Soft & Fluffy One Hour Rolls

Soft, fluffy, & buttery rolls in just one hour! Yes it can be done and you won’t believe how delicious and fail-proof these rolls are. These one hour rolls are perfect for Thanksgiving dinner or easy enough for a weeknight dinner.

If you have followed my blog for any amount of time you may notice that I don’t have a lot of homemade bread/roll recipes. In fact, I am pretty sure I only have one which are these parmesan breadsticks. The reason being is that I have not had much luck with homemade bread, yeast, and all that stuff.

I may be a food blogger that makes all kinds of food but for some reason I have never been able to master rolls. They turn out too dense, too hard, no flavor, yeast does not rise, too much flour….. I mean, really, I could go on and on.

I tell you this because if I am posting a roll recipe then you can have 100% faith that it is an easy, fail-proof recipe that anyone could do.  

These really can be done in one hour. Mine actually took longer because I had my 1 year old crawling all over the kitchen floor while I was baking. He loves to get into the trash, the cabinets, and his favorite thing to do is to take ALL the bowls out of the cabinet and scoot them around the kitchen floor. 

So my rolls took a bit longer because of said 1 year old. He is just so squishy and cute so he can get away with doing annoying stuff like that 🙂 

How to make one hour rolls

The easiest way to make these rolls is in a stand mixer like a KitchenAid. You can also just use a bowl, wooden spoon, and some hand strength to mix and knead the dough as well.

• Combine yeast + sugar in a small bowl or cup, and dump into the bottom of the mixing bowl. Pour some hot water over it and let it get nice and frothy. If your bowl does not look like the picture up there (#1 picture) then you will need to start over.
• You want the top to get bubbly and frothy. The reasons for it not to get frothy is either the water is too hot or not hot/warm enough. I have always just turned my kitchen faucet to the hottest water and then I use it. It’s worked for me each time.
• Once frothy add salt, softened butter, and 3 cups of flour. Use the dough hook to mix it up until it pulls away from the sides of the bowl (like in picture #3). You will add additional flour in 1/4 cup increments until it does pull away from the sides of the bowl. I usually end up adding an additional 1/2 cup flour, for a total of 3 1/2 cups flour in the recipe. Start at 1/4 cup and add from there.
• I will note that since moving to Utah, which has higher elevation then Maryland, I have not had to add the additional flour. Let it mix first with the 3 cups of flour, and then decide if your dough needs more flour. 
• Let it sit in the bowl, covered with a clean kitchen towel, to rise for about 20 minutes. 

• Pinch off pieces of dough and roll into a ball. Place 20 rolls into the baking dish, brush with melted butter and sprinkle with some sea salt. The size of each roll should be a bit larger than a golf ball. 
• The next step is to cover them again with a towel and let rise.

Bake the rolls and then enjoy the fluffiest, softest one hour rolls you’ll ever eat in your life! I really do hope you love these. It’s the only roll recipe I make anymore because I trust it, it’s easy enough even for me to do, and they’re so delicious. 

You won’t even need butter with these rolls! They are super fluffy and incredibly soft. Serve these rolls warm from the oven and they will literally melt in your mouth. So yummy and even better dipped in some creamy wild rice & chicken soup. 

I should mention that this entire pan of 20 rolls was gone in one day at my house….. my kids ate them like they were candy and we dipped them into this delicious hamburger soup recipe.

Print

One Hour Rolls

Prep Time

40 mins

Cook Time

15 mins

Total Time

55 mins

 

Soft, fluffy, & buttery rolls in just one hour! Yes it can be done and you won't believe how delicious and fail-proof these rolls are. These one hour rolls are perfect for Thanksgiving dinner or easy enough for a weeknight dinner.

Course: Side Dish

Keyword: one hour rolls, roll recipe, thanksgiving

Servings: 20 rolls

Calories: 90 kcal

Author: Jessica - Together as Family

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups very warm water (see note below)
• 1 tablespoon active dry yeast (NOT quick rise)
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 3-4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted (for brushing on top of rolls)
• sea salt

Instructions

1. In a small bowl stir together the sugar and yeast. Pour into the bottom of the bowl of a stand mixer. Pour the water over it and let it sit for 5 minutes. It will be frothy and bubbly.

2. Add softened butter, salt, and 3 cups of flour. Mix on medium low speed, using the dough hook, until combined. Add additional flour, 1/4 cup at a time, until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. The dough should still be slightly sticky and soft. Be sure to not add too much flour.

3. Knead for 5 minutes (I just used the dough hook to knead it in the stand mixer bowl) until it looks smooth. Cover with a towel and let rise for 20 minutes.

4. Prepare a 9 x13 baking dish by spraying with cooking spray or lining with parchment paper.
5. Gently punch down the dough and divide into 20 pieces (each piece will be a bit larger than a golf ball). Roll each piece into a ball and place into the prepared baking dish.

6. Brush rolls with the melted butter (I save some of this to brush on the rolls after they cook) and sprinkle with sea salt. Let rise, uncovered, for 15 minutes.

7. While rolls are rising heat oven to 400 degrees.

8. Cook rolls for 15-18 minutes or until tops are golden brown. Serve warm!

Recipe Notes

A trick that I use for the water is to turn on the kitchen faucet all the way hot. I then use that water to pour into the yeast/sugar mixture.

 

You need 1 tablespoon of active dry yeast for this recipe (not quick rise yeast) so I would suggest buying a small jar of it at the grocery store instead of the smaller packets. Once opened, store the jar in the fridge. Or buy the packets and measure out 1 tablespoon. 

 

I always save some of the 3 tablespoons of melted butter (that you brush on the rolls before baking) to spread on top of the cooked rolls before serving.

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This recipe was originally published November 2017.

It has been updated with additional notes and republished October 2018. Recipe is the same.