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Sunday night dinner.
To me there is something so comforting and awesome about Sunday night dinner.
Especially during the months towards the end of summer and through fall, when school starts back up and routines begin to form. I love routines and it is probably the only thing I liked about the start of the school year.
Well, I did love back to school shopping.
New notebooks, pencils and general school supplies makes me very excited. I think it is the organization part to it, I love being organized. Which is honestly so ironic since over the past few months I have been so unorganized.
It’s terrible.
Anyway, dinner on Sunday night at our house pretty much always has bread.
Beer bread, sourdough bread, homemade pitas and these rolls.
Oh and Sunday night football. I really love Sunday night football. Seriously, I am so excited.
These light, buttery pull apart rolls are everyone’s favorite.
They are doughy, soft and so good fresh out of the oven with a pat of butter. It’s pure comfort and they are also so good dipped into soups or stews too. Perfect for all the typical Sunday night meals.
The best part is how easy they are.
Just mix the dough with your mixer or by hand with a wooden spoon. Let the dough rise 30 minutes and divide into nine dough balls. Let rise fifteen more minutes, brush with butter and bake twenty minutes.
Hot fresh homemade dinner rolls ready in under two hours with very minimal work. That is what we all want on a Sunday, so I say SCORE!
You can even double the recipe and place a pan in the freezer for another time. Then all you have to do is defrost on the counter before dinner. Then just bake as directed.
So easy.
Oh, and sometimes I like to brown the butter that goes into the dough. Ah huh, now that is crazy awesome too! Either way though, they are delicious and yes, everyone in your family will eat these. Even if they are whole wheat. Trust me, even my picky, picky brother requests these rolls almost every dinner.
They love them. I love them. You will love them!
Easy Fluffy Pull-Apart Whole Wheat Buttery Dinner Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat flour
- 1 cup all-purpose four
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup very warm water, divided
- 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 2 tablespoons honey, divided
- 1 egg
- 4 tablespoons butter, melted
Instructions
- Combine 1/4 cup warm water, the yeast and 1 tablespoon honey in a small glass bowl. Stir to dissolve and let site 5 - 10 minutes or until water has risen and is light and foamy.
- In the bowl off a stand mixer or other large bowl add the whole wheat pastry flour, all-purpose flour and salt.
- In another bowl add the remaining 3/4 cup warm water, 1 tablespoon honey, the egg and 2 tablespoons melted butter. Stir to combine.
- Add both water mixtures to the bowl with the flour. Using the dough hook (or a wooden spoon) knead the dough on medium speed for for about five minutes or until the dough comes together and begins to form into a ball. The dough will be very wet and sticky.
- Remove the dough from the bowl and either rub the bowl with olive oil or spray with cooking spray. Return the dough to the bowl, cover and place in a warm place for 25 minutes.
- After 25 minutes grease a square baking dish or pie plate (I used an 8x8 dish, but 9x9 would work too). Flour your hands and punch the dough down. Place the dough on a well floured surface and divide into 9 even balls. You may need to add more flour to prevent the dough from sticking, but try and use as little flour as possible. Place the balls in 3 even rows in the baking dish and cover the dish with with a damp towel or plastic wrap that has been sprayed with cooking spray (so the dough does not stick to the plastic wrap).
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Allow the rolls rise for 15 to 25 minutes or until the dough balls are round and popping out of the pan. Once the rolls are ready to go melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and carefully brush the tops of the rolls with the butter. Bake the rolls in the middle of the oven for 20 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned on top. Remove and serve immediately with a pat of butter.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Did you make this recipe? Please rate & comment below.
You guys, they are so fluffy. My mom the bread lover, kept trying to get one before I finished shooting. Can’t say I blame her.
Oh no! I was so looking forward to these rolls for tonight and Thanksgiving. But my rolls never popped out of the pan. My yeast was not expired but not sure if I got a bum packet as it has happened! I used my stand mixer to knead and it came together in about 4 – 5 minutes. What happened? Any tips? I baked them and they are fine but not super light and fluffy like everyone described.
Hey Lori!!
It sounds like either the yeas was bad or the water was too hot and it ruined the yeast. You want to use hot water, but hot water that you can touch. Hope that helps! Happy Thanksgiving!
Can you double this recipe and bake in a larger pan? I’d like to make these for Thanksgiving but I need more than 9 rolls.
Yes. I typically do. I’ve also made with white flour and I always top with melted butter and poppy seeds before baking. They freeze well.
Hey!! Yes, that will be great! Hope you love these rolls!
These look delicious and ,oh, so simple!. I’ll be making these in a few weeks for a dinner party. I would appreciate some clarification regarding freezing. Where do I cut off step 6 and how to I pick it up again; what do I do about the covering?
I would imagine that I should cover with foil and plastic and freeze. Then, do I thaw them for 2 hrs. with this freezing cover or do I replace it with a damp towel or plastic wrap that has been sprayed with cooking spray for the rising? Seems like an important step and I don’t want to mess up.
Looking forward to adding these to a pasta dinner followed by lemon custard dessert. Thanks :)!
Hey Lisa!!
Great question! Remove the foil and replace it with a damp towel or plastic wrap that has been sprayed with cooking spray. That will work great! Hope you love these rolls and please let me know if you have other questions.
Tieghan!!
Love love love this recipe! It has definitely become a Sunday dinner staple in our home. I am bringing 2 dozen to Easter dinner tomorrow… can I do 2 batches in a 9×13 pan or will they bake unevenly? Also, since I’m making today, I can assemble in a pan, overnight in the fridge and let rise on the counter before baking, right?
I would like to freeze before baking. You say to dreeze at atep sox but yoir steps are not numbered. Which step is #6. Btw i made these on the weekend and they turned out Amazing!! Than you
I made these tonight and was SO happy with how they turned out! Which is saying something because I have high standards for anything that I make. They were so easy, I didn’t even use a machine. Just mixed it all by hand. These rolls are HUGE, man! I was concerned that they wouldn’t turn out big and fluffy and now I’m having a laugh at myself. Biggest roll I’ve ever eaten lol. I think next time I’m going to make 18 rolls out of it instead of 9. My one year old, the ultimate taste tester, totally approved of her piece that I slathered with butter. Definitely going to make these again. Your recipe is the bomb!!
Seriously, if anyone is having doubts about making these…just do it. They’re awesome.
Did this today: first time making wheat rolls, they turned out awesome! Thank you. 🙂
So happy you loved these!! 🙂
Thanks you!
First time making a bread item and wow!! Simple and so yummy!! Thank you.
Made these for the first time this week. They turned out perfectly. I used the 8×8 pan and they were big and fluffy. If I doubled them, I’d use two pans to get the same results. I followed the recipe exactly. I’m wondering if they’d turn out as well with all regular white flour. But I’m not waiting for the answer because the first batch is gone and I’m ready to make another!
I’m trying this for Thanksgiving so I will need to double. Should I use a jelly roll pan? I also have whole wheat flour and regular white flour. Should I use half/half or all whole wheat? Thanks.
Hello, would it be possible to sub the dry yeast for fresh yeast instead or will the recipe completely change? Thanks 🙂
HEy Ella! Fresh will be fine, but the dough may rise a bit faster, so just watch it. Hope you love these rolls!
Hey Tieghan!
These look amazing! Just a question….freezer space is limited in my house so would I be able to make these the night before and keep them in the fridge (not freezer) for like almost 20-ish hours?
Thanks!
Chi
HI! That should work fine. Hope you love these!
I very rarely comment on recipes, which I know is terrible and I should… but these are FANTASTIC. So so easy. Hubs is pretty apathetic about food, but he said they were delicious immediately after the first bite and then thanked me for making them after he was done eating. So nice work on this one! Thank you!
Haha! Ya! This makes me so happy!! Thanks Emily!
Made these a few times now and everyone loved it. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe!
YA! This makes me so happy! 🙂
I just made these tonight to go with our soup and they were DElicious. I literally wanted to eat the whole pan but for some reason my family wanted some as well 🙂
YAY!! So happy you loved these, Kate!
Thanks!