These Pull Apart Dinner Rolls are the easiest, fluffiest, most buttery dinner rolls. The rolls are enriched with eggs and sugar, but rather than milk it uses water, which gives you much more leeway in your rise time.
Similar to brioche, they are rich and buttery and satisfying to pull apart, but they are so much easier to make. It’s a fairly soft dough that only takes a few minutes in the stand mixer and is otherwise pretty hands off.
The recipe calls for an extra egg yolk, which helps in two ways. The extra egg yolk adds richness to the dough, but it also allows you to create an egg wash with the extra egg white to brush on the rolls so that they look super shiny out of the oven (less waste!).
These are great to make ahead (they taste great on day 2), and they freeze really well. This means you can make a batch ahead of time for a special event, dinner, or holiday (like Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter), then pull them out of the freezer and warm them up without them ever taking up any of your time on the special day.
See below for plenty of tips and step-by-step photo directions.
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🛒 Ingredients:
Below are the ingredients needed to make these buttery Pull Apart Dinner Rolls.
- Water: Use warm water to dissolve the sugar and activate the yeast.
- Granulated Sugar: Adds sweetness but also helps to give the yeast more fuel for the rise.
- Yeast: I recommend using Fleischmann’s Rapid Rise Instant Yeast, Fast Acting.
- Butter: Use salted butter, melted and cooled.
- Salt: I’ve made this with ½ tablespoon salt and separately with 1 tablespoon salt, and it definitely needs the full tablespoon. If making this with unsalted butter, you’ll need to add more salt to make up the difference.
- Eggs: Use 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk in the dough. Reserve the egg white from the second egg to create an egg wash to brush on the rolls before baking.
- Flour: I highly recommend using bread flour. The texture of the rolls is quite a bit better than when using all-purpose flour (I’ve made it both ways).
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
📝 How to Make Pull Apart Dinner Rolls
Below are the step-by-step instructions and photos for how to make Pull Apart Dinner Rolls.
Note: The recipe card with instructions, ingredient list, and quantities is included further below these step-by-step photos.
Step 1. Activate the Yeast: Combine the warm water and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Ensure that the water is not hot. Add the yeast and let sit for 5-10 minutes until it starts to bubble.
Step 2. Roughly Combine Ingredients: Beat the egg and egg yolk. Reserve the egg white from the second yolk to make an egg wash later. Add the beaten eggs and the melted but cooled butter and combine roughly with a spoon. Add the flour and salt and combine roughly with a spoon.
Step 3. Knead in a Stand Mixer: Place the bowl in the stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Knead on low speed (a setting of 2-3) for 10 minutes.
Step 4. First Rise: Turn out the dough onto a clean, lightly floured work surface. Shape into a round ball (dust your hands with flour if needed to prevent sticking) and place in a clean bowl. Coat lightly with olive oil and cover with a dish cloth. Place in a warm spot until doubled in size, roughly 1-2 hours.
Step 5. Shape the Rolls: Butter a 9x13 baking dish and line with parchment paper.
Turn the dough out again on a clean, lightly floured work surface and divide the dough into 15 roughly equal pieces. Shape each piece of dough into a round ball, tucking any rough ends underneath.
Tip: To create a super smooth ball of dough, pull the dough out, over, and tuck it underneath the ball. Then, twist the rough ends tucked underneath to pinch them together. Finally, on the lightly floured surface, keeping the ball of dough upright roll it around under the palm of your hand gently to smooth out the bottom of the ball of dough.
Step 6. Second Rise: Cover the baking dish lightly with a dish cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F.
Tip: If you have a stovetop oven combo, preheat the oven to 350°F, then let the dough rise on top of the stove where it is nice and warm (you can do this for the first rise, too).
Step 7. Bake: Create an egg wash by combining the egg white (leftover from the egg yolk before) and a teaspoon of water in a small bowl. Lightly brush the egg wash on the tops of the rolls.
Bake the rolls at 350°F for 18-20 minutes.
✏️ Tips for Super Soft, Buttery, Pull Apart Dinner Rolls
- Water: Using water instead of milk enables you to have a longer rise time and is more forgiving than using milk, which will go bad quicker, particularly at warm temperatures (which is needed for a good rise).
- Fast Acting Yeast: Fast acting yeast combined with sugar creates a super quick rise in the dough which helps create really light and fluffy rolls.
- Egg + Egg Yolk: I’ve made these with just one egg and again with one egg plus one egg yolk. The richness from the extra egg yolk makes quite a difference in the finished rolls.
- Use Bread Flour: I’ve made these with both all-purpose flour and bread flour, and they were quite a bit better with bread flour. The bread flour helps to create super soft, decadent, fluffy rolls that are so fun to pull apart.
- Measuring Flour: Use a kitchen scale to measure the flour in grams. This will give you the most accurate amount of flour, which will give you the exact right texture and consistency in your rolls. For more on measuring flour see my post on Baking Tips.
- Use a Stand Mixer: This dough is quite soft and would be challenging (though not impossible) to knead by hand. Using a stand mixer enables you to work the dough even though it is quite soft. If you attempt to knead these by hand, use the “flick and gather” method that I detail with photos in this recipe for Neapolitan Pizza Dough (which is also super soft).
- Faster Rise: For a faster rise, place the dough in a warm place. If you have a stove/oven combo, I recommend turning the oven on to 350°F and placing the bowl toward the back on top of the stove where it will be nice and warm.
❄️ How to Serve, Store, and Freeze
- To Serve: Serve the rolls warm or at room temperature, either on their own or spread with softened butter. Serve with a special holiday dinner or alongside:
- Baked Pork Chops with Apples
- Pasta with Pancetta and Peas
- Pan Seared Cod in a White Wine Tomato Basil Sauce (great for soaking up extra sauce).
- Or stuff with Italian Meatballs to make meatball sandwiches.
- To Store: Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the fridge for 5 days.
- To Freeze: Place in an airtight freezer bag, removing as much air from the bag as possible, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature or gently at low power in the microwave.
💖 If You're Interested in More Bread Recipes, You May Love These:
If you tried these Pull Apart Dinner Rolls or any other recipe on my site, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. I'd love to hear from you!
Pull Apart Dinner Rolls
Ingredients
- 1½ cups warm water
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 8 tablespoon butter, melted and cooled
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 large egg white reserved from the egg yolk above
- 4½ cups bread flour (595 grams)
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the warm water and sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Ensure that the water is warm, not hot, before adding the yeast. Hot water will kill the yeast, causing your rolls to not rise.
- Stir in the yeast and let sit for 5-10 minutes until it starts to be frothy. If it does not get frothy and bubbly, your yeast has likely gone bad, and you’ll need to start over with fresh yeast.
- Add the melted and cooled butter (if it’s hot, it could kill the yeast and cook the eggs) and the eggs and roughly combine with a spoon.
- Add the flour and salt and roughly combine with a spoon.
- Place the bowl in the stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Knead at a speed of 2-3 for 10 minutes. The dough will be quite soft.
- Turn the dough out onto a clean, lightly floured work surface and shape into a ball, tucking any rough ends underneath. Place it in a large, clean bowl and brush it with a light coating of olive oil (you can do this with your hands). Cover and let sit in a warm place until doubled in size, 1-2 hours.
- Butter and line a 9x13 metal baking dish with parchment paper. If you don’t have parchment paper, just butter the dish. Parchment paper makes it easier to lift the rolls out of the pan.
- Turn the dough out again on a lightly floured surface and divide into 15 roughly equal portions (that way, you have 5 rows of 3 rolls in your baking dish, but 16 rolls is fine too if that’s easier to divide).
- Shape each piece of dough into a smooth round ball by pulling the dough, stretching it over and under the ball, and tucking it underneath. Place each ball of dough in the baking dish, creating 5 rows of 3 rolls.
- Cover lightly with a dish cloth and let rise until it has doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Create an egg wash by combining the egg white with a teaspoon of water. Lightly brush the egg wash on the tops of the rolls. This will make them shiny and golden brown (note: I've made an egg wash with egg white, egg yolk, and both combined and I always prefer the shiny texture of just using the egg white).
- Bake the rolls at 350°F for 18-20 minutes, erring on the side of less time. The rolls should be a beautiful golden brown on top. A toothpick inserted in the middle should come out clean.
Notes
- Water: Using water instead of milk enables you to have a longer rise time and is more forgiving than using milk, which will go bad quicker, particularly at warm temperatures (which is helpful for a good rise).
- Fast Acting Yeast: Fast acting yeast combined with sugar creates a super quick rise in the dough which helps create really light and fluffy rolls.
- Use Bread Flour: I’ve made these with both all-purpose flour and bread flour, and they were quite a bit better with bread flour. The bread flour helps to create super soft, decadent, fluffy rolls that are so satisfying to pull apart.
- Measuring Flour: Use a kitchen scale to measure the flour in grams. This will give you the most accurate amount of flour, which will give you the exact right texture and consistency in your rolls.
- Use a Stand Mixer: This dough is quite soft and would be challenging (though not impossible) to knead by hand. Using a stand mixer enables you to work the dough even though it is quite soft.
- Rise Location: If you have a stovetop-oven combo, preheat the oven to 350°F, then let the dough rise on top of the stove where it is nice and warm.
- Shaping the Rolls: To create a super smooth ball of dough, pull the dough out, and over, and tuck it underneath the ball. Twist the rough ends tucked underneath to pinch them together. Finally, on the lightly floured surface, keep the ball of dough upright and roll it around under the palm of your hand gently to smooth out the bottom of the ball of dough.
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