls they are the best.
Awesome!
Omg this was the first time I used this no need bread rolls and the were tasty and they were very nice and golden brown ….. I will definitely use this again
Great Linda!
O.m.g this recipe is AMAZING! I am not a baker by any means and my rolls came out perfect! Fluffy, delicious and perfectly golden brown! I’ll need to work on getting them all the right size but that just means I’ll be making these again really soon! 😃
I have not tried these yet but I will. Thanks
This bread recipe is so good and easy to make. I love the idea of leaving the dough in the dryer to rise; so clever!
It’s amazing how well it works isn’t it Grisel!!
Made these for Thanksgiving and everybody raved about them. I followed your recipe to the T for the first batch. Which made them ok, for me. Second batch I doubled the sugar, used salted butter(before and after baking) and cut them a little smaller. Oh my goodness! This is my roll recipe for ever and ever. Thanks!
I’m so happy you love them Cheryl!!!
Dear Nagi! Thank you! I usually fail at kneading flour or making bread but this recipe is super easy and it comes out perfect every time!! My kids love it! I show off on IG and FB when I make these! I’ve made these about 3 times already and was brave enough to try it with half whole wheat flour! Thanks you thank you thank you!!
You’re so welcome Marissa!! I’m so happy you love this recipe!
I made these and they were easy to make and so light and yummy.
Great Beverly!
These look yum! I know he sugar is used to feed the yeast,but can the rolls be made without adding the remaining sugar?
You can cut back on the sugar Shantelle, but you definitely need some in there to help the dough rise ☺️
Wondering if I could make the dough and freeze it to make rolls at a later date?
Hi Gail, yes I have tried this and it’s worked perfectly fine!