Easy Flaky Pull Apart Dinner Rolls Recipes

SOFT DINNER ROLLS RECIPE

Steps:

• Whisk the warm milk, yeast, and 1 Tablespoon of sugar together in the bowl of your stand mixer. Cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes. *If you do not own a stand mixer, you can do this in a large mixing bowl and in the next step, mix the dough together with a large wooden spoon/rubber spatula. It will take a bit of arm muscle. A hand mixer works, but the sticky dough repeatedly gets stuck in the beaters. Mixing by hand with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula is a better choice.*
• Add the remaining sugar, egg, butter, salt, and 1 cup flour. With a dough hook or paddle attachment, mix/beat on low speed for 30 seconds, scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, then add the remaining flour. Beat on medium speed until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 2 minutes. If the dough seems too wet to a point where kneading (next step) would be impossible, beat in more flour 1 Tablespoon at a time until you have a workable dough, similar to the photos and video above. Dough should be soft and a little sticky, but still manageable to knead with lightly floured hands.
• Keep the dough in the mixer and beat for an additional 3 full minutes or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 3 full minutes. (See video tutorial above if you need a visual of kneading dough by hand.)
• Lightly grease a large bowl with oil or nonstick spray. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil. Cover the bowl with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise in a relatively warm environment for 1-2 hours or until double in size. (I always let it rise on the counter. Takes about 2 hours. For a tiny reduction in rise time, see my answer to Where Should Dough Rise? in my Baking with Yeast Guide.)
• Grease a 9×13 inch baking pan or two 9-inch square or round baking pans. You can also bake the rolls in a cast iron skillet or on a lined baking sheet.*
• When the dough is ready, punch it down to release the air. Divide the dough into 14-16 equal pieces. (Just eyeball it- doesn't need to be perfect!) Shape each piece into a smooth ball. I do this entirely in my hands and you can watch in the video tutorial above. Arrange in prepared baking pan.
• Cover shaped rolls with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow to rise until puffy, about 1 hour.
• Adjust oven rack to a lower position and preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). (It's best to bake the rolls towards the bottom of the oven so the tops don't burn.)
• Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown on top, rotating the pan halfway through. If you notice the tops browning too quickly, loosely tent the pan with aluminum foil. Remove from the oven, brush with optional honey butter topping, and allow rolls to cool for a few minutes before serving.
• Cover leftover rolls tightly and store at room temperature for 2-3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

PULL-APART PARKER HOUSE ROLLS

Steps:

• For the flour paste: Add 1/2 cup water to a small saucepan set over medium-low heat. Add the flour and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture is a smooth pudding-like consistency, 30 to 45 seconds. Let cool.
• For the dough: Add the milk and egg to the flour paste and whisk together until smooth. Transfer the paste to a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook and add the flour and yeast. Mix on low speed until all the flour is moistened, 1 to 2 minutes. Let rest in the bowl for 15 minutes.
• After 15 minutes, with the mixer running on medium-low speed, add the sugar and salt and mix for about 5 minutes. Add 4 tablespoons of the butter and mix, scraping down the sides of the bowl when necessary, about 5 minutes longer. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead briefly to form a ball. Spray a mixing bowl with cooking spray, add the dough ball, cover with plastic wrap and let rest until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
• Transfer the dough to a work surface and press gently but firmly to release the air. Stretch the dough to form a 9-by-10-inch rectangle. Cut the dough lengthwise into 4 equal strips, then cut those strips into 3 equal pieces. Working with one piece at a time, stretch and press each one into an 8-by-2-inch inch strip. Roll each strip small end to small end in order to form a snug roll.
• Grease a 12-inch cast-iron skillet with butter and arrange the rolls in the skillet, 10 around the outside and 2 in the middle. Cover with plastic and let rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
• Position an oven rack in the lowest position and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• Brush the rolls with the remaining 3 tablespoons butter and bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes.
• When ready to serve, using a 2-ounce ice cream scoop, place scoops of the garlic-herb or honey butter in the center of the bread and let your guests pull apart the bread from the skillet.

BUTTERFLAKE ROLLS

Steps:

• Combine 3 cups flour, undissolved yeast, sugar, egg, and salt in a large bowl or in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with dough hook.
• Heat milk until very warm (110°F to 120°F).
• Add warm milk to the flour mixture. Knead 2 minutes at medium speed, scraping bowl occasionally if needed. Add ½ cup flour; knead for 2 more minutes.
• Add remaining ½ cup flour. The dough should be pulling away from the sides of the bowl and very soft. (If the dough seems too wet you may need more flour. If needed, add additional flour in ¼ cup increments until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl while kneading.)
• Spray a bowl with nonstick cooking spray. Place the dough into the bowl and cover with a clean towel. Let it rest 30 minutes, or until doubled in size.
• Spray a muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray and set it aside.
• Roll dough into a square that is about ½-inch thick. Brush the dough with melted butter and salt.
• Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough into 12 strips of equal size, approximately 1½ inches wide.
• Group and stack the strips into 2 separate sections (6 strips each stack). Cut each stack into 6 pieces for a total of 12 stacks of dough. Each stack will be a roll.
• Place each stack into the prepared muffin tin on their sides, cut-side up.
• Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rest 30-40 minutes, or until the dough doubles in size. (Each roll should be about 1 inch higher than the muffin tin.)
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Bake for 12-17 minutes, or until golden brown.
• Brush the tops of the rolls with melted butter while warm.
• Sprinkle kosher salt on top if desired.