Have you been looking for the perfect dinner or sandwich roll? The roll you remember from your childhood at your Grandma’s dinner table? My recipe for The Perfect Dinner Roll is it!

I’ve been looking for the perfect roll for years with no luck! So, I developed my own!

I have perfected The Perfect Dinner Roll from my childhood. This is the roll that I ate at weddings, funerals, after-church gatherings, all the holidays, and of course used to make my leftover Thanksgiving sandwiches.

In my memory, I knew this dinner roll existed, but I hadn’t had it since my childhood. The bread roll I enjoyed before people started buying rolls from big box grocery stores. I tried so many roll recipes that just weren’t it! Some I tried were too hard. Some lacked flavor and the slight sweetness I remembered.

This recipe has it all! The rolls are soft, have great flavor, and still taste great for a couple of days after baking. That is if they last that long! However, I like to make enough rolls to make sandwiches for the next couple of days.

I have started making these rolls (or my sourdough rolls) for almost everything. From weekly dinners to my go-to potluck item. Something about these rolls; from making them to eating them, I love every step.

Tangzhong vs Yudane

Originally, I developed this recipe with a tangzhong. Both tangzhong and yudane are dough improver that makes the dough softer, lighter, and fresher longer.

Tangzhong is made with milk and flour cooked on the stove. I found three problems with using a tangzhong. One, it’s like 5 minutes of my constant attention on the cooktop/stove. Two, I can’t get 100% of the tangzhong out of my saucepan to add to my dough. Three, I have more dirty dishes to clean.

The Yudane is just boiling water and flour. First, I put the kettle on to boil and walk away. (Saving myself time.) Next, I sift the small yudane portion of the bread flour into the main mixing bowl. Then, I add the boiling water and stir with a heat-resistant spatula until all the water mixes with the flour and a paste forms. Making yudane right in the bowl that all the other ingredients will go into, prevents me from not losing even one gram of the yudane. Also, I don’t get an additional saucepan dirty.

By adjusting my recipe ratios to use a yudane over a tangzhong I solved all three problems I noted above. Also, in a side-by-side taste test, the yudane made a softer roll than the tangzhong giving me The Perfect Dinner Roll.

the perfect dinner roll pouring in boiling water

How I like to eat these rolls:

I love them simply with butter. With butter and jam or a compound butter. I make them into ham sandwiches, turkey sandwiches, chicken salad sandwiches, and all kinds of breakfast sandwiches.

Another way I love these rolls is to split them open and pour gravy on them. (Better than a biscuit.) These rolls are perfect to wipe your plate clean and enjoy every last bit of sauce on your plate.

Other recipes to try while enjoying The Perfect Dinner Roll:

Try my fall recipes for: Easy Harvest Soup, Easy Chicken and Red Wine Stew, and Perfect Mashed Potatoes Every Time.

How to make The Perfect Dinner Roll:

Ingredients:

570 grams Bread Flour (divided use 30g Yudane, 540g-Third Step)
200 grams Water (divided use 100g Boiling water- Yudane, 100g 80℉-Second Step)
110 grams Milk (80℉)
62 grams Sugar (5 tbsp)
10 grams yeast (SAF instant high-power yeast)
64 grams Egg (one egg plus one yolk)
56.5 grams Butter room temperature (1/4 cup cut into small cubes)
6 grams Salt (2 tsp Diamond Kosher Salt other-salt weighs heavier-use tsp measure if using a different salt)

Step by Step Instructions:

Weigh the mixing bowl you will be making the dough in and write down the weight on a piece of paper, or take a picture of the weight etc. (You will subtract the bowl weight at the end to get the total dough weight to divide the dough into equal pieces.)

step 1:

Make the Yudane

Turn the kettle on to boil water.
Sift 30 grams of bread flour into the main mixing bowl. (It is important to sift this or whisk out any lumps because the water is to scald all of the flour. If there are clumps it will make dumplings. The water won’t be able to reach all the flour trapped inside the dumpling clumps and it will make a lumpy dough.)
Pour in 100 grams of boiling water directly onto the 30 grams of bread flour.

Using a heat-resistant spatula stir until it makes a smooth paste. (Don’t use a whisk here because the yudane will stick inside of a whisk-use a spatula.)

the perfect dinner roll yudane inside of a glass 5 quart kitchen aid mixer bowl with a heat-safe spatula

The yudane now needs to cool. Allow the yudane to sit in the mixing bowl and cool while you gather all the other ingredients.

step 2

Once the yudane has cooled (no hotter than 100℉)
Add, the other 100 grams of water, and 110 grams of milk both around 80℉ degrees. Also, add 62 grams of sugar, 56.5 grams of butter, 10 grams of yeast, and 6 grams of salt. In a separate bowl crack your eggs (one egg and one yolk) weigh out 64g then add it to the mixing bowl. Next, add the remaining 540 grams of well-sifted bread flour.

the perfect dinner roll weigh the eggs in a separate bowl

the perfect dinner roll adding the eggs to the bowl

Using the dough hook do a rough stir of the dough until everything comes together in a shaggy dough.

the perfect dinner roll stir ingredients together with the dough hook inside the kitchen aid glass bowl

step 3

Knead the dough on speed 2 with the stand mixer for 30 minutes. (Or by hand for 30 minutes.) Yes, it does take 30 minutes of kneading. (This is an enriched dough and enriched doughs take 30 minutes to get well-developed gluten and pass the windowpane test.)

After 30 minutes the dough will be smooth.

The Perfect Dinner Roll Mixed in a red Kitchen Aid mixer for 30 minutes until dough is smooth

The dough needs to pass the windowpane test. This means it should stretch paper thin with no tearing. If it tears, knead it longer. Start the mixer and check it every two minutes until it passes the window pain test.

The Perfect Dinner Roll windowpane test stretching the dough thin with no tearing

Form the dough into a smooth ball and cover the bowl.

step 4

Allow the dough to rest for 90 minutes in a warm place. (My Kitchen-Aid bowl is too tall for my warming draw and I see no need for another dirty bowl so I turn on my oven for a couple of minutes to warm it up to between 70-80 degrees then turn it off and let my dough proof in there.)

The Perfect Dinner Roll rest in a warm place to double in size glass kitchen aid bowl in the oven with a red thermometer

After 90 minutes the dough should have doubled in size.

The Perfect Dinner Roll dough has doubled in size

Weigh the bowl again this time with the dough inside. Then subtract the weight of the empty bowl from the bowl weight. (The total weight should be around 1079 grams.) Divide the dough weight by the number of rolls you want to make. I usually make 20 rolls that are around 53 grams each with this recipe. Sometimes I want small rolls I divide by 24 or even up to 30. Sometimes I want 12 giant rolls. Often I split the dough and make a 12 roll batch. Then I use the other half of the dough for cinnamon rolls.

step 5

First, brush two Pyrex Glass 9 x 13″ Baking Dishes with butter. (Or, you can also use a half-sheet pan with lined with parchment, but you still need to brush the parchment with butter.)

Second, using a bowl scraper, remove the dough from the bowl.

Next, equally, divide the dough into 20 pieces I recommend weighing them for accuracy.
Then, form each piece of the dough into a ball. (This recipe doesn’t need a floured bench to roll out these dinner rolls if the precise measurements were used.)

The Perfect Dinner Roll weigh the dough balls on two different digital scales on a granite counter next to two buttered pyrex baking pans

You can roll out the dinner rolls a couple of ways:

One, you can flatten the piece of dough out and fold in the sides like you would with a larger boule to create tension. Then pinch the bottom together. Next, put the dough ball seem side down and use the claw method for forming round dough balls.

Two, you can use your thumb and fingers to grab the sides and pull down to create tension. Do this to each side then pinch the bottom together. Then, put the dough ball seem side down and use the claw method for forming round dough balls.

Place your hand over the dough ball and move your hand in a circle multiple times with your hand cupped like a loose claw around the dough until a smooth ball has been formed.

Once the smooth dough ball is achieved, place the dough ball into the buttered Pyrex baking dish.
Once all the dough balls have been shaped into smooth round balls, brush them generously with melted butter. (It is best to butter the rolls before the start of the second proofing for two reasons: to prevent the rolls don’t get deflated and stick to prevent the rolls from the plastic cling wrap.)

Cover, and do a second proof in a warm place for 60 minutes.

With 15 minutes left to proof, preheat the oven to 375℉.
Place the proofed rolls in a hot preheated oven. Bake for 20 minutes, (possibly the bake time will be 18-22 minutes). *Bake times are a recommendation and basic guidelines as ALL ovens may vary in temperature or bake a bit differently. Some ovens may need less time and some ovens may need more time.*

After 10 minutes switch the pans to the opposite racks.
The internal temperature of perfectly cooked rolls is 205℉.

When the rolls are done, you can rub the top of the rolls with salted butter. For special occasions, I also sprinkle with Maldon Sea Salt Flakes.
Enjoy!
Store leftover rolls in the refrigerator.