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! It’s the easiest recipe for bread rolls in the whole world!
This recipe for bread rolls will blow your mind!
These dinner rolls are:
- made without kneading;
- without a stand mixer or any other electric appliance;
- take 2 minutes of active effort to mix the dough;
- have golden tops and are soft and fluffy on the inside.
Every single time I make these, I am in utter awe of how effortless they are, and how amazing they taste. 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!
See how soft and fluffy they are??
Kneaded vs No Knead 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.
Dump-and-mix NO KNEAD Dough
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
More No Knead Breads & Flavour variation options!
- No Knead Cinnamon Rolls
- No Knead Hot Cross Buns
- Irish Soda Bread
- Cheese and Bacon Rolls (use this no knead dough for that recipe)
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!
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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 Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
When he got sent to the naughty corner and he was wondering whether he was allowed back in….
Oh my gosh! These are the fluffiest, softest, most delicious buns I have ever made. And I made them with lactose-free milk!
It has been a cooking week for me. I redid this recipe with yeast that actually foamed and it worked great. The rolls came out much larger than I expected but they are great. Thanks so much
I’ve made these rolls and they are A….mazing…my question…I want to do the ‘make-ahead’ and leave them overnight…if I have them made and 1st rise by 6:30 p.m. how many hours would be acceptable in the fridge??? 12 hours – that would put the 2nd rise to 6:30 a.m – or could they stay in the fridge until say 9:00 a.m. then finish off the baking process? Thanks – Anne 🙂
Hi Anne, either timings will work fine!
Hi can you substitute the 20oz bread flour …
Thank you so much for sharing your delicious recipes
Delicious!!! Another company worthy recipe. I made it with the vegetable beef soup…what a perfect Sunday dinner. BTW my neighbor also thought they were delicious!!!
Hi Nagi and Dozer of course, my husband and I like our rolls a bit dense instead of fluffy, I love all your recipes and don’t want to look at other sites..
What do you suggest I do to make your rolls more dense??
Best rolls ever! And I have tried many. I forgot the melted butter in the mix, and I had the choice to dump it or mix it in before 1st rise. Took the risk and I had to knead it in(only just as much) to incorporate butter in. Risk was rewarded with a wonderful rise and super looking rolls.
I love your recipes and my first go to for what to cook today meals. Rolls are for your potato n brocoli soup which turned out yummy.
Hi Nagi not sure where we went wrong, the dough was quite sticky at the first rise. We did leave it for 2 hrs as have been kid wrangling (VIC metro).
Should I start again or can the dough be saved? Is it cos the warm place wasn’t warm enough? (It’s really cool day today) or cos we left it too long
Have 2 long face kids who were super excited to punch the dough down haha
Sorry Nagi to clarify the dough at 1st rise is more watery than sticky. I’ve stuck it back in the oven hoping it will rise ‘better’ this time
Hi Helen, if it’s a little sticky it can easily be saved with a little flour 🙂 I’d love to hear how you went! N x
Those bread rolls were AMAZING. I never made bread before and they came out perfect!!! I made the dough and prepared the rolls before I went to bed and baked them in the morning. It was a perfect breakfast. Super moist and soft inside and crispy outside. My husband, son and I couldn’t stop stuffing ourselves 😳
Hi love your dinner rolls recipe this is my third time making it. for make ahead, should I brush oil before cover it with cling wrap then refrigerate?
These rolls are amazing! Approved by my husband, he used to be an assistant baker. Brushed the top with a mixture of 1 egg yolk & a bit of milk before baking. Baked them at 375 for 17 minutes. They are huge! The next batch, I’ll make 24 rolls instead to reduce the size. I will brush the 12 rolls with garlic-parmesan topping instead.
Made these yesterday. They were amazing! The only thing is, the tops had a beautiful color and they were perfectly done, but the underside had no color. That didn’t bother us too much, but I would like to figure out how to do this in the future. Mine baked at 390 for 15 minutes on the middle rack. Should I maybe lower them to the bottom rack, half way through baking?
Made rolls today. They look beautiful, soft, and perfect texture. But they are tasteless like 4 other recipes from other sites I have tried. Someone must have a recipe like the typical buffet restaurants serve. Will keep searching. I really hoped this was last roll recipe I had to try. But from All Recipes to Sally Baking addiction everyone is using this same recipe with slightly different amounts of ingredients so as to call it their on. But all tasteless.
Hi Joli, I know I’m a little late in the game but I’m giving it a go anyway! 😁😁
The typical ‘buffet-style’ rolls have a LOT of sugar & more salt in them than these rolls, and I think all no-knead rolls follow this same approximate recipe. You could try doubling the sugar up to ½ cup & increase the salt. I would do this by using salted butter & adding up to an extra teaspoon or so salt to the recipe. Just be careful that it doesn’t interact with the yeast before the milk is added, as it can inhibit the yeast. You can do this by adding the salt to the flour first, then whisking it to evenly disperse the salt. Then add the other ingredients.
I know some people don’t like it, but taste the dough as you go along. It won’t taste like the final result but it will give you an indication of whether the dough is too bland for you or not.
Hope this helps!
Please do not send Dozer to corner. You are a guest in his house. Not other way around. 😂 I know, I have two big 4 leggers I live with.
These rolls were awesome!!! Easy to make and tasty as can be!
Nagi, you are a treasure!
I make these often for my family and some day will try this recipe to make Hot Crossed Buns.
Hi Susan, you’ll love this recipe here: https://www.recipetineats.com/hot-cross-buns-recipe/ 🙂 N x