Buttery Dinner Rolls

These Butter Rolls are soft and fluffy with a delicious buttery flavor. They pair well with your favorite holiday mains and are also great with soups, stews, and chilis! Read on to learn more about making this butter roll recipe

About this Butter Roll Recipe

I got this butter roll recipe from my friend Tracye at our MOMS Club Bake-Off last fall – Tracye calls them “That’s How I Rolls“. She took first place in breads. These rolls are so delicious, buttery, and easy. They’ve become my go-to recipe for dinner rolls.

We had them again recently with our Easter Dinner and I realized that I’ve never posted them here.

I think I love her name for the rolls just as much as the actual rolls. They were an excellent addition to our Easter dinner! With her permission, I’m sharing the recipe with you.

Helpful Tools for Making Butter Rolls

You’ll need a few kitchen tools to prepare this butter roll recipe. Here’s what I recommend having on hand before getting started:

• Measuring Cups and Measuring Spoons – to measure ingredients for the yeast dough.
• Kitchen Scale – not necessary, but useful for weighing flour for more accurate measuring.
• Large Bowl – to combine the dry ingredients in, and you can use it again to let the soft dough rise in after done kneading.
• Stand Mixer – I like to make the dough for this buttery roll recipe using my stand mixer for easy kneading.
• Paddle Attachment – the paddle attachment works well for stirring the flour into the warm liquid yeast mixture.
• Dough Hook Attachment – after adding part of the flour mixture, I like to switch to the dough hook to knead the rest of the flour into the dough.
• Plastic Wrap – to cover the bowl while the dough rises.
• Baking Sheet or Round Baking Pan – to bake the rolls in.
• ​Pastry Brush – to brush melted butter on top of the rolls after baking.

Ingredients You’ll Need to Make Butter Rolls

• Warm Water
• Whole Milk
• Butter
• All-Purpose Flour
• Granulated Sugar
• Salt
• Active Dry Yeast
• Butter Buds
• Egg

For the complete ingredient list and detailed instructions to make these soft dinner rolls, scroll to the bottom of this post for the FREE printable recipe card.

How to Make this Butter Roll Recipe

Here’s an overview of the basic process to make these buttery dinner rolls:

1. Heat the milk, water, and butter in a saucepan until 105 – 115 degrees F, then transfer tot he bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk in the egg and add the instant yeast, letting bloom 5 minutes.
2. In another bowl, combine the dry ingredients.
3. Then, slowly add the dry ingredients to the liquids in the stand mixer bowl, stirring with the paddle attachment and kneading with the dough hook until combined, smooth, and elastic.
4. Transfer prepared dough to a greased bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled. Then, punch down and shape rolls on a clean, lightly floured surface. 
5. Add the rolls to a greased pan and cover for the second rise.

The above is simply a quick summary of this recipe for fluffy dinner rolls. Check out the full recipe in the free printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for all the detailed instructions.

Tips for Making Buttery Dinner Rolls

New to baking with yeast? These tips for baking with yeast will help you feel more confident in the kitchen and yield more successful results.

Check out these tips for success when making this butter roll recipe:

How to Shape Butter Rolls (3 Options!)

If this is your first time making fresh rolls, I recommend shaping the dough in round balls as instructed in the recipe card. You don’t want to overcomplicate things on your first try!

However, if you are more experienced with yeast dough and want to try making special shapes with the buttery roll dough, here are three fun options:

Option #1: Knotted Buttery Dinner Rolls

1. Roll the dough into a snake-like shape, then tie it in a knot in the center.
2. Take the two ends and fold them over and tuck in the middle.
3. Place the shaped butter rolls on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, let them complete the final rise, then bake.

Option #2: Clover Leaf Butter Rolls

1. Divide the entire batch of dough into 3-ounce balls.
2. Then, divide each 3-ounce dough ball into three 1-ounce sized balls.
3. Place all three 1-ounce dough balls together in muffin tins.
4. Let rise for the final rise, then bake.

Option #3: Crescent Butter Rolls

1. Divide the dough into three equal portions.
2. Roll out each portion of dough into 12-inch circles.
3. Use a pizza cutter to cut each circle in half, then cut each half into half again, leaving you with four quarters.
4. Cut each quarter into two wedge shapes. You’ll end up with 24 total wedges.
5. Roll the wedges starting with the wide end and ending with the point, which you should place pointed down under the roll.
6. Transfer the formed crescents onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets.
7. Let rise for the final time, then bake.

Butter Dinner Roll Recipe FAQs

Got questions about how to make the perfect rolls? Here are the answers to a few commonly asked questions. Feel free to leave any other questions in the comments on this post and I’ll respond with answers.

Do I have to use butter buds?

You can make this recipe without them and it will still work, but the butter flavor won’t be as intense. If you can’t find the butter buds in your grocery store, they’re available on Amazon.

How much flour should I use?

I like to weigh my flour using a kitchen scale. 1 cup of All-Purpose Flour has 120 grams in it. Weight measurement is much more accurate than measuring spoons.

I always start with the smaller amount of flour listed when making any kind of yeast dough. Yeast dough is all about feel.

You want a smooth, elastic dough that pulls away from the side of a bowl / doesn’t stick to your hands, but that isn’t dry or stiff.

What temperature should the liquids be?

The water, milk, and butter should be warmed until the butter is melted and the mixture is 105 – 115 degrees F in order to bloom the yeast.

Can I make butter rolls using a bread machine?

Yes! Here’s what you’ll need to do:

1. Heat the water, milk, and butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat until warm and the butter is melted – do not boil or simmer. Whisk in the beaten egg.
2. Add all of the ingredients to your bread machine in the order instructed by manufacturer directions.
3. Set the bread machine to dough cycle.
4. Let rise until doubled in bulk or up over top of bowl (1 ½ to 2 hrs).
5. Shape the rolls and proceed with the remainder of the recipe

Can I make these buttery rolls without a stand mixer?

1. Heat the water, milk, and butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat until warm and the butter is melted – do not boil or simmer. Whisk in the beaten egg.
2. In another bowl combine the flour and remaining dry ingredients – using the smaller amount of flour listed.
3. Slowly add the flour mixture to the liquids, stirring to combine.
4. When the dough is too thick to stir, turn dough out onto a clean counter begin kneading the remaining flour in until a smooth, elastic dough is formed.
5. Add additional flour if needed.
6. Rise in a greased bowl, covered with plastic wrap until doubled in bulk. 1-2 hours.
7. Punch down, shape shape rolls, and proceed with the rest of the recipe as written.

Can I add different flavor these butter dinner rolls?

Yes, here are a few adaptation ideas:

• Substitute honey in place of the sugar for honey butter rolls.
• Sauté minced garlic in the butter before adding to the liquids to make garlic butter dinner rolls.
• For herbed dinner rolls, add finely chopped fresh herbs to the dough.

Try this Recipe for Butter Rolls!

Next time you’re looking for an easy dinner roll recipe, give these buttery dinner rolls a try!

Did you love how soft and buttery they taste? Leave a comment below and give it a review for others to see what you thought of this great recipe.

On Instagram? Share your photo and tag me @goodlifeeats #goodlifeeatsrecipes. I’d love to see a photo of your homemade dinner rolls!

What People Say About Butter Rolls

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