Small Batch Dinner Rolls - Small Batch Rolls Recipe makes 4 rolls (2024)

Small batch dinner rolls for two. Recipe makes 4 rolls.

Small Batch Dinner Rolls - Small Batch Rolls Recipe makes 4 rolls (1)

Our journey for small batches of bread, both with and without yeast, has culminated in this small pan of dinner rolls. Lean in close, this is as good as it gets.

This is the best thing you can do with a packet of active dry yeast.

This recipe for small batch dinner rolls for two is so perfect because they're light and fluffy, exactly as they should be. They're packed with that slightly sweet yeasty flavor; that coveted dinner roll flavor makes me soon.

Slathering them in butter is the only natural thing to do as soon as they come out of the oven.

Dinner rolls are a bit of a thing in my family, and no Sunday dinner is complete without them. In the small household, on weeknights, I've been resorting to frozen bread rolls. Using frozen rolls is the only way I can get the portion control I need, because I don't want to throw away leftover rolls that have gone stale or worse, moldy!

But now that I have this small batch dinner roll recipe, I can make 4 rolls on a weeknight to accompany soup. I made them last week to go with my green chile chicken stew, and I've also served them with my Zuppa Toscana for two.

Other small batch bread recipes with yeast:
-small batch focaccia
-potato cinnamon rolls
-caramel apple cinnamon rolls
-small batch soft pretzels
-Sally Lunn Bread
-small batch hamburger buns

Other small batch bread recipes without yeast:
-small batch cinnamon rolls
-rye bread
-corn muffins
-buttermilk biscuits

It looks like I need to work on my breads made without yeast category, right? I'm always open to any recipe suggestions or requests you have, too!

Here's a step by step of these small batch dinner rolls:

First, whisk together the flour and salt, and place them in a small bowl.

Small Batch Dinner Rolls - Small Batch Rolls Recipe makes 4 rolls (2)

Then, bring the milk and honey to the proper temperature either in the microwave or a small sauce pan, 115-degrees F. Stir in the yeast, and let sit until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add one egg yolk and the melted butter. (This recipe uses two egg yolks; for recipe ideas using the leftover egg whites, try my egg white only recipes category page).

Add the wet ingredients to the bowl with the flour, and stir until a soft dough forms.

Small Batch Dinner Rolls - Small Batch Rolls Recipe makes 4 rolls (3)

Flour your work surface, and bring the dough together into a small disk about 5" across in diameter.

This dough will go back into the bowl you mixed it in, and will rise until doubled in bulk.

Small Batch Dinner Rolls - Small Batch Rolls Recipe makes 4 rolls (4)

After the dough completes its first rise, it's time to shape our rolls. Cut the dough disk into four equal pieces, and roll each dough into a ball before placing it in a 6" round cake pan that you spray with cooking spray.

Let the dough balls rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour. I use the 'PROOF' setting on my oven and it takes about 30 minutes.

Small Batch Dinner Rolls - Small Batch Rolls Recipe makes 4 rolls (5)

It's entirely optional, but if you want a super shiny brown crust, beat an extra egg yolk with 2 tablespoons of water. Brush it over the rolls before sliding them into a 375-degree preheated oven.

Bake for 18-19 minutes, or until golden brown.

Let cool in the pan for about 5 minutes before dividing and enjoying!

Small Batch Dinner Rolls - Small Batch Rolls Recipe makes 4 rolls (6)

If you have Thanksgiving for Twoplans this year, these small batch dinner rolls are a must!

Yield: 4 rolls

Small Batch Dinner Rolls

Small Batch Dinner Rolls - Small Batch Rolls Recipe makes 4 rolls (7)

Small batch dinner rolls for two.

Prep Time1 hour 15 minutes

Cook Time18 minutes

Total Time1 hour 33 minutes

Ingredients

  • ¼ cup milk
  • 2 teaspoons honey
  • ½ teaspoon active dry yeast
  • 1 large egg yolk*
  • 1 tablespoon melted butter
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour

Instructions

  1. In a small microwave-safe bowl, add the milk and honey. Heat in the microwave for about 20 seconds until the temperature is 115-degrees F. Alternatively, heat in a small saucepan on the stove.
  2. Whisk to dissolve the honey into the milk. Stir in the yeast and let rest until foamy, about 5 minutes.
  3. Stir in one egg yolk and melted butter.
  4. In a separate bowl, add the flour and salt and stir together with a fork.
  5. Pour the wet ingredients on top of the flour mixture, and stir until it starts to come together.
  6. Knead the dough for a few minutes in the bowl, it will be sticky and pliable. Cover and let the dough in the bowl rise until doubled in a warm place.
  7. Once its doubled, preheat the oven to 375-degrees F.
  8. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces, and roll each piece into a perfect ball. You can pinch from underneath the dough to make the top perfectly smooth, but it’s not necessary.
  9. Place the dough balls into a 6” round cake pan that has been lightly sprayed with cooking spray (or use a muffin pan).
  10. Let the dough rise again while the oven preheats. Ideally, the dough balls will be puffy and touching each other before they go in the oven. It should take about 30 minutes in a warm, draft-free environment.
  11. Optional: take an extra egg yolk and beat it with 2 tablespoons of water. Brush it on top of the rolls before sliding into the oven.
  12. Bake on the middle rack for 18-19 minutes, until golden brown.
  13. Remove them from the oven and let them cool for about 5 minutes before tearing apart and serving.

Notes

For a golden brown look, you can beat an extra egg yolk with 2 tablespoons of water, and brush this mixture on the rolls before baking.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving:Calories: 209Total Fat: 7gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 148mgSodium: 202mgCarbohydrates: 28gFiber: 1gSugar: 3gProtein: 8g

Did you make this recipe?

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Small Batch Dinner Rolls - Small Batch Rolls Recipe makes 4 rolls (2024)

FAQs

How many calories in a small homemade dinner roll? ›

Homemade Dinner Rolls (1 oz) contains 15.1g total carbs, 14.6g net carbs, 2.1g fat, 2.4g protein, and 90 calories.

Why are my homemade dinner rolls dense? ›

Why are my dinner rolls not fluffy? If your dinner rolls aren't fluffy it could be because of one of two reasons. Either, you added too much flour or you possibly used all bread flour. Alternately, not giving your dinner rolls enough time to proof and get puffy before baking could yield dense rolls.

How much dough for each roll? ›

Weigh the whole dough with a kitchen scale. Divide the total weight by the number of rolls you need. For example, if you've got 24 ounces of dough and need 12 rolls, each piece should weigh 2 ounces.

What does it mean to divide dough? ›

What is dough dividing? After mixing, dough dividing is the next step in a bread production plant. Dough dividing implies the transformation/portioning of bulk or large masses of dough into countable or single pieces of dough that can be better handled and/or manipulated throughout the production line.

What happens if you put too much yeast in rolls? ›

Putting too much yeast in bread dough will make it double in size very quickly during the bulk ferment and even more quickly during the proofing of your loaves. As long as you don't let the dough more than double in size at either stage, you should get a reasonable loaf of bread.

Does adding more yeast make bread fluffier? ›

Perfect Your Yeast Levels

Carbon dioxide is responsible for all the bubbles that make holes in bread, making it lighter and fluffier. Because gas is created as a result of yeast growth, the more the yeast grows, the more gas in the dough and the more light and airy your bread loaf will be.

Can you use too much yeast in rolls? ›

This can affect the bread by adding a "yeasty" taste if you put too much into the dough. General amounts of yeast are around 1 - 2 % of the flour, by weight. Too much yeast could cause the dough to go flat by releasing gas before the flour is ready to expand.

How many Oz should a dinner roll be? ›

If I am being really precise, I use my kitchen scale to make sure that each piece of dough is about the same size – for an average size dinner roll, I use pieces of dough that weigh about 2 ounces each.

Are bread rolls better than bread? ›

There are no fundamental differences between the nutritional content of white sliced bread and white bread rolls. Therefore, neither bread nor rolls is healthier than the other. However, loaves of bread and rolls made of 100% whole grain are both better for you and comparable to one another.

How much should a dinner roll weigh? ›

For size reference, the pre-bake weight of dinner rolls typically falls between 60g to 80g each. Imagine a 60g roll as the size of a plum when baked, while a baked 80g roll is closer to a Granny Smith apple.

How can I make my bread fluffier instead of dense? ›

Add Sugar

Adding sugar weakens the gluten structure, absorbs water, and eventually makes the bread lighter and softer. As a result, sugar improves the bread's taste, structure and texture. Yeast also eats up sugar to produce carbon dioxide, which raises the dough and makes bread fluffy.

What happens if you add too much flour to dinner rolls? ›

Too much flour results in a dry, crumbly dough that's unpleasant and difficult to work with. It doesn't stick to itself and tends to fall apart when kneaded.

How to make homemade bread less dense or more light & fluffy? ›

Adding dry milk powder to your bread dough will help your loaf rise higher. In addition, the loaf will stay soft and hold moisture longer which again means it will last longer. It also helps brown the crust. If you want a lighter fluffier bread loaf just add 2 Tbsp of dry milk to the flour per loaf of your bread.

What is the best way to divide dough? ›

First of all, you would not divide the dough if you were only making one loaf of bread. The dough can be divided by just eyeballing it. This works best at home and if you are only making two breads. Otherwise, scales should be used to achieve an even batch.

Do you split dough before or after rising? ›

Dividing and prehaping is the step in the baking process after bulk fermentation, where you divide the dough into pieces and loosely gather each piece into a form that will help facilitate final shaping. It's called preshaping because it's the step right before you shape the dough into whatever your end loaf will be.

How long should the divided dough rest? ›

The dough would be mixed then stored in large bins for rising, stretch and folds and the like. Then the dough would be parceled out by weight and loaves pre shaped then rest for 5 mins. And then shaped into their desired form and set to rise.

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