Honey Butter Dinner Rolls from the kitchen
These soft and airy Honey Butter Dinner Rolls are a flavorful way to complete your holiday feast! They're made with seven simple ingredients, all of which are probably already in your pantry!
This honey butter dinner roll recipe was made in partnership with the friends at Ankarsrum. The notes here are independent. Thank you for supporting the brands that help make Sovuh possible.
Why this bake works
- Soft and airy in texture.
- A light honey butter taste.
- Perfect served warm with a little more honey butter brushed on top!
- Only seven ingredients are needed.
- It's made using a house favorite mixer from Ankarsrum!
- The method can easily be made ahead of time and reheated for an easy dinner.
What is an Ankarsrum Mixer?
Made in Sweden, the Ankarsrum Assistent Original (yes, the word assistent is spelled with an “e”) is a uniquely designed, top-notch mixer well-known for its multifunctional unsurpassed quality and innovation.
It comes with a 7-liter stainless steel bowl, a dough roller, a dough hook, a scraper spatula, a dust cover, a 3.5-liter mixing bowl with two different style whisk attachments, and a removable power cord. It's much lighter in weight compared to other brand mixers, the motor is on the bottom versus the top, it comes in many different colors, and it has a 7-year warranty!
Grab Your Ingredients!
To make these easy honey butter dinner rolls, you'll need the following pantry staples.
- Whole Milk. Use whole milk to give these honey butter dinner rolls the best texture and taste. 2% or 1% can be used as a substitute, but the rolls won't be quite as soft and airy.
- Instant Yeast. I did not test this method using active dry yeast, but it can be used as a substitute. Rise times may be a little longer.
- Granulated Sugar. Added to give these rolls a bit of sweetness (along with the honey).
- Unsalted Butter. For the butter to properly knead with the rest of the ingredients, ensure it is softened to room temperature. For the honey butter topping, you'll need two additional tablespoons of softened unsalted butter.
- Honey. 3 tablespoons give these house-made dinner rolls the perfect amount of sweetness. You'll need an additional one tablespoon for the honey butter topping.
- Salt. Added to help round out the flavors of the dough. Only 1/2 teaspoon is needed.
- All-Purpose Flour. You can use bread flour as a substitute or a combination of the two with this method, but your rolls will have more of a chewier texture, like my house-made soft pretzel recipe. To ensure you don't add more flour to the method, which can make your rolls turn out dense, it's best to weigh your flour with a food scale. If you don't have one, spoon and level your flour.
What Baking Tools Are Needed?
Below are the recommended baking tools needed to make this method.
Let's Make These Honey Butter Dinner Rolls!
Below is a brief overview of how to make this house-made honey butter dinner roll recipe. For the detailed recipe, see the method card below.
- Add the warm milk, yeast, and 1/2 of the sugar to the Ankarsrum stainless steel mixing bowl. Whisk, then cover the mixture and let it sit for 6-8 minutes. The mixture should be foamy in appearance when ready.
- Add the remaining ingredients. Then knead using your Ankarsrum mixer, dough roller, and scraper attachments for 5-7 minutes until smooth. The dough should pull away from the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl.
- Remove the dough and spray the bowl with baking spray. Olive oil spray can also be used. Place the dough back in the bowl, spray the top with more baking spray, then cover it with the Ankarsrum lid. Let the dough rise for 1-2 hours or until it has doubled (mine took 2 hours), then punch it down.
- Roll out and divide the dough. It should be rolled out to approximately an 8-inch by 12-inch rectangle. Cut the dough into 12 pieces. I did a 3-column by a 4-row cut to get the pieces.
- Shape the pieces and let rise again. Shape the pieces of dough into 12 somewhat equally sized rolls. Place on a quarter-size baking sheet that's been sprayed with baking spray. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise for 30-45 minutes or until the rolls have doubled.
- Apply egg wash and bake. Bake for 25-28 minutes at 350ºF. The tops should have a nice golden brown color to them. Allow it to cool slightly before brushing the tops with a little honey butter.
Questions on this bake
What size baking sheet do I need to make these dinner rolls?I used a quarter-sheet baking pan from Nordic Ware. You can also use two 1/8-size baking sheets, two 8-inch round baking pans, or a 13 x 9-inch baking dish.
Why are my dinner rolls dense?It's probably caused to adding too much flour to your dough. Sometimes over kneading the dough can be the culprit too. It's best to weigh your flour and other ingredients with a food scale. And knead your dough just until it becomes soft and smooth in texture.
Can Use bread flour in place of all-purpose flour?Yes. You can even combine all-purpose and bread flour, but just as a heads up, the rolls will have a chewier texture.
- Yield 12 servings
- Prep 20 minutes
- Cook 25 minutes
- Total 3 hours 15 minutes
- Rise 2 hours 30 minutes
- Calories 221
Ingredients
honey butter dinner rolls
- 1 cup Whole Milk, warmed to 100ºF-110ºF
- 2 1/4 tsp Instant Yeast
- 2 tbsp Granulated Sugar, divided
- 3 tbsp Unsalted Butter, room temperature
- 3 tbsp Honey
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 3 cups + 1 tbsp All-Purpose Flour
egg wash
- 1 large Egg
- 1 tbsp Water
honey butter topping (optional)
- 3 tbsp Unsalted Butter, room temperature
- 1 tbsp Honey
Method
- In the stainless steel bowl of your Ankarsrum mixer, whisk together the warmed whole milk (100ºF-100ºF), 1 tbsp of granulated sugar, and instant yeast. Let it sit covered with the Ankarsrum bowl cover for 6-8 minutes or until the mixture is foamy in appearance.
- Add in the remaining 1 tbsp granulated sugar, unsalted butter, honey, salt, and all-purpose flour.
- Add the dough roller and dough scraper attachments to your Ankarsrum mixer, then set it to knead on low speed until the dough is soft and smooth (about 5-7 minutes).
- Remove the dough and set it to the side while you spray the interior of the stainless steel bowl with either baking spray or cooking spray (my preference is baking spray). Put the dough ball back in, then spray the top with baking spray.
- Cover with the Ankarsrum bowl cover again, and let the dough rise for 1-2 hours or until the dough has doubled in size. For reference, my dough took about 2 hours to double in size during testing.
- Deflate the dough by gently punching it in the center. Transfer the dough to a clean, lightly floured surface. Roll out to a rectangular shape about 8" x 12" in size, then cut the dough into 12 somewhat equally sized pieces (or you can weigh each piece of dough if you prefer). For reference, I cut mine out using a 3-column x 4-row grid.
- Take one piece of cut dough and fold the sides and ends underneath, pinching them together. Then turn it over, sealed side down, onto a clean surface, and shape it into a round ball using your cupped hand moving in a clockwise circular motion.
- Transfer onto a greased quarter-size baking sheet (I used baking spray, but you can use olive oil spray). Cover again with a clean kitchen towel and let rise again at room temperature for another 30-45 minutes or until they have doubled in size.
- When ready preheat your oven to 350ºF. I found my rolls baked best at the 2nd level rack position (just above the center/middle position) inside my oven.
- Generously brush the tops of the rolls with the egg wash, then bake for 25-28 minutes at 350ºF.
- Remove from the oven and, if desired, brush on some honey butter onto the tops of the rolls.
Baker notes
Warming the milk. Warm the milk in a small saucepan over medium heat. This takes about 1-2 minutes tops, and it's best to use a cooking thermometer.
Storing. The rolls can be kept in a sealed bag or container for 2-3 days at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Reheating. To reheat from the refrigerator, I use my toaster oven's toaster setting (typically toasting the rolls for 6-7 minutes on a low setting), but you can also bake them for 8-10 minutes at 350ºF.
