Pull Apart Dinner Rolls

5 from 1 vote

Pull Apart Dinner Rolls

These Pull Apart Dinner Rolls are the lightest, fluffiest, most buttery dinner rolls. They are enriched rolls made with eggs and sugar, but with water instead of milk, which gives you much more leeway in your rise time.

Prep Time15

Cook Time18

Rise Time2

Total Time2 33

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 220kcal

Author: Lauren Skardal

Ingredients

1½ cups warm water
¼ cup granulated sugar
7 grams Instant Fast Acting Yeast 1 standard packet (¼ oz)
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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