Rich, tender, soft, and slightly sweet, these honey butter yeast rolls are some of the best dinner rolls I’ve ever made. Soft and buttery, these rolls have a wonderful texture and flavor, and when topped with honey butter, it puts their flavor over the top.
I first made these honey butter yeast rolls for a scratch-made Thanksgiving dinner I did for my folks back in 2017. Since then, they’ve been requested every year, and for almost every holiday. While they are a little time-consuming to make, most of that is hands-off because of the two rising times. If you’re making them for a holiday dinner, they can also be made ahead of time and warmed up just before serving.
The base of the roll is an enriched bread dough, like a brioche, which means it uses milk, butter, and eggs to create a rich tasting bread. All the sweetness comes from liquid honey, and topping the bread with honey butter as soon as they come out of the oven adds even more flavor. These honey butter dinner rolls also make a perfect vehicle for leftover turkey or ham sandwiches for the holidays, I especially love them with my Herb-Roasted Turkey.
🥘 Ingredients
A nice thing with making these honey butter yeast rolls is they only need 6-7 ingredients, and you may have them all on-hand already, especially if you do much baking at all.
Flour – You could use all-purpose flour here and they’ll turn out just as good, but I do prefer bread flour here. With the higher protein amount, they give the rolls a better structure and chewier texture.
Milk – Use milk instead of water for a richer flavor and texture. Any milk can probably work fine, but whole milk gives the best flavor to an enriched bread.
Yeast – Active dry or instant yeast can be used here. I use instant yeast, but I still bloom it, which I always recommend doing. It’s much better to find out if your yeast is dead a few minutes in, instead of using all your ingredients and waiting an hour or two to realize it was no good.
Sugar – I use just a small amount of granulated white sugar to feed the yeast as I bloom it, but you can skip that and just use some honey instead. Honestly, the whole milk probably has enough natural sugar in it already, but I’m just used to adding a pinch of sugar to help.
Honey – The honey will both flavor and sweeten the dough. You’ll use some in the dough itself and mix some with softened butter later for a homemade honey butter topping.
Eggs – Use one whole egg and one egg yolk at room temperature for enriched bread dough. The extra yolk helps to add moisture and keep the finished texture soft.
Butter – I use unsalted butter for the dough, and since you melt it, it doesn’t need to come to room temperature first. Use some more butter for the honey butter topping, and that can be salted or unsalted.
🔪 How to Make
Begin by melting the butter and proofing the yeast. In a liquid measuring cup, heat the milk until warm (about 100°F / 38°C), add the sugar or honey and the yeast and stir together. Set aside to bloom for about 10 minutes. Place the butter in a small bowl and microwave for 20 seconds, and in 10 second increments until just melted. Set aside to cool slightly.
If the yeast and milk are bubbly and frothy looking after 8-10 minutes, the yeast is good, and you can begin making the dough. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large mixing bowl, add the egg and egg yolk, honey, and melted butter. Use a fork and mix until the eggs are nice and scrambled, then add the milk and yeast mixture and stir together again. Add most of the bread flour, reserving roughly a ½ cup, and place on the stand mixer with the dough hook attachment. Mix for about two minutes at stir speed, scraping down the sides, until a shaggy dough begins to form.
Toss in the salt and the rest of the flour and continue mixing at stir speed until combined, then turn to low speed and allow the dough to knead for another 8-9 minutes. The dough should be slightly tacky, but not sticky. If it feels too sticky, add more flour a tablespoon at a time until it feels right. Lightly oil a large bowl and add the dough, turning to coat. Cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel and place in a draft-free, warm environment. Let it rise for 1-2 hours, until doubled in size.
Once doubled in size, punch down the dough and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Tear off pieces of dough to form 15 evenly sized chunks. If using a kitchen scale, my dough was just under 900 grams, so about 60 grams (or 2 ounces) for each roll. Take each piece of dough and push your fingers under the dough towards you until a smooth top forms and pinch the bottom together. Place it on the floured surface and cup your hand over the ball and gently roll back and forth to tighten the seal on the bottom.
Place all 15 dough balls into a nonstick 9x13 pan and cover again for a second rise. This should take around 45-60 minutes. In the meantime, set aside a ¼ cup of butter to soften. When the second rise is almost over, preheat your oven to 350°F / 177°C.
Once the dough has risen a second time (they should be puffed up and touching each other), set on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes. While baking, place the softened butter in a small bowl and add honey to it. Use a fork to mix the honey into the butter until fully combined.
Remove the honey butter yeast rolls from the oven when finished baking and the tops are nicely browned. As soon as you remove them from the oven, use a knife or pastry brush to slather on the honey butter. It will melt and coat all the tops in a wonderful glaze.
Allow to cool for at least 10-15 minutes and serve with the rest of the honey butter.
💭 Frequently Asked Questions
Usually, the problem is adding too much flour when making the dough. The dough should still be slightly tacky after kneading, but not super sticky. If you keep adding flour while kneading, the finished bread can be quite dense.
Alternatively, not giving the dough a proper rise can hurt also. It should double in size before cutting into even pieces for the rolls, then rise a second time. Properly risen, the dough should spring back when you push your finger into it.
Poke test – When you poke the bread with a finger and it springs back, it should be good. If the indent keeps its shape, keep kneading.
Windowpane test – Tear off a small piece of dough and try to stretch it out thin enough to see light through it. If you can see light and it doesn’t tear when trying to stretch it out, it’s ready to rise.
Typically, no, all-purpose flour can be used instead. Bread flour has a higher percentage of protein though, which means more gluten. That extra gluten will make a more airy, chewy bread.
Once made, you can store them at room temperature in an airtight container for 4-5 days. You can also freeze them once cooled completely and stored in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
Yes! There are two methods depending on how far ahead you wish to make them. If making these a day or two ahead of time, do everything up until the second rise. Refrigerate, covered, until the day you need them. Allow them to finish rising and come to room temperature for about 2 hours before baking.
If making further ahead of time, you can freeze the shaped rolls before their second rise. When you’re ready to make them, remove them from the freezer, add to the baking pan and allow to thaw and rise on the counter for 4-5 hours before baking.
📋 Recipe
Honey Butter Yeast Rolls
Ingredients
Honey Butter Rolls:
- 1 cup whole milk, warm
- 2 ¼ teaspoons instant yeast, 1 packet
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar, or honey
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- 3 ½ cups bread flour
Honey Butter Topping:
- ¼ cup butter, softened
- 1 tablespoon honey
Directions
- Begin by melting the butter and proofing the yeast. In a liquid measuring cup, heat 1 cup whole milk until warm (about 100°F / 38°C), add 1 teaspoon sugar or honey and 2 ¼ teaspoons of yeast and stir together. Set aside to bloom for about 10 minutes. Place a ¼ cup butter in a small bowl and microwave for 20 seconds, and in 10 second increments until just melted. Set aside to cool slightly.
- If the yeast and milk are bubbly and frothy looking after 8-10 minutes, the yeast is good, and you can begin making the dough. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large mixing bowl, add the egg and egg yolk, ¼ cup honey, and melted butter. Use a fork and mix until the eggs are nice and scrambled, then add the milk and yeast mixture and stir together again. Add most of the bread flour, reserving roughly a ½ cup, and place on the stand mixer with the dough hook attachment. Mix for about two minutes at stir speed, scraping down the sides, until a shaggy dough begins to form.
- Toss in the ½ teaspoon salt and the rest of the flour and continue mixing at stir speed until combined, then turn to low speed and allow the dough to knead for another 8-9 minutes. The dough should be slightly tacky, but not sticky. If it feels too sticky, add more flour a tablespoon at a time until it feels right. Lightly oil a large bowl and add the dough, turning to coat. Cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel and place in a draft-free, warm environment. Let it rise for 1-2 hours, until doubled in size.
- Once doubled in size, punch down the dough and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Tear off pieces of dough to form 15 evenly sized chunks. If using a kitchen scale, my dough was just under 900 grams, so about 60 grams (or 2 ounces) for each roll. Take each piece of dough and push your fingers under the dough towards you until a smooth top forms and pinch the bottom together. Place it on the floured surface and cup your hand over the ball and gently roll back and forth to tighten the seal on the bottom.
- Place all 15 dough balls into a nonstick 9x13 pan and cover again for a second rise. This should take around 45-60 minutes. In the meantime, set aside a ¼ cup of butter to soften. When the second rise is almost over, preheat your oven to 350°F / 177°C.
- Once the dough has risen a second time (they should be puffed up and touching each other), set on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes. While baking, place the softened ¼ cup of butter in a small bowl and add 1 tablespoon of honey to it. Use a fork to mix the honey into the butter until fully combined.
- Remove the honey butter yeast rolls from the oven when finished baking and the tops are nicely browned. As soon as you remove them from the oven, use a knife or pastry brush to slather on the honey butter. It will melt and coat all the tops in a wonderful glaze.
- Allow to cool for at least 10-15 minutes and serve with the rest of the honey butter.
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