The softest 100% whole wheat dinner rolls you’ve ever had, complete with tutorial & make-ahead tip – these are so easy and so good – with or without butter!
Originally published in the first year of the blog, 2009, this incredible whole wheat dinner roll recipe remains one of my most popular recipes, which it deserves – I’ve actually had a friend tell me she dreamed about these rolls! We also made a video showing all the steps, too, so you have a couple ways to learn to make these rolls, even if you’ve never made bread before. And you’ll want to – they really are amazing!
My family loves, loves these whole wheat dinner rolls (of course they all agree that wheat yeast rolls are better than baking powder biscuits, but just between us, I also secretly crave these). Along with my 100% whole wheat sandwich bread, these sweetened with honey whole wheat rolls are what made me believe that “soft” and “whole wheat” could actually happen in a bread.
Most people when tasting these don’t believe the rolls are 100% whole wheat – and just plain old regular whole wheat at that. But it’s all true. It’s the eggs and butter and honey that make these a so-good-you-can’t-eat-just-one type of roll. They are light and fluffy and almost don’t need any butter – but go ahead anyway.
If you bring (or serve) these rolls to any dinner, holiday or otherwise, everyone will be begging asking you for the recipe. And they’re easy, too, once you get the hang of working with a slightly wetter dough. Don’t believe me? I’ll show you all the steps, including what the dough should look like so you can see that it’s all true.
How to Make Soft 100% Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls
(note: for full recipe, click the arrow at the top or bottom of the page)
The first step is to dissolve 2Tb. of yeast in 1/2 cup of warm (not hot) water. Just measure out the water in a glass measuring cup using warm tap water, add the yeast and stir it in with a whisk, and set it aside.
Then, put 1/2 cup of softened butter (no substitutes, please- now is not the time!) in the bowl of a stand mixer, add 1/4 cup of honey and cream them together with the paddle attachment.
Add 3 eggs and beat, scraping the butter from the sides. Add 1 cup of warm buttermilk (or milk) and the yeast mixture.
It will not be smooth, as this picture shows- it’s OK to see lumps of butter floating around.
Add 4-1/2 cups whole wheat flour and 1-1/2 teaspoons salt (trust me, you don’t want to leave the salt out- I speak from experience), and mix well.
Change to the dough hook and knead for only a couple of minutes- we’re just trying to loose the extreme stickiness here, not really to develop gluten. Add a couple more tablespoons of flour, if needed.
This was hard to photograph, but a finger touched on the surface should not come away with any dough on it, even though the dough looks sticky. The dough is still sticking to the bowl (good), but not to my finger, so it’s ready to rise.
Just leave it in the mixing bowl, cover it with a towel and let sit at room temperature for an hour.
As you can see here, it has risen some, but is not really “doubled” but it’s OK- it always looks like this for me. They rise more in the pan.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface (I always use a clean towel for easy clean-up and less need for flour) and knead with hands a few times, then cover it with 1/2 the towel and let rest for 3 minutes.
Meanwhile, pull out a 13×9-inch pan and butter it generously on the bottom and sides.
The dough needs to be divided into 24 even (or as close as you can get) pieces. I flatten it out into a rectangle shape and use a knife to cut it into 24 pieces. As you can see above, the middle pieces are bigger than the corner ones, so I just cut some off the middle pieces and add them to the corners.
Again this is just how I do it. There could be some great math-and-science way of doing this, but I just eyeball things. I’d love to know if there are other methods out there (other than weighing each piece- that’s a little too much for me!).
Here’s how I learned to shape dinner rolls when I volunteered at my kid’s summer camp: with your left hand (if you’re right-handed) make a circle shape with the thumb and fingers then take the dough in your right hand and push it up through the circle, pushing up in the middle of the dough to form a rounded top.
Whew- that’s hard to explain- thank goodness for pictures!
Then turn the dough ball over and pinch the ends in together. Place the seam side down in the buttered dish- four balls across and six down.
They should be touching in the pan in order to make all the soft sides (the center ones are my favorites…).
Cover (I shake off the towel I used to shape them, then cover with that), and let rise for another hour. Set the timer for 45 minutes, though, so you can turn the oven on to 350 degrees to preheat for the last 15 minutes of the rising time.
This is what they will look like after 1 hour of rising. They are not spilling over the pan, but all the sides are touching now.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. I rotate them after 10 minutes for even browning.
Brush the tops with softened butter when they come out of the oven (just do it – you’ll be glad you did).
As soon as they are cooled to just warm, pull them out of the pan and pull apart to serve. Look at that texture- no heavy whole wheat rolls here. These are so good, please give them a try!
These make terrific whole wheat sandwich rolls, too – think of all the ‘sliders’ you can make healthier now!
Make ahead tip: you can make these up to a month in advance, let the cool in the pan, remove them as one piece, separate into 2 sections of 12 rolls and place each section of rolls into a gallon sized freezer baggie. Freeze until needed. When ready to serve, take them out in the morning to thaw, then wrap the 12-roll section in tin foil and heat in a 300-350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until warm.
Click the green arrow for the printable recipe + more bread recipes.
I made these and my family couldnt believe these were homemade. EXCEPTIONAL
Made them today. They rose very well and are definitely soft and fluffy. They do smell a bit yeasty (I used instant yeast) but I will be making them again. One question though – can I reduce the amount of butter without affecting the end result?
I don’t know, Shelly – I’ve never tried. 🙂 I would start with 1 TB less and see how they are, then reduce it each time until you notice a difference.
Thanks! I’ll try that. BTW, I halved the recipe to make 12 rolls. I used 2 small eggs and halved rest of the ingredients.
Good to know – thanks!
Ok, I just finished baking these and I’m not really impressed. I’m sure it’s user error though! I’m in Mexico and working with grams of butter, weighing the flour instead of using measuring cups, and it’s freaking hot! So there’s a lot of room to mess up there. I thought my dough was alright before the first raising (sticking to the bowl, but not my finger), but then it was way too sticky when I was shaping the rolls. I somehow managed to get them to look like your pic in the buttered dish, but then they really took off with that second raise! They subsequently collapsed in the oven and never really got brown. I put finely diced onions on top before baking and I’m glad I did, cause they are a bit bland. The other comments gave me high hopes these would turn out, but it’s probably just that the conditions weren’t ideal, I guess.
Hmmm, that’s too bad Sarah. The big second rise is a red flag to me – that happens with bread for me when my kitchen is hot. If bread rises too fast (or is left to rise too long) it collapses in the oven. I would monitor and stop the rise when they look right and not according to the clock in a warm kitchen like yours. They really shouldn’t be bland, though! You can always increase the salt to your liking (the only time mine were bland is when I forgot to add the salt, ha!).
Yes, you are right! It is soooo hot here right now! My rolls had risen out of control when I looked at them at the 45 min mark on the second rise. I still had to preheat my oven so they just kept going! I may try these again, but I’m gonna take the yeast down a bit too. Leftover, they are tasting quite yeasty.
Hi, am I reading it right…..two tablespoons of yeast?
Yes.
Let me just say, I’m not a fan of whole wheat anything, but I made these for the first time, for a family friend…I just might have to change my position on whole wheat–when it comes to this recipe, anyway. These were the softest, tastiest whole wheat rolls we ever had. It’s the honey that did it! And also the buttermilk! I could taste the whole wheat, off course, but it didn’t taste harsh at all. A few days later, the rolls stayed just as soft and tasty as when originally baked. Thanks to you, I am now a convert (as well as some family members) and will only eat this recipe when it comes to whole wheat rolls. Can I use this dough for cinnamon rolls or fruit turnovers?
I’m so glad, Bernadette!! I have a cinnamon roll my family would kill me if I changed 🙂 so I haven’t tried making them with this dough, but I don’t know why it wouldn’t work. I’ve never heard of fruit turnovers made with bread dough – only pie dough – but you can certainly experiment – that’s the fun part of cooking!
I use your sourdough recipe often, so when I wanted to make 100% whole wheat yeast rolls I knew I could trust your recipe. And oh man, they did not disappoint. I cannot believe how soft and fluffy they are inside with ONLY whole wheat flour. It’s just me and my husband so I cut the recipe down to 1/4 and everything still worked. I was out of milk so I used water with a dash or apple cider vinegar. And I don’t have a stand mixer so I used my food processor with the dough blade. They are so delicious I wish I hadn’t cut the recipe so small!
I love this, Kasey – that’s wonderful to know! I’m also glad to know about the food processor and that you were successful at cutting the recipe down, since I don’t have experience with that and I know in half is hard because of the eggs. Thanks!
The eggs would have been tricky to cut 3 down to a quarter, so I just used one whole egg (in case anyone reads this later and wants to know). Worked fine. 🙂
Thank you, Kasey – that is good to know.
In the photo, it looks like you’re using 1/4 cup butter. Is that the case or is it really 1/2 cup??
It’s 1/2 c. like the recipe.
Hi thanks a lot lot for such a wonderful whole wheat bread flour dinner roll recipe – they were soft and tasty too – can i add bread enhancer to the recipe next time?? If yes how much pls??
Can u also share whole wheat bread flour pizza dough recipe too thnx ???
I’m glad you liked them. I haven’t added any enhancer, so I can’t answer that. If I want a WW pizza dough, I just use this recipe with WW (though it is a bit heavier than with unbleached flour): http://anoregoncottage.com/quick-homemade-pizza-dough/
Have you ever tried the recipe using white whole wheat (spring wheat)?
I have and they were just as good, Mary.
Great recipe! I made them a few nights ago and decided I wanted them a little sweeter so I increased the honey to 1/2 cup. When I tried them they were great and they had a very familiar flavor. When my daughter-in-law tried them she said, “These taste just like Dixie Cafe’s rolls!” That was it. They are so good I’m about to make another batch because the first batch is gone. Thanks.
I’m glad you like them, Michael, though I’ve never heard of Dixie Cafe. But they must be good if they’re like these, since we all love them,too. 😉
Great recipe, thanks so much for sharing! I can’t stop eating them. Only thing I changed was using 1 tbsp of instant yeast instead of 2 and I don’t have a kitchen Aid so did everything by hand with a spoon, but still came out beautifully.
Happy you like them. Yes, lots of readers have said they have done this by hand – I’m just glad I don’t have to. 😉
Hi, is it 2 teaspoon or tablespoon of instant yeast needed to make the roll? Thks!
Tb = tablespoons, Marc (ts. or tsp. = teaspoons) – hope you enjoy these!
Super recipe, thanks! Never had whole wheat bread come out so light and fluffy.
Posted a photo on my facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/julie.a.peacock.7
all the best
Julie
Do you know the calorie count in one roll?
Can I put the dough in my LARGE Cuisinart with the plastic ( I think dough) attachment?
Thanks
Sorry, I don’t know calorie counts – there are online tools that will let you calculate that. I also don’t know if it will work in a food processor. Since these don’t need much kneading, you’d have to be very careful not to over process.
hi,could you please say how much grams or mililiters of water can we use for this recipe. I am from asia and our measure for cups different from yours. i will do it tomorrow. thank you
Here’s a site I found on Google to convert measurements: http://www.metric-conversions.org/volume/cups-to-milliliters.htm
Do you think I could do all the dough work in a bread machine? My bread machine has a dough only setting.
I know other readers have done that with success, Brandi – go for it.
Yummy, thank you for the recipe! The tops of my rolls were light and fluffy but the bottoms were pretty dense- any ideas why?
No, that’s the first I’ve ever heard of that, Nicolle!
Does the recipe really call for 2 Tablespoons of yeast?! I used 2 teaspoons and it was still too much yeast (I can tell when something has too much yeast as it has a very yeasty taste). The rolls turned out perfect except for the yeasty taste. Next time I’m only using one teaspoon like most dough recipes call for.
The recipe is written like I always make them, Maria, and we don’t notice a taste – but that’s why I like to make things myself so I can adapt to our tastes, so if you’d like less and you are still happy with the size and texture, go for it!
Absolutely the best rolls – thanks for sharing!
Hi Jami,
I’ve made these rolls several times, always with perfect results.
Wondering if I can make the dough today, refrigerate and prepare (form) rolls in the morning for Thanksgiving.
Thank you.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving,
Chris
I decided to make the dough and refrigerate as I have with other recipes. For the 1st time I used my food processor because I already had it out to prepare other recipes, something I’d never done before while making yeast dough. It has a plastic blade that won’t heat the dough. Within 90 mins the dough tripled!
I’m sure they’ll be be delicious.
I’ll let you know how they turn out.
Thanks again.
Worked great!
Wonderful, Chris – thanks for letting me know!
Does the taste of the rolls really depend on the type of milk? Will I get better results using buttermilk? Or will it be okay to use non-fat milk?
I’m not sure you’d really notice a difference in the flavor, Sunshine.
The recipe says to dissolve the yeast in water. Is that liquid in addition to the milk or do you dissolve the yeast in the milk?
It’s in addition and accounted for in the full printable recipe.
These are amazing, and so easy (especially considering that I have failed bread recipes before!) Can’t wait to make these for Thanksgiving!
It makes me so happy to know you had success with these rolls, Casey! Thanks for letting me know. 🙂
I can’t wait to try these! I knew I had to when I saw that you spell you name the same way I do…:)
Yay! 🙂
Looks awfully yummy! Sorry if this is a repeat question but how different are the rolls using 1% or 2% milk? My husband can’t do buttermilk.
Thank you, Carla! I just make ‘buttermilk’ by adding vinegar to regular 2% or whole milk (commercial ‘buttermilk’ has lots of additives I don’t like). It just thickens the milk a bit. You can use straight milk, too, but I’d use a higher fat one for tenderness.
Made them today and they’re yummy! Since my picky 5 yo doesn’t eat much besides bread at dinner, I’ve been looking for healthy rolls to serve. Thanks for the recipe!
Wonderful, Carla!
I made this today and was totally satisfied. Your recipe is perfect! My rolls came out soft, fluffy and full of flavor. Thank you!
Just wondering if these could be left to rise overnight (to deal with the phytates in the grain) and still stay soft?
I think I’ve read in the comments that someone has done that, Beth, though I haven’t. Try it and see!
By the way I did have my hands greased:) It just seemed no matter how much I had them greased or floured the dough just stuck to my hands.
Thanks for sharing this recipe. The dough turned out so sticky for me that I couldn’t even handle it to make into balls, so I had to just drop blobs of dough into the pan. Do you have any idea what I might’ve done wrong? I added an extra cup of flour and it didn’t seem to help much. I followed the recipe carefully. I have the ‘blobs’ rising now so I guess I’ll see if they turn out ok anyway.
I’m sorry, Shannon! I know that’s frustrating, but without knowing what you did it’s hard for me to figure out what went wrong. It really does work like I pictured (there’s a video, too, if you haven’t seen it), so I’m not sure what to tell you. 🙁
Would there be any different if I exclude the eggs? if yes, please advise what should I substitute with.
Yep, Karen, the eggs create the soft, rich dough. I’m sorry I can’t recommend a sub because I haven’t tried one. 🙁 I’d do a search for dinner rolls without eggs on Google and compare recipes.
Just made these with Sprouted whole wheat flour and they are awesome good.
Good to know, Lisa!
Hi – I am diabetic, can I leave the honey out? I wonder what would the bread taste like without it.. Thx any advice is greatly appreciated
You can reduce the honey, but I’d always leave about a TB. just to be sure to feed the yeast and get a good rise. They won’t be the same flavor, but I think would still be good!
Great Recipe and instructions. Do you have other breads to share?
Thank you Claudia! I do have quite a few – check out the AOC bread recipe index for more!
Thank you your recipe it was easy, thanks to the pictures and they came out delicious.
So glad the pictures helped you with the recipe, Liz!
Why can’t I find the recipe on this page? Aside from the directions?
Click on the big green arrow at the bottom that says “Take me to the recipe” and a page with a printable recipe will come up. 🙂
Update: I baked these rolls again, this time using Pillsbury Whole Wheat flour instead of King Arthur and I used warm buttermilk instead of milk and Active dry yeast intend of Rapid Rise and they turned out beautiful, soft and moist. Didn’t have a problem with them collapsing this time. Wish I could add my photo!
Wonderful to read this, Alisa!
I made these rolls last night and I followed your recipe step by step. They rise like they should’ve but soon as I put them in the oven, they collapsed. I don’t understand why. Can you please tell me why they did that and what is the name brand wheat flour you use. I used King Arthur 100 % whole wheat flour.
I’ve had one other person comment about this, Alisa, but I don’t know why – it’s never happened to me with these rolls. When it has happened (with sandwich bread) it’s because I left it too long and it over proofed or it was in too warm of a place and rose too fast. Do you think either of these could’ve happened with your rolls?
And I’ve use all different kinds of wheat flour over the many years I’ve made these rolls with good success, but most often I use Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat flour.
These are light and fabulous! I made them tonight for dinner and they are remarkable. They did take longer to bake so they weren’t ‘doughy’ inside, but so worth the wait. Thanks for the great recipe!
I don’t know if you get comments from Pinterest, which is where I found this recipe, but I wanted to THANK YOU for this amazing recipe. These look exactly like your pics and taste better than ANY roll I’ve made before. So light and fluffy. I even made hot dog rolls since this turned out so great! Recipe for life!! Thank you thank you!!
Thank you for commenting, Carey – I love to hear how others are enjoying my recipes! And that’s a great idea to make hot dog rolls, too!
I have been looking for months for a whole wheat bread that was soft and moist, these dinner rolls are both! Does this recipe by chance work as a bread loaf? Honestly I will be trying even if you say no just because I love this recipe this much. Thank you so much! I probably ate 15 of these yesterday just by myself.
Glad you liked them, Emma! A number of readers have told me they’ve successfully made bread with this dough. I personally haven’t tried it, since I have an easy WW sandwich bread recipe that’s less rich but still moist and perfect for sandwiches: http://anoregoncottage.com/whole-wheat-sandwich-bread-101/ But that’s just me. 🙂 Enjoy!
Can I use bread machine in this recipe?
I haven’t personally, but I know many readers have, Emily.
These rolls are FABULOUS!! I didn’t even use a bread machine and they came out DIVINE 🙂 I am making them again tonight. I froze my original batch, and all you have to do is put them in foil and in the oven to warm them up, and they rise again a little and they are perfect. My daughter in law really likes them too. Last time I kneaded some cinnamon in half the batch and WOW, melt in your mouth. Just plain is fantastic as well. Tonight I’m going to knead some fresh rosemary in half the batch and try that; the other half cinnamon again. LOVE These. Gorgeous rolls.
Love your adaptations, Debbie – great suggestions!
This recipe looks delicious but I am diabetic and try to avoid honey due to its high sugar content. I know the yeast needs some sugar but could I substitute a little sugar for the honey? If so, how much would you recommend?
Yes, you can use sugar instead. I wouldn’t go less that 1 TB. to feed the yeast, though. Let us know how it goes!
GAHHHH! i ran to my pantry as quick as i could to prepare to make these today, but found i only have 3 cup of whole wheat flour left. 🙁 can i halve the recipe??? please say yes, please say yes, puleeeeease!!!!
well…there’s only one way to find out! LOL it’s almost done the first rise. so excited 🙂
I hope they’re okay, Debbie! From other’s readers experiences I don’t recommend halving the recipe, but maybe you’ll be the exception. 🙂
oopsie! i was impatient and wasn’t sure when i would get a response, so i thought i’d give it ago. i read through a lot of the comments but didn’t see anything about halving the reicpe so all fingers and toes are crossed. i’ll let you know how they turn out Jami!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BAQUg00G78V/?taken-by=dreckstein
Jami, they turned out beautifully. i’m glad i forged ahead! i took a couple of pics for you to see if interested! 🙂
Yeah – they do look perfect! I’m happy to know that now, Debbie, for anyone that asks.:)
I woke up to snow in Northwest Oregon and felt the need to make cinnamon rolls. I loved these rolls so much at Thanksgiving that I thought it would make a great base for cinnamon rolls. Well, these are the best whole wheat cinnamon rolls I have ever made. Thank you for the recipe!
Love this idea, Rhonda! It was a fun bit of snow, right?
Hi! I would love to try this recipe but don’t have a stand in mixer. Is it possible to make the dough in a food processor or using a hand mixer? Please do let me know. Thanks in advance 🙂
Yes, Rosh, I’m sure there are some comments where people have said they’ve made it by hand. If your hand mixer has dough hooks, you can use them to knead – but you can always use good old elbow grease to knead 6-10 minutes. 🙂
Hey Jami – Have you ever used fresh milled flour? Going to try this recipe today but wanted to see if you thought it needed any adaptations with fresh milled flour! THANKS!
I haven’t, Jocie, but I’m sure readers have and they haven’t mentioned that it would make a difference!
Absolutely amazing! Upon realising that I am diabetic, I needed to adjust my diet. No more white bread with its heavy carbohydrate counts for me. But I love my bread and began researching healthy alternatives. Whole wheat (and whole grains in general) is digested more slowly and is a perfect addition to my new diet.
Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe! It has passed the taste test and the non-diabetics in my household enjoy these rolls as well.
Really happy to know this, Bonnie – thanks for the comment!
Excellent recipe. We loved these with homemade soup on the first snowyear day this year. Comfort food at its best.
Oooh, just made these for the first time to take on a long drive to Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow – they look and taste amazing! (Yes we had to taste test) I’m crossing my fingers that even my white-flour loving relatives will be interested… My dough rose up so much that I had an extra ball left over – I put it into a Pyrex custard type baking ramekin, and it came out looking like a perfect hamburger bun…. It’s got me thinking… Wouldn’t that be a treat…..! I bet it would make at least a dozen. Another great recipe; thanks Jami!
I couldn’t believe it!…Just finished making these for the first time and they are DELICIOUS!. I went right by the recipe except, I don’t have a mixer for bread dough so I just mixed well by hand. I have always been told that wholewheat rolls would be too heavy and not raise good without half white flour…Now I have found that it can be done…Thank you for sharng this wonderful recipe. Happy Thanksgiving!
This was an epic failure for me. The dough was so sticky I couldn’t cut the pieces. I tried to follow the recipe exactly…what am I doing wrong???
Ack, I’m sorry to read that, Lelia! It’s okay to add enough flour that you can shape and cut like I show – just make sure not to add too much. Coating your hands and surface is better than adding it to the rolls. All kinds of things come into play when working with yeast dough – the weather, the exact type of flour, etc., so I encourage you to keep trying!
I made this.m its awesome.
Hi there, I accidentally put 2 cups of white flour in so I have 3 1/2 cups of whole wheat instead of the total amount. Also forgot to put in the salt but used salted butter…will they turn out still you think??
Sorry I’m late to this, Kodi – you probably already figured out you’re okay with the flour, but not without the salt. 🙂 Been there, done that and wow, homemade bread needs that bit of salt, even with salted butter, right?
In the photos you say warm milk, but in instructions you don’t say anything about warming the milk… I didn’t…. still raising… hope it doesn’t matter…..
I don’t have a fancy mixer… hand held for me…. wonder if this will work… sure hope so… company tomorrow.
Oh! Yes the milk should be lukewarm (whenever working with yeast, the liquid should be just warm, not hot), I’ve updated the recipe to reflect the step-by-step instructions.
Wow! Thank you so much for the pictures. I feel like I was in the kitchen right with you. I followed your directions and have mine raising right now. I doubled the recipe and have more than 48. Some might have a bit smaller. Can’t wait to try them!
SO glad you found the pictures helpful, Renee!
I made these tonight and they turned out awesome! The family loved how soft they were. However, I prefer my rolls to be slightly sweet. Has anyone tried adding sugar to thier rolls? 1/3 cup maybe? Thinking of trying it again to see.
Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Luckily, I’ve found your post on Pinterest and tried it today. It’s so hard too find a good whole wheat bread in my home town (I live in Thailnd). Unfortunately, it doesn’t look as good as yours. Mine was a bit too crumbly and has a yeasty smell 🙁
I replaced active dry yeast with instant yeast but I didn’t know I should have reduced the rise time and the amount of it too (should be about 1.6 tb of instant yeast)
I’m not entirely sure if it’s only because of the amount of yeast.
I’ll give it another try though. It should come out right next time.
They look GREAT! Can’t wait to make them myself! THANKS for sharing. Hope mine would come out as good as yours. Thanks again, Jami!
Have a nice day!
I kneaded the dough in the bread machine, but dough came out extremely sticky. After the horror stories in comment section I decided against adding too much extra flour. I’ll put them in the oven in a few minutes, and hopefully they’ll come out slightly decent. They were nearly impossible to get off my hands, let alone shape into balls. 🙁
I never expected 100% whole wheat buns to come out so light and delicious. This is brilliant and they come out beautiful! Thank you very much. 🙂
I cut the dough into 4 pieces (vs 24), used a sawed-in-half (to fit my common oven) 8 well pro perforated sub roll pan and made the most tender sub rolls from this recipe!
I freeze them for quick, large salmon salad subs “to go” for my husband’s many baseball games – He likes tender 100% WW. You saved the day – Thanks!
I have found my 100%WW sub roll recipe! It came out great!
My rising time was extended 30 min’s to an hour longer due to an interruption (will try 1 hr next time.)
Besides this, I followed the basic recipe, mixing by hand…
During the kneading step I kneaded thoroughly 7 times (will try 5 next time – my Mom taught me that “a few” means 5-7.)
I cut the dough into 4 pieces vs 24.
I buttered a pro, perforated 8 roll sub roll pan.
I purchased it on-line, sawed it in half with a jig-saw and filed the sharp edges – making it a 4 roll sub pan to fit my common oven.
Once in the wells, I slightly and gently narrowed the rolls so they didn’t touch at their sides and lengthened them to within 1 1/2 ” from each end of each “well” of the pan.
I placed a sheet of foil under the perforated pan in the oven for obvious reasons.
I freeze them to make quick salmon salad subs for my husband’s many baseball games!
He really likes how tender they are! Thanks so much for this wonderful recipe!!
I will try this recipe as a braided challah bread next – maybe with blueberries and milk chocolate chips!
Please tell me if you think they will still be firm enough to hold the salmon salad if the dough rises only 1 hr (vs the almost two hours) and kneaded 5 times (vs 7.) Thank you, Dawn
Thanks for all this info, Dawn! It will be great for other’s looking for sub rolls. I’ve not tried it with this size of roll, so I don’t know, but I’d think they’d still be okay with the shorter rise and the kneading is only to get it to a point that you can work with it, so whatever that is should be fine. 🙂
They look great! How do I adapt the kneading process without an chef machine?
I haven’t used hand-kneading, but I know there are comments about people who did. I think you’d just turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead for just a few minutes to get to the next stage?
Thanks! Maybe I’ll try again.
Made a lot of mistakes. I could only guess by the look of the dough, since I hand kneaded. When kneaded after the dough was leavened, it was so sticky that I had to add a lot of flour until it finally became well-floured surface.
Jami, I’ve tried these rolls twice, major fail both times. The dough is just too slack. I’ve been baking a good while, so it’s not for lack of experience. Our eggs are jumbo–might that be the problem? Also, we’re in a coastal area–LOTS of humidity. I’m wondering how much liquid I should/can remove, as I know I don’t want to add more flour. Obviously, I am doing something wrong, as so many people have great success with your recipe. If you can give me any hints (and I’ve read through each comment!), I’d be most appreciative. Thanks!
I’d love to help, but I’m not sure what the problem is. 🙁 I’ve only had a fail in the beginning if I added too much flour or when I experiment with other flours. The eggs could be adding too much, you’re right. Since you’re a baker, I’d go by feel and add more flour (since you know you’re adding more liquid…) until you get the result pictured where you touch the dough after a minute kneading and it doesn’t stick to your fingers (if you knead longer, it will absorb it again and be sticky which is why it’s easy to add too much flour..). I don’t really know much about humidity, so I can’t speak there. It may just be a trial-and-error for you, but I’d go by feel until you get a dough that looks like the pictures. 🙂
Thanks, Jami, especially for getting back to me so soon on this. I’ll be trying these again tomorrow and let you know of my success.
Well, I’m not sure what the problem is. I tried these again. The rolls are not as light and fluffy as yours seem to be. Such is life! I won’t be trying these again for a while, but I’m not giving up just yet either.
Bummer! Sorry to read this. 🙁
I’m 46 years old, and I have never made a recipe with yeast. I cook a LOT, but I’m afraid of cooking with yeast! Last night I made these rolls, and they were fabulous! My husband bakes ww bread once or twice a week. We have 3 teenagers, so it goes fast! Last night 5 teenager devoured these rolls! One of them even said he never likes anything whole wheat, but he loved them! They will be a regular at our house from now on! Thank you!
I’m so glad to know this, Stacey! I felt the same way when I discovered how wonderful this easy recipe was. 🙂
This recipe seems to indicate 2 tablespoons (Tb) of dry yeast. Are you sure you don’t mean 2 teaspoons ? 2 tablespoons is a lot of yeast for this small amount of flour.
Thank you………….
Yep, Cherie, that’s the recipe as I’ve made it for more than 10 years. You can view the video we have on it for more information, if you wish.:)
Can you clarify how much water to dissolve the yeast in? The recipe says 1/2 cup warm water, but the video says one cup. I’ve tried these twice, but they haven’t turned out well, but I think it’s because I’m adding too much flour. Will try again tomorrow, I hope. Thank you.
It’s 1/2 cup, Cathy – sorry for the confusion. 🙁 I probably meant I mix it in a larger, 1-cup measure, since it sometimes starts foaming, depending on the weather, yeast, etc., and you don’t want it going everywhere. Ah, the joys of video! Yes, that’s usually the problem from what I can gather from others – it’s a really sticky dough and isn’t kneaded traditionally at all, just enough to be able to deal with it, like I show. If you kept kneading longer, it would absorb the flour, become sticky again and you’d feel like you need to add more, and so on. Just stop when you don’t think you should. 🙂
Hi Laura,
I dont have a standing mixer, can I throw all of the ingredients into a bread maker and turn it on the dough setting?
I haven’t done it, Amanda, but if you’re willing to search through the comments, some readers have – I think it’s turned out for them!
The first time I made these, I thought I had completely messed them up (added the milk right with the eggs, then forgot the yeast mixture until I had already added the flour!) — but despite my errors, they still turned out to be AMAZING!
Today, I am using your base recipe to create Sausage Cheese rolls – folding sausage, cheese, and green onions in after the first rise. I also used maple syrup instead of honey. Fingers crossed 🙂
Will post the results on http://www.mariamakes.com as long as they are a success!
Sounds delicious, Maria!
Howdy. I’m having some high blood pressure issues and so I’m working on my diet. To that end, I decided to make some roasted red pepper soup today and really wanted a healthy alternative to my normal homemade ciabatta. I saw the picture of your rolls and REALLY was impressed! So…while in the middle of a necessary phone call from a daughter in another state (in crisis, of course), I accidentally used unbleached white flour. 🙁 Sad me. They are in the first rise right now so I’m curious as to how they’ll turn out, but I’m really disappointed because I was looking forward to a darker heartier roll. I’ll let you know how these turn out and start over with whole wheat tomorrow. Thanks for posting the recipe and the pictures, especially.
I’m sure they’ll turn out just fine, Susan! It’s not hard to make a soft roll with white flour, just whole wheat. 🙂
I’ve only ever made Rhodes rolls. Let me tell you after trying this recipe I will never again buy a frozen roll. These are the most delicious roll I’ve ever eaten and they are whole wheat which is even better! I just threw the ingredients in my bread maker and the dough turned out beautiful! Thank you so much for sharing this amazing recipe!
Seriously made my day to read this, Amanda! I’m on a mission to share how scratch cooking is better than store-bought, so this is music to my ears (or eyes in this case, lol). Thanks for the note on how it worked for you in the bread maker, too!
ohhhhhh, these look delish! i’d like to make these for christmas dinner. i have recently been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and have it under control due to the dietary changes i’ve made. i’ve cut out everything white! so these would be perrrrrfect for me. one question. is it possible to halve the recipe and not change the integrity of the final result? i don’t like to keep too many left overs around, cuz it’s just another food distraction that i don’t really need. (i’ve also lost 37lbs. and counting!) , and even if i did want to keep them, i’m not sure i have room in my freezer! if i can’t halve the recipe, i might have to make them anyway….they look sooooooo good! LOL thanks:)
Sorry I wasn’t able to respond sooner, Debbie – I was celebrating with my family. I’m not sure if you tried halving the recipe – I’m not sure it would work, as I don’t have much luck halving yeast recipes. I always freeze these and they’re fine – and outta sight. 😉 BTW – CONGRATS on your health changes and weight loss!!!
Took a risk and tried these for the first time for a family Christmas gathering! They were wonderful! I love to bake and am always look for recipes with all-natural, minimally processed ingredients. Everyone enjoyed these! Thanks!
Happy to hear this, Laura! I just ate a leftover one a few minutes ago from our family’s celebration – they’re just as good a day or two later, too, I think. 🙂
I made these for Thanksgiving. I am not a bread maker so when they turned out absolutely gorgeous like yours I was shocked. But they did because of the instructions you gave on how to form them. They were very tasty but heavier than they should have been. I have no idea what I did wrong but plan on making them again for Christmas and would love to correct whatever it is. I did use a cuisinart as I didn’t have a mixer. Could I have mixed too long? Please help! Thanks!!!
I’m glad to hear the directions produced good-looking rolls, Karen! Now let’s see if we can’t get them to be as good tasting. 😉 The number one problem people have with these rolls is the relatively wet dough – you do not want to add too much flour or do a traditional kneading like a sandwich dough. A heavy texture is a sign that too much flour was added. Have you watched the video tutorial we did on them? Here’s the link in case you didn’t: http://anoregoncottage.com/soft-100-whole-wheat-rolls-video/ Good luck – let me know how it goes!
Yes the rolls were so pretty! Was excited about that. I will watch the video, since I didn’t, and pull back on the flour a bit. They were still excellent tasting, just a bit heavier than should be so will try your suggestions when I make again for Christmas. Thanks Jamie!
Jami, these rolls were a hit with young (age 6), old (86) and everyone in between at yesterday’s Thanksgiving dinner. Great recipe!
Yeah – so happy to know your family likes them as much as mine!
I made these last year for thanksgiving. The were a hit!! They heve been requested gain this year!!! THank you!!
I hope these are as good as they look! I plan to make them for thanksgiving. I only wish the “print’ function would work. Instead, I had to print out the entire page with all pictures and all comments, which took about 15 pages of paper and ink. And part of it is computer gibberish.
So sorry, Cara – that’s terrible! I actually wasn’t aware that the old print function we had for recipes wasn’t working anymore (I’m slowly getting all my old recipes into the Easy Recipe format…), and I didn’t know that the share buttons on the side included the print function that prints out the entire post (with comments and all!). I removed that side print option and updated the recipe on the rolls to be easily printed now. Thanks for letting me know. 🙂
Much better! Thanks for the fix!
I made these as rolls with stick margarine once and as loaves a second time using Smart Balance and sugar instead of honey. Both times came out great. I also just used a large spoon to mix the ingredients. This recipe is amazing and simple to make. Thanks so much.
Came across this recipe and it was amazing! Fluffy and just amazingly delicious. Whole wheat normally has that taste to it and it wasn’t there in this recipe. My husband can’t stop raving about these. I will definitely be making these again!! Thank you for posting
Just made these. Absurdly delicious! Thanks for this recipe!
I must be the worst bread maker….my husband says he would like homemade dinner rolls like his grandma used to make, so fluffy and delicious, mine always turned out dense and heavy, I figured out that it was because I always use wheat flour so I was excited when I found this recipe, but when I took them out of the pan they were more like a biscuit mixed with a dinner roll. I noticed they rose quite a bit and I thought that was a good thing… They even filled my 11×15 pan (didn’t have 13×9) and I’m pretty sure I didn’t add too much flour, but I could be mistaken. After I rotated them at the 10 minute mark, they were in the oven for another 5 and the tops were hard (my oven cooks high so I didn’t want them burnt on the bottom) so I took them out and buttered them and they softened up. Think I took them out prematurely? If so, do you think if I pop them back in the oven they will fluff up? Help!
I’ve been where you are, Ashley – don’t give up, with bread it really is a matter of ‘practice makes perfect!’ They should NOT be like a biscuit at all. I would use two smaller pans with 12 each vs. the larger pan if you don’t have a 13×9 since that could’ve just made them flatter with more room to spread. They would cook differently (need less time) in a larger pan as well. Give it a try and see if you don’t get better results. 🙂
I tried these yesterday and they were awesome! this is my new favorite recipe. Thanks for Sharing.
I’ve been making these for years now and I figured I should finally leave a comment! These turn out absolutely perfect every single time. I always just knead the dough by hand and normally use milk instead of buttermilk (because I usually don’t have buttermilk in the fridge!).
The only negative is that these might end up being the only rolls you’ll ever make again… I like to try to make different rolls for every holiday dinner, but my sisters require these for every Christmas/Thanksgiving/Easter dinner! Best out of the oven, but great the next day as well. I found the method for shaping the rolls to be the most helpful! Perfectly shaped rolls every time.
Definitely try this recipe; you’ll be hooked. 🙂
Wow, thank so much for the glowing endorsement, Minda! Would you mind if I used your quote at the beginning of the post as an testimonial? 🙂
Of course you may. 🙂 Thank you again for the fabulous recipe.
I’ve made these twice, the first time was the full recipe in a 13.5″x9.5″ glass pan. It worked very well with 25 minutes cooking time, they were VERY soft even 4 days later.
I liked the dinner rolls so much, I decided to try them as buns. I used 2/3’s of the recipe and made 8 buns. However they did not seem cooked and fell while cooling (I believe it’s because of the same 25 minutes cooking time and the larger buns require more cooking time).
This begs the question should the internal temp of the dinner rolls (or buns) be 205F when done, much like bread? I did check my first recipe and I believe it was around 175F internal temp.
Thanks,
Ben
I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe! A quick google search shows everywhere from 180 to 200 for an internal temp on cooked dinner rolls. Large rolls would require more time, like you surmise, Ben. Probably just need a bit more trial and error when adapting this recipe that way. 🙂 Personally, they are too rich for buns for my taste – I like these quick, soft buns that I make without the extra butter and eggs: http://anoregoncottage.com/quick-and-tender-hamburger-buns/
Yes that’s what I had found using google as well. I saw your bun recipe, I will give it a try.
You are correct they are quite rich, but I guess that’s what made them soooo good.
I’ve always found whole wheat buns be it 100% or 50% always crack or crumble into nothing when used as a hamburger bun. But as you pointed out in your bread recipe it sounds like it’s too much flour is being used.
Ben
I made these last week and they tasted absolutely lovely 🙂 and they really did stay soft and fresh even after a couple of days. Will definitely be making these again this week, way better then store brought rolls. Thank you for the great recipe!
I have had this recipe bookmarked for so long. Finally made it today. Came out superb. Soft and fluffy.
Except, I’m not a big fan of honey. Can I replace it with sugar coz 1/4 cup honey was a bit too much for me.
But other than that, I loved it. This recipe is a keeper. Thanks a ton.
Yes, you can use sugar – I always try and replace processed sugar with a less processed sweetener like honey. A lighter flavored maple syrup might work for you, too.
These are wonderful. I followed your recipe exactly and they were awesome! Made them twice now and everyone enjoys them very much.
I tried this recipe and the rolls were simple awesome! Soft n fluffy. thank you so much for the clear instructions with photos. Trying this again today… this time I am trying to make it as a loaf…
Sound good. Would it work to use hand mixer at start and for part of flour, then stir in rest if flour by hand? I do not have stand mixer . I have made breads using hand mixer for first part of recipe.
Sure, Gayle, use what you have to make them. 🙂
I just wanted to thank you so much for sharing your recipe. I’ve never had rolls turn out very good before. 🙂 These are beautiful, and I even used my grainy home ground wheat. 🙂 Thanks again. Also the tips about broth fixings in the freezer are awesome. Thanks for sharing.
So glad to read you enjoyed these, Emily!
Awesome website! I have made the rolls twice, both times they’ve turned out deliciously soft an fluffy. my husband and toddler, can barely wait for them to cool. Wanted to share that I did use organic coconut oil in place of butter and almond milk with apple cider vinegar in place of buttermilk. It was a nail biter the first time because while I love to cook and bake and have substituted coconut oil in everything from biscuits to naan to pie crust without sacrificing taste or tender flakiness I am new to yeast breads and your recipe clearly states no substitution’s. Anyhow I figured I had to try to fail, I am pleased to share that the rolls turned out picture perfect and taste amazing, I’m certain do to your step by step instruction. Thanks!
That’s so good to know – thank you for sharing that! I only knew for sure that margarines don’t produce the same results, but I hadn’t ever tried or heard of anyone trying coconut oil and almond milk. So glad it worked out so that those with dairy allergies can make them. 🙂
Curious if you have tried egg substitutes (like ground flaxseed) to make it vegan. I would love to make some delicious rolls for Thanksgiving.
Hello there, can I substitute the 2 tablespoons of yeast with 2 tablespoons of sourdough starter, I am afraid the 2 tablespoon yeast will make this bread have a too strong yeast taste, maybe i am wrong since I haven’t bake this yet but 2 tablespoons of yeast seems abit too much if you ask me.
I haven’t tried it, John, but I do know that just 2 Tb of sourdough starter would never be enough to rise the dough (or any that I know of), you’d need more like 3/4 cup or more. You can always try decreasing the amount of yeast, but if they don’t rise and aren’t soft, it was because of that. I’ve never noticed an overly yeasty taste – and I don’t think I’ve read a comment that did – but then I’m not at all sensitive to it either.
Made these for the first time about a month ago the night before my daughter left for Asia, we had a houseful and they went down an absolute storm, making them again tonight, just can’t wait to get them out of the oven, whoop whoop!!!!
Do these need to be refrigerated?
Treat them like any bread, Lauren. They are freshest left at room temp, covered, but can be refrigerated for longer if you still have some hanging around. 🙂
Thank you! These were fantastic! I love making mini sandwiches with them for my little one’s school lunches. They love them 🙂 Now if I could make this into a loaf of bread that would be great!
That’s such a great idea, Lauren, to make them into mini sandwiches!
Quick question – The recipe states 1/2 cup ( 1 whole stick) of butter, but the picture of the butter in the mixing bowl with the honey looks like only 1/2 STICK. Could you clarify this? Thanks.
Hmmm, you must live on the East Coast or somewhere that sells butter in longer 1/4-lb sticks – here on the West Coast they mostly look like that, short and thicker. Still 1/4-lb, 1/2-cup, or 1 stick, however you’d like to say it!
I made and served these at The Wayside Inn, Middletown,VA (the oldest continually operating Inn in the U.S., est. 1791) last Sunday and they were so well received I have added them to my basic menu for all of my private clients, as well.
They are light, yet with good body and just a touch of sweetness. Served with a salted butter, they are the perfect addition to almost any meal, from Peanut Soup, to Pot Roast, to Shrimp Creole.
Wow, I’m honored to know that my rolls made it to your regular menu, chef Michael! 🙂
Hey, I’d really like to go that extra step and make these even healthier by adding Smart Balance buttery spread instead of butter. May I ask why I shouldn’t do this?
I’m a firm believer that a man-made food created to replace a real food is never healthier, Emily. Time has proven this over the last 50 years. You may try whatever you like, however, though I wouldn’t know about the outcome. 🙂
Do you have any suggestions for high altitude. We live at 5,000 feet which does strange things to recipes. I baked the rolls- they rose really well, but during the baking process they fell and ended up being like hard biscuits : (.
I made them. They were soft as you promised and well appreciated. Thank you
I made this today it turned great but my form is too small
Hi – I just want to let you know I tried your recipe and it came out good but not as fluffy as yours. Not sure what I did wrong. You can view my attempt here: http://meadowscooks.blogspot.com/2014/02/100-whole-wheat-rolls.html
Wow, Sandra, yeah those did not turn out at all. 🙂 It’s pretty clear the problem, though – the recipe can’t be halved successfully. There wasn’t enough yeast or eggs and there was too much flour. You also can’t replace butter and milk with non-dairy substitutes and expect the same results. I’m pretty clear in the directions that the dough needs to remain moist and a bit tacky – too much flour always results in a denser roll. Better luck next time!
these are great – very light and fluffy – so easy! I will definitely make them again. I used Red Star’s Platinum yeast – which really works well with whole wheat flour…definitely a keeper recipe…all my company enjoyed them!
Thanks for a great recipe and step-by-step photos / guide…very well done!
I used this dough recipe to make a king cake… I used Splenda instead of sugar because we are on the south beach diet. I this dough is great for the king cake because it is light and fluffy. I added a little vanilla and ground cinnamon to make it sweet!! Super easy recipe!! Thanks!
Interesting substitution and additions, Katie – I’m glad they worked for you!
I made these for dinner tonight and OH. My. GAWD! They are the BEST whole wheat anything I have found!!! I don’t know how you did it, but you managed to create the whole wheat bread recipe I have been SEARCHING for!!!! Thank you for sharing. They are delicious. Definitely adding them to my list of ‘most used’ recipes 😀
SO glad you like them, Edie! 🙂
I made these today with Sunday dinner with my fresh ground whole wheat berries and everyone loved them. I actually used my bread machine. I partially melted the butter and just put it in with the other wet ingredients, then flour and yeast on top. I don’t know if it was necessary, but I added a teaspoon of gluten because of past failures. I set the machine to “dough” and then followed your directions from turning it onto floured surface. They came out so gorgeous, even if they weren’t all the same size – that will come with practice. I’m going to try making buns next. I bet they’ll be great, too.
I made these rolls but they did not rise the 2nd time. Do u have any idea what I might have done wrong. Just finished cooking and they are hard and did not rise. I did add 3 tablespoon of gluten to it.
I’ve never added gluten, so that may have been it. Also, if they turn out hard for others, it’s often been too much flour added – it should stay a slightly sticky, soft dough – so those two things, I think. Sorry! 🙁
Alsom,
Do you sift your flour or not?
I tried this recipe but my bread came out crumbly 🙁 I followed the recipe to a T except that I had to add more than 5 cups in total because even at 5 cups of flour my dough was still very sticky. I’m so sad T_T
It’s the extra flour that caused the dry result, Meemz. The flour doesn’t need to be sifted, but you cannot add more than a tablespoon or so extra. It is a sticky dough, but if you look at the photos, it’s workable. Try again with less flour and I think you’ll be happy with the results. 🙂
These look amazing…will try tomorrow. Just wondering, why don’t you want the gluten to develop? What would happen to the rolls if I let it knead for several more minutes to get the stretchy dough I look for when I bake a loaf? Just curious…
Thanks for sharing!
Well, I don’t know the whole science behind bread, Sarah, but I think because it’s a rich dough with eggs it’s sorta a cross between bread and cake and so you knead just a bit (like bread) and then let the eggs do their work (like cake). Or not – I’m just makin’ it up, ha! I only know it works as is and I don’t wanna mess with perfection. 😉
Seriously! Finally a 100% whole wheat bun recipe that is soft and fluffy. Thank you so much!!!!!
Hi Jamie, Wondering if you can substitute half whole wheat pastry flour for some of the regular whole wheat flour, using equal amounts of both in the recipe. Have you tried this?
Was concerned out responding at the end of this page as there were some very strange looking posts and this was the most recent post in December 2013.
Thanks,
Chris
Chris
Hi Chris! I’ve never used pastry flour in this recipe – I know it has a lower protein amount, which is not as good for yeast breads, so I’m not sure how it would affect the final outcome. If you try it, let us know!
Oh, can you be more specific about ‘strange looking posts’ – do you mean some of the comments? Thanks! 🙂
I am SO going to try these. I haven’t made rolls since I took shortening out of our lives years ago….and since I’ve gone gluten free. But I recently bought some heirloom wheat berries, so tomorrow I’m going to grind me some whole wheat flour in my vita mix and give them a try. I love all your pictures. Thanks
hi jami! i just tried your rolls! they taste fantastic but came out really crumbly. i followed the recipe exactly,i only used margarine instead of butter. i mean,don’t get me wrong, they are still soft as a cloud but way too crumbly! any advice? maybe something i’m doing wrong?? thank you!
I would guess it was the margerine, Lydia – I’ve never had that problem using butter. 🙂
Thanks so much for this recipe it is delicious!
Hi Jami,
I was wondering if I reduced the salt and added my own filling, could this recipe make cinnamon rolls ? Please answer back as soon as you can. Thank you so much!
I’ve never thought to do that, Gloria, but I don’t see why not. Please let us know how they turn out if you try this! 🙂
I made these rolls today using my bread machine on dough cycle. I am a lazy bread maker 🙂 and while I have a stand mixer, I wanted to see if I could do it in the bread machine. I added all the “wet” ingredients to the mixer then added the flour (I LOVE King Arthur whole wheat flour) and finally I put the salt and yeast on top (I don’t ever “proof” yeast). The dough was beautiful! I cut the dough into 12 rolls and let it rise another 30 minutes. Baking time was about 23 minutes to perfection! Seriously, so light and fluffy and moist. I’m sure others will be happy to know that the dough can be successfully made in a bread machine. Merry Christmas from another Oregonian! I’m in the southern end of the state and love your blog.
Yes, thank you for that info, Dianne! And I hope you have a happy holiday, too. 🙂
There very light…… and they sound amazing my daughter doesnt like wheat but i am sure she will love these i,ll be coming to your website
Thank you.
Made these for Thanksgiving dinner tonight and paired it with Barefoot Ingrid’s cinnamon honey butter. I do not have a stand mixer, but I did have a six-year old helper. Delicious–mine turned out exactly like the pictures.
Hello,
I just made these a second time for thanksgiving! I don’t have a stand mixer so I used the dough setting on the bread machine and two packets of quick rise yeast and it worked perfect!! Thank you again for such a great whole wheat roll recipe!!
Holy cow!!! I just took these out of the oven and they are everything as promised! Soft fluffy deliciousness!!!!!! I replaced two cups of the whole wheat flour with spelt flour and don’t have a dough hook so I just mixed it on high with the attachment you started with and it worked fine. They were pretty squished in the 9×13 pan, but worked fine. They rose quite high for the second rise.
Thank you so much for the great pictures and instructions. They look great! I was so disappointing after all my hard work mine didn’t turn out right. The were dense and not to tasty. I know it is something I did. I was hoping you could help me figure out what went wrong. I did only have 2 eggs on hand. Could that be it? Did I not let it rise enough? How many minutes should I kneed each time? I buttered the bottom of my pan too but they all stuck to the bottom. Maybe they stuck because of the same reason they didn’t turn out well. Baking is continuing to be an illusive skill for me to acquire. Thanks for your suggestions.
I only used 1 packet of yeast. Maybe that was the problem! How many packets is 2 tbs?
Sorry, Stacey, I know that can be frustrating! Just to let you know I turned out many a dense, leaden loaf of bread when I was starting out, so keep trying! Bread is one of those things that get better with practice. As for the rolls, I’d say to try again with all the correct ingredients and just make sure you don’t add too much flour (but do add the amount called for – just don’t add so much more that it’s not sticking to the bottom of the bowl, just like I pictured). Hope that helps!
Made them today! Easy and they turned out wonderful. Many friends on a Facebook asked for the recipe! Thank you
My friend and I have been experimenting with various bread recipes and swapping ideas, and this is my favourite bread recipe yet! I have been adding white flour to add gluten to all other recipes, but my wise mother said recently ‘I’m sure you shouldn’t need to add white flour, wholemeal flour is best’. So, I went hunting again and found your recipe. I love that you have added all those wonderful wholesome ingredients, such as butter, milk, honey and cream, to the recipe. It gives a lovely soft but dense roll, good enough for sandwiches and an accompaniment to soups. I could hardly contain my excitement when they came out of the oven – I even shared them with my office colleagues, and they seemed impressed. Thank you very much!
Jackie (United Kingdom)
So glad you are enjoying them, Jacqueline! I agree, they are amazing 🙂
I would like to make these for thanksgiving and was wondering if I could make the dough ahead of time and refrigerate/freeze then bake the day of… Please advise. Thanks!
I’ve never done that, Rebecca, but I think maybe someone has left a comment about that? Sorry, I know there are a lot to go through…
What I do know is that these freeze beautifully after baking, which is what I usually do for the holidays. I thaw on the day I need them and then wrap them in foil and place in the oven – usually the 20 minutes the turkey rests is the perfect amount of warming time. Hope that helps a little! 🙂
I’ve made these at least 5 times and they always turn out great. I have to put in 6 cups of flour rather than 4 1/2 but other than that I follow the recipe exactly and they’re winners time and time again. I have a bath in the oven now 🙂
Many thanks!
These rolls were amazing for 100% whole wheat! The extra egg must be the kicker. I added 1/3 c honey instead of 1/4 as well. I also used my bread machine to mix and make the dough for the first rise. Super easy to make. I made 18 large rolls in a 9×13 instead of 24 small. They rose heavenly…I’m talking they rose 2 inches above the rim of the pan during the second rise. I always put my bread in a 200 degree preheated oven to rise the second time. I also cover my rolls with a grocery bag and make a type of tent. This really helps keep the heat and gases in so the bread will rise. I turn off the oven right before I put the rolls in, and then I let them rise for 1 hour. The baked perfectly. These were light and fluffy just like a white roll, but with the darker flavor of the wheat, and of course they are so much better for you than white rolls! My kids absolutely loved them! I did too, although they had just a tad too much yeast flavor for my taste so next time I plan adding 1/2 TB less yeast. I’ll let you know how it goes. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
I want to shout out a big thank you!!
I use all purpose flour and half the recipe to try a white loaf … The dough is extremely soft difficult to manage by hand but fine using a cloth well powder with flour… The result, I pass the folding test!! It is SOFT SOFTSOFT!! Only if I can hug you and jump for joy! I made the whole wheat version was impressed thus I decided to try on the white version…
Thank you AGAIN
Thanks for sharing your shaping method! I can’t wait to try it.
You can save a couple steps by using instant yeast and just throwing it in with the dry ingredients. I make my own “magic bread mix” with yeast, salt, gluten flour, and malted barley flour. I measure out 1 tablespoon of the mix per cup of flour.
I also use a Beater Blade- it scrapes the sides of the bowl as it mixes, so it mixes much faster. It’s all I use unless I want to whip. No switching to dough hook. I haven’t even used mine in years.
Thanks for the tips, Katie!
Your photo of brushing the buns with butter inspired me 🙂 my kids devoured these! Can’t thank u enough. Again. And I’m not counting the calories from these lol. How to store please?
They freeze great and any leftovers I simply bag up and we eat within a day or two. Reheating them in a toaster oven is lovely, too.:)
Update from the previous post – they turned out really yummy tasting! The dough was still pretty sticky but I managed to form about 15 rolls (the rest of it was stuck to my hands and the towel, haha), they rose up just fine.. and they tasted DELICIOUS! Probably a little denser than yours with the extra flour but overall I am pleased! 🙂
Good to know, Tiffany! Not sure why they were so sticky for you, though it is a loose dough and those I know who’ve had trouble usually added too much flour, so careful not to add too much next time. 🙂
Not sure where I went wrong with these as I’m a semi-experienced breadmaker.. I’ve made loaves and a bunch of different varieties of bagels. I’m not 100% done yet but they’re resting/rising in the 13×9 pan right now and I have a feeling it’s going to turn out bad. The dough was SO sticky after resting for the first hour. I was surprised because I mixed with the bread hook for about five minutes and touched the dough and it didn’t seem to be sticking to my fingers. But when I went to check it it was SO sticky. Seems like I could’ve easily needed another cup or so of flour. I added a bit (probably half cup or so) after the fact but I’m not sure if I’ve messed it all up at this point. I’m so disappointed! 🙁 Guess I’ll try with more flour next time. Going to bake these ones and see how they are.
I wanted to make these not as dinner rolls, but as buns for sloppy joes. I made each bun twice the size (12 buns instead of 24) but did everything else exactly as you suggest. They came out perfect for sandwiches–big, flat, soft, chewy, and delicious! They were a huge hit. Thank you so much!
Hi! I hope you have a chance to check this out. I made this recipe, they rose great, mixed great (I think?) but when I cooked them they came out great, then … after a few minutes flopped down? And got heavy on the bottom? Maybe I needed them to bake a little longer? I’m not sure, the top halvs were great but the bottoms … were … mushy and heavy?
Hmm, that’s a new one for me, Corinne! Whenever bread deflates after cooking usually means they were over-proofed (too long rising or at too high a temp, so rose too fast), so that would be my first guess without knowing any of the circumstances. Not sure why the bottoms were heavy, though – maybe same reason? Were they nicely browned all over and golden browned on the tops?
hi…
just wanna say this is the best recipe in the world, thank u!! 🙂
and Aldo, can i use regular all purpose flour instead of whole wheat??
I don’t know, Bernadette, ’cause I’ve never tried, but I assume you can, as it’s very similar to rich white dinner rolls I’ve made in the past with eggs.
I made these rolls today. The pictures made them look so light and airy and I thought I had finally found a good recipe. They turned out heavy and terrible just like all the other whole wheat roll recipes I’ve made. I could tell by the dough that they would be heavy. I followed the recipe exactly and used freshly ground white wheat flour. I’m not sure why whole wheat rolls never turn out good. I won’t make these again.
I’m so sorry, Andrea! So many others have had good results that I wonder if you added too much flour? The dough should be sticky, as I tried to show in the photos. These rolls are so amazing, that I’m really sorry yours didn’t turn out!!
There are so many reasons yours could have not turned out from your water temp being too hot or cold (should be 110 to 115) , bad yeast, or too much flour. Bread making is hard following a recipe exactly because it can take a cup less or more of flour depending on where you live…
Hi Jami – I bake different breads and bread rolls as a hobby between work and other things and Enjoyed your recipe but most of all I just enjoyed the fun side of you. Thank you.
No- thank you! 🙂
I am new to the bread making and I made these rolls and they are great. Its the first 100% whole wheat that came out fluffy and light. I did make them without a stand mixer. I used the electric beater for the egg, milk, butter etc.. mixture then slowly added the flour until the beaters couldn’t take it anymore, lol.. Then I started mixing by hand… make sure to flour your hands a bit first so it doesn’t stick to your fingers as bad… I only kneaded for a small bit of time then let them rest. The one thing i want to know is how to make them sweeter. Just add more honey? Or do I need to adjust anything if I do add more honey? I believe that’s the only issue I have with the rolls for my personal preference…. This website was a great find 🙂
Yes, CJ, you can try adding more honey – you might need to add a bit more flour, depending on the amount of honey you add. Glad you liked them!
I live in Florida and I had to use a little more then 4 1/2 c of flour anyway when I was kneading. Probably the humidity here. Anyway, I will try the honey and see. Thank you. Also plan on trying your ww sandwich bread as well.
I just made these today… Feel so awesome to make rolls from scratch. They were diff and beautiful! The taste was a little odd.. Bitter or none maybe.. Haha… I maybe didn’t put the salt in… Could that be it?
Any ideas how to make them more flavorful?
If you leave out the salt, there is no flavor, really – so maybe that was it. 🙂
Made these tonight & they were *wonderful*!! I live near Denver so the altitude sometimes makes a diff in baking. It’s also dry here, yet even so my dough needed the whole 5 c plus a few extra tablespoons (it was fresh ground hard red wheat – don’t know if that makes a diff). (I did it all by hand – don’t have a dough hook. Just used a wooden spoon for the first “kneading.”) Liked the idea of kneading on a towel (2nd kneading) – seemed weird but did seem to help with it being a sticky dough, oddly enough. My knives all need to be sharpened, so I wasn’t sure cutting them all your way was going to help, so I just cut/pulled the entire thing in half, in half again and again and the final ones in thirds. They were still quite sticky to shape, so I wasn’t too picky. I used a little more flour because with it being sticky and cutting the thirds as I went I noticed my first ones were half-risen by the time I finished the last ones.
Oh! That’s the other comment I wanted to make about high altitude baking with whole wheat flour. My dough *did* rise more than double in about 25min (that’s about typical). So as soon as my rolls were shaped I turned on the oven and sure enough in another 5-10min time they were ready for baking!
These were a definite hit with the whole family, so I will be coming back to this recipe again & again! Thanks for your *great* directions & pics!
I let the tap water run until hot, Patsy, so it’s pretty warm – my kids would say ‘hot!’ – and I’ve had good results for years with this. I only know it can’t be boiling hot or it will kill the yeast, so I’ve always just let the tap hotness be enough. You can use a thermometer if you’d like – I think it’s supposed to be around 105 degrees.
These look wonderful! I will be making them tonight along with beef stew. 🙂 Thank you for sharing!
I have been looking for a recipe for whole wheat rolls that weren’t dense and heavy. I have found it thanks to you! I have made these several times and they are so easy, fluffy, and delicious! The best part is that I can have fresh homemade rolls in about 2.5 hours with little effort. Thank you!
Greetings from NZ, had to come back to express my delight and appreciation for you sharing this top-class recipe. They came out PERFECT, I am seriously impressed with them, and more superior than shop-bought, by a country mile. Now I’m spoiled and don’t think I will ever be able to go back to shop-bought lol. Thank you, you’re a legend 🙂
Thank you, Loral! And I agree, store-bought pale in comparison now. 🙂
Jami,
how warm is the water at the beginning? like, almost hot? or just barely warm??
Made these today! Wow are they delicious! Will def be my “go to” roll recipe. Thanks Jamie
Woot!
I want you to know, I’ve made it 4 times, by hand, using king arther ww, a coffee cup @ 1 c., Milk with vinegar for buttermilk, 1/4 c. and 1/2 c. Raw honey; let it rise on a warmed but off oven…. Even a pkg of yeast instead of 2 tbsp!
Its been too wet (high humidity here) too sticky (I ran out of flour the last time) and since our 9×13 pan broke, I’ve been using 2 square pyrex…
You can’t screw this up! Regardless of what your dough looks like, finish it, you will still get something far and above what you can buy! The last time it was so sticky I couldn’t make the shapes I was happy a lump of it fell from my fingers into the pan!
My fiance won’t buy bread anymore. He does the shopping most times, and he always makes sure to ask me if I need anything for the bread. buys things specifically to go on the bread he never thought of when we were eating store bought!
That is encouraging. I made them today for the first time. I live in Sydney Australia and it is pretty humid here too, not to mention we have slightly different ingredients. It was such a sticky mess and I added way too much flour in the end. They are pretty dense now, I wish I would have dealt with the stickiness and just baked them. Will try baking the sticky globs after reading your comment. It still tastes wonderful, can’t complain!
I’m making these tomorrow. I grind my own hard red spring whole wheat berries for flour. I notice in the yeast proofing stage that it calls for simply yeast and water. Poor little yeast guys have nothing to eat so I’ll be adding some of the honey to help activate the yeast. And use patience and don’t rush the process. Bake with your eyes, not just a timer.
Oh, and a good instant read digital thermometer!
Of course, I found this awesome WW Dinner Rolls on Pinterest and made them right away! I did one little change though, as I cannot stand the taste of honey, I used maple syrup instead and they came out insanely good. With two toddlers, I am always trying to use more WW flour and have being making breads and even flour tortilla wraps switching part of the white flour with WW with tremendous success, so I don’t really have to say how happy I was to find 100% WW dinner rolls, that would be light and fluffy, just as regular white rolls. And best of all, both of them love the rolls!! Thank you so much for sharing such a great recipe with pictures (that was so important!!) Thanks a million!!
These are amazing and so delicious – I made them for Easter dinner and people went nuts over them. I am going to try and make loaves today 🙂
These were gone-to-heaven delicious! My daughter ms picky eater gobbled them up faster than Ive ever seen her eat buns before. . And she is totally a bread girl! She closed her eyes while chewing lol. Thank you for sharing this recipe. I am waiting for tomatoes on sale to try your salsa.
Made my first batch and using a stand mixer for the first time. Oh my goodness they are so good!
HELP ASAP! Can you freeze the rolls still connected right in the pan? Then do you have to thaw them, or can you heat them frozen? Do they need to be separated to thaw and heat? I want to make them today (Friday) for Easter dinner.
Sorry for the delay, Pat – we were out of town. I’ve never tried heating them from frozen, though you should be able to, though I would check and separate as they thawed so the center rolls warm, too. If you try it, let us know! 🙂
I tried the recipe by hand, and I did something wrong. I might have put too much flour in when I was kneading. It certainly didn’t look like your picture. You were so specific about having it still be a little sticky that it obviously was my fault. The first rising went well, too fast actually according to the directions. Then even though the dough seemed to be so smooth and unsticky, when I cut them out for shaping, they were not easy to handle at all. And in the oven, they hardly rose at all, and turned out to be just plain heavy. I should never have attempted a new recipe for Easter dinner! At least I tried it today, and have time to use a tested recipe for a replacement, and then you can be sure I am going to try yours again, and this time, really pay attention to the directions! Happy Easter!
Oh, sorry, Pat – I know first hand how frustrating that is. 🙂 I’m sure next time will work out!
Can you freeze the rolls still connected in the pan? And then would you need to separate them to wrap them in foil for heating? Thaw first or heat the frozen rolls? 400 oven?
You can, Pat. I always take them out of the pan because it’s my glass 13 x 9 that I use all the time. I break the 24 rolls into two 12-roll sections and place each section (all still attached) into a ziplock freezer baggie – perfect fit. Remove the air and label. I thaw the section first, wrap in foil and stick in the oven to warm with whatever is cooking at that temp. If I were to have only rolls in the oven, I’d probably only heat to 350 degrees.
I’ve never baked yeast bread before but I made these this past weekend and they turned out amazing! I used Red Fife heritage wheat, which is a stone ground hard spring wheat. I use it in a lot of my baking, and it generally creates a denser product (in particular it makes a thin crispy pie crust which I love!) however, no sign of denseness in these rolls! They somehow made the Red Fife wheat fluffy, which I didn’t think was possible! Thank you for the great recipe, I plan to repost it on my blog shortly with a link back to your site.
These are wonderful. I did make a mistake and only used 2 teaspoons of yeast instead of 2 T and was worried that they might not turn out but they did! They are still over 2 inches tall! YAY for happy accidents. Thank you for this delish recipe.
Yum! These are definitely going in my recipe book permanently! Thanks! Will be making the whole wheat bread next.
I have made these multiple times now! I will tell you, they are awesome!!! I let them cool completely then break them into sets of 4 and freeze them. Then I set a bag out when I know we’ll want them and reheat at 350 F. Super soft and yummy!!! So thankful! I make these about once a month or more depending on how often we eat em.
That’s a great idea to freeze them in smaller amounts to use as you need them, Andie – thanks for sharing that!
Great recipe! Easy to follow directions and pictures! Thanks!!!!
yumm……these rolls are simply delicious…and best of all, they are whole wheat….thank you so much for this recipe….*hugs*
We had these rolls last night and the recipe will become a family favorite for sure. I didn’t think it was possible to make whole bread or rolls without adding white flour. Not only are these delicious but fairly simple too. I loved your pictures and tips. I could see your picture in my mind when I was touching the dough to make sure it was no longer sticky. You have another fan and I can’t wait to check out your other recipes. Thanks so much.
So glad to know, Marylee!
Your pictures looked so good that I had to try these. I’ve never made dinner rolls before but they came out so well that I’m sure this is going to be a staple at home. Thank you!
I am making your whole wheat rolls for gameday! Will do full sized rolls for pulled pork sandwiches.
Fantastic recipe!!!! Just made my first batch and this recipe is definitely a keeper. Thanks so much posting this and the awesome detailed instructions 🙂
thank you for this recipe! i have made this several times and they have all turned out fantastic. i did make some adjustments to fit our family. i use spelt flour instead of whole wheat, avacado instead of butter, almond milk instead of buttermilk, and i add a 1/4 teaspoon of vitamin C powder. it took me years to make good bread but my whole family loves this recipe. my aunt actually asked me where i bought my rolls at thanksgiving. she pinned this recipe on pinterest after i showed her. thank you!!!!
These look delicious and I’ll be trying them soon. I buy my own hard wheat and grind it into flour. Is this any different than the flour you used?
I have been eyeing this recipe for a while and finally built up enough courage to make them for dinner tonight. This was my first time making any bread from scratch and they were amazing! I LOVED how easy the directions were to follow and the pictures for every step along the way were so helpful. Thanks so much for that! My rolls turned out perfectly round, soft, fluffy, and very light! I served them with homemade honey butter…they are without a doubt the best rolls I’ve ever had, homemade or otherwise. You are my new best friend, haha. My sister is a bread fanatic so I’m going to surprise her with some this weekend. Thanks so much for sharing this awesome recipe! 🙂
Yeah – love to hear that, Tyler!
OH my gosh. These came out AWEsOME. I used bread machine yeast and just added it to the dry ingredients. I did add the water that was supposed to be used for the yeast to the wet ingredients and had to add some extra flour. It was sticky like you said but didn’t stick to my finger. The bread machine yeast takes the guesswork out of the water being the right temp. oh and I didn’t have buttermilk so I added 1 tbsp lemon juice to the milk. GREAT RECIPE. Thanks for sharing!!!!!!!!
Absolutely delicious. Hands down the best whole wheat rolls I have EVER made. I loved how easy, light and fluffy they are.
Thank you!!!
Mine were not as light and fluffy as the pics.
Made these. YUMMMMMMMM!!!!!
Made the super tasty rolls at my parents for Christmas and left a few in their freezer.
My dad just called to find out what to do to eat them tonight… I see that they’re freezable, which is why we put them in the freezer, but now we don’t know what to do. Please advise…
PS at MY house, we’re having a fresh batch… just don’t tell my dad 🙂
Hi, Dawn – I’m glad your family enjoyed the rolls! I defrost them like any other bread – leave out for a few hours – and then cover with foil and reheat in the oven or toaster oven.
Enjoy your new batch!
I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve made these rolls since Thanksgiving. They’re a huge hit with my family! I use white whole wheat and they turn out soft and delicious. So different than the bread bricks I’ve made in the past. I’ve used this recipe in a variety of ways, excellent every time. Thank you for sharing!
I have made these a few times, and have really enjoyed them. I have to bake them for 30 min at least or else we have some soggy, doughy centers and can’t even eat the outer edge of the outer buns. i have also used margarine instead of butter and it’s not shown any difference. I have a batch to come out in one hour and will rub honey on top instead of butter!! should be great!
Just made these to go with dinner! Easy and fabulous ! Perfect with a bowl of soup!
Well, I tried this recipe and must have did something wrong somewhere because my rolls did not come out light and fluffy at all. They actually came out like whole wheat snowballs. I used all the ingredients you listed. My dough didn’t rise at all and it took a while too. Don’t get it. Oh well. 🙁
I’m so sorry. Do you know if your yeast was fresh?
Well, it was in one of the packets and I bought it a week prior. I don’t know but I was very sad. I used warm water for the yeast and let it sit.
I don’t know what to offer, Nadine, other that to try again – I made many breads that were not great before getting the hang of it. In fact my sister made these twice without success until she tried again this year and made a great batch, so there is hope. 🙂
Sounds like the kitchen was too cold. I live in a basement that always hovers under 70 degrees.
I just took these out of the oven. I don’t know what happened but I came up three short. Seriously, I ate three before I knew it. Truly delicious. Will have to make another batch to wow the book club members on Saturday.I am so glad I found your recipe.
Ha – made me laugh out loud! Thanks, Jeanetta 🙂
I really was excited to make this recipe, but it jus did not work out 🙁 It rose beautifully the 1st time, but then when I was to take it and knead it and shape them it was way too sticky to do anything with! I used 5 c of flour, so I don’t know what I should have done. I didn’t know if I could add more flour after the 1st rising so it went in the garbage. Maybe I’ll try these another time, but for now it’s too late.
Kelly, I’m so sorry! There are so many factors when dealing with yeast breads – the weather/humidity, type of flour, measuring of water – you have to get a feel for what the dough should look like. That’s why I took so many pictures, as it should be sticky (moisture = soft and tender finished product), but whole wheat absorbs moisture differently. Don’t be afraid to add more flour to be able to work the dough – I pour it out onto a floured towel and flour my hands and dough as I knead the few times and shape, as they will still stick a bit. So the balance is to try and keep them as moist as possible, but still be able to shape them. Hope you give them another try!
hi,
i’m french si please, pardon me my bad english/american : i do want to make this recipe, but just about the amount of yeast (in France we use kilograms and grams and not cups and spoons), is that “teespoons” or “tablespoons” ?
thanks for your answer !:D
That’s Tablespoons, Maman D! I hope you know how to convert it, though – wonder if there is an app for that? 😉 Glad you found us!
(oh, by the way, in American recipes, a capital T, TB, tbl. or even tb. always means tablespoons and lowercase t, tsp. or tp. mean teaspoons).
Over the last 3 1/2 months I have lost 70lbs and learned to eat a lot healthier. Thanksgiving around home is never always a hugh meal. I was searching for ways to make our meal healthier and thought about making whole wheat rolls. I’ve done quite a bit of baking over the years and when I found this recipe I knew I would have to try it. I love the fact that there is no bleached flour or sugar. I going to try my hand I them tomorrow if my wife will let me in the kitchen long enough to get them done. Wish me luck and I’ll let you know how they turn out.
Whoa, Dan, that’s quite an accomplishment! And I thought my measly 20 lbs was a big deal. 😉 Sure hope you found your way into the kitchen!
They tasted great but didn’t turn out very fluffy. I didn’t miss anything. I think maybe it was using stone ground whole wheat flour from a local meal. I going to try it this weekend again with regular whole wheat flour and well post the results.
I just pulled these out of the oven and they smell and look wonderful! I do not have a fancy mixer and tried to make do with my food processor to mix these up, which was okay but not large enough. Then I tried to used a hand mixer, well duh that would not work with thick dough. Somehow the dough made it through my mistakes and was mixed well… however, I totally forgot the salt!!! I must have read the instructions 5 times and in my worry to get the dough incorporated well, I totally forgot the salt. I didn’t have time to start over, so I kept on and the result is alright. I tried one and it was fluffy and good, but I can definitely tell I’m missing the salt. I’m taking these to my Mom’s for Thanksgiving, so hopefully we can compensate for my mistake with salted butter or honey on these. Thanks for the recipe!
Oh, gosh, Savannah, I’ve done that, too! Boy did we miss the salt – amazing what 1 1/2 tsp. of salt can do, huh? Lots of butter was the answer for us. 🙂
Can I double this receipe?
It’s a lot of dough, Melina. If you’re used to doubling bread recipes then go for it. I’ve actually never done that as it would overwhelm my mixer. I just make two batches. 🙂
Hello! I really want to make these rolls but… i dont have a stand mixer any suggestions on how to make without one. I do have a bread make with a dough cycle on it?!?!
Hi Briana! I’ve only made them with the mixer – have you looked through the comments? I know there are a lot, but I think someone said they made the dough in the bread machine and then removed them to shape them…? Sure sounds like it would work!
These are gorgeous looking rolls. I can’t wait to try them!
December 23, 2013
Wow! Gorgeous rolls, and it all worked perfectly. Thanks for the tips about using a towel and cutting up 24 pieces. The pictures and extra tips was necessary and much appreciated. This is my contribution to Christmas dinner, and these rolls will be LOVED. Thanks to everyone who made comments!
Oops! Grammar error! Pictures and tips WERE much appreciated. Also wanted to say that I used agave syrup instead of honey. Used King Arthur WW flour. Very important to fluff up flour. I emptied half a bag into a large bowl, thereby fluffing it. Then, used a large spoon to lightly lift flour into a measuring cup and level it with a knife. Used only 2 extra T at the end. Used a mixer just as Jami did. Oh, ahead of time, find a brush to coat the rolls with butter at the end. Thank you, Jami, for your friendly and supportive help. I’m next going to try your ww peanut butter cookies in your 15 Christmas Goodies.
I just made these and they were delicious! My husband and 1 year old daughter liked them too! However, Mine rose a lot faster and higher than yours, probably because I added 2 heaping tablespoons of vital wheat gluten (I have some and I never get to use it so I thought, why not?).
Thanks for the recipe!
~Melodie
I formed 12 large rolls opposed to 24 regular-size. Will this approach increase baking time?
Thank you for sharing this recipe! I have reached the second rise phase; so far so good! 🙂
I would assume so, since bigger things take longer to bake. But I haven’t ever made them bigger, so I don’t know how much time. Hope it works for you!
I assumed as much as well, but to my surprise the rolls only required an additional 5 minutes of baking (and these results from an oven typically on the cold side). They emerged from the oven beautiful; BIG, but beautiful. 😉 Thank you again. 🙂
Found this recipe on Pinterest, and I’m so excited to make these for Thanksgiving. Just one question–do you use salted or unsalted butter? Thanks so much!
You’ll love it, Annie! I always use salted, because that’s what I have. 🙂
YUMMY. These turned out great. I have been trying forever to make a good whole wheat roll or bread and I always fail. Finally got this one right. Can’t wait to make these again. Thanks for posting this awesome recipe.
I tried these yesterday and they were super good, but they came out a little dry for me. Does anyone happen to know what I might have done wrong or what I could try for next time?
I haven’t had that happen, Jasmine, but maybe you put in too much flour? The dough should still be a bit slightly sticky.
Regarding dry rolls… I haven’t yet made this recipe, but I’ve learned, when using whole wheat flour especially, to carefully spoon the flour into the measuring cup and sweep it level with the back of a knife to ensure I am not over-measuring the flour. If you dip your measuring cup into the bag or canister (and then sweep with a knife to level) you can compact the flour into the measuring in the cup and actually be measuring out way more than one cup at a time. It adds up in a recipe such as this where you use more than 4 cups of flour… just imagine if you were adding in a few extra teaspoons of flour to cup. Hope this helps.
Hi there,
These rolls look great! I am so happy to have found a recipe that uses whole wheat flour as opposed to that processed stuff. I was just wondering, did you use instant (quick-rise) yeast, or just traditional yeast?
-Thanks!
I’ve used both over the years (based on what was available in the bulk section) and the rolls always turned out. 🙂
P.S. Do you know if there is any adjustments to make for high attitude? I just thought about that… I’m living in the Denver Metro area now and still cannot get used to adjusting all my baking to high altitude
Shoot, I don’t know about high altitude, Diana – sorry. Maybe google baking yeast breads at high alt? Sure hope these turn out for you and your family’s Thanksgiving – if so, I’m sure you’ll feel like a rockstar! 🙂
Hi Jami, At 57 I have never made any kind of yeast bread products. Thanks to you for this wonderful recipe and greatly detailed tutorial, and Pinterest (which has brought out my inner-cook/dhef and out of hibernation for the past 20 years). Now, I and my siblings are all preparing Thanksgiving dinner and taking to our parents’ home as they are unable to travel or cook much anymore. I cannot wait to see how this turns out. Without a stand up mixer and having never made rolls before, I am anxious to try this great recipe .I will let you know. Happy Thanksgiving 😀
I am determined as a non-baker to perfect these rolls, my first attemp turned out a little like bicuits. I was waondering if you could reccomend a brand (or 2) of whole wheat flour? I think I may have chosen a course ground flour that left my “rolls” too heavy. Or maybe it is my baking abilities…regardless, I would like to try again based on the awesome reviews!
that is wondering….
King Arthur is the best whole wheat.
My non-baking sister has had a fail with this recipe, too, and the only thing I can think of is that there was too much flour added – the dough should still be a bit sticky and need the towel (or surface) to be floured. As for flour types, many folks find that whole wheat WHITE flour is lighter and their yeast products turn out better. While I can use regular ww flour and these always turn out, you might want to try the ww white flour to get them to work for you. Here’s hoping you get a good batch the next time!
Thankyou Jami! You are probably right about too much flour. I think I will try one more time with the ww flour Deb suggested (thanks Deb). Hopefully attempt #2 will equal success. Thanks again for the input.
Kirstie, another thing to try when baking, especially with whole wheat flour, spoon your flour into your measuring cup. If you just scoop it, you will end up with several ounces more flour than needed in the recipe, & heavy buns. I always add vital wheat gluten (1 tsp per cup of flour) to all my bread & rolls when baking as well. Whole wheat flour does not have as much gluten as unbleached all purpose or bread flour, so adding gluten will help.
I made the rolls tonight…sooo delicious!!!! I just substituted water in place of milk and the rolls are still very fluffy and moist 🙂 hope this helps anyone else who can’t use milk!
Wow- great to know, Melissa! Thanks for updating us.
Just posted about wheat bread myself! And just pinned these so I can remember to try them. They sound and look amazing! WOW! Great rise and puff on a 100% W-W roll!
I have been making your whole wheat sandwich bread for well over a month now and my family won’t eat store bread again! I am anxious to make the rolls but wanted to know if there is a good substitute for the milk as my oldest has severe milk allergies. Thanks!
When milk is called for in bread recipes, it’s to make a more tender crumb and soft breads usually benefit from the addition of milk (at least that’s my understanding…). That said, you can substitute water and see if that works for your family, Melissa – maybe you can let us know if they’re still as soft so others who can’t have milk will know it’s ok or not to use water? That would be great. 🙂
I am absolutely in love with these rolls! They are seriously the best whole wheat rolls I have ever found! Recently, I made these rolls and stuffed them with sausages for a make-ahead breakfast. Would you mind if I link to your blog for the roll recipe and then show what I did with it on my blog? Pretty please? I really am obsessed with these things!
Of course, Heather! I’m looking forward to seeing what you did – it sounds like a great idea. 🙂
Thank you so much! Check it out! http://greeneggsandgoats.blogspot.com/2012/10/sister-heathers-whole-wheat-sausage.html
I found this recipe via pinterest and thought they looked delish. I made them today and they turned out perfectly! I even got uniform size and shape thanks to your wonderful explanations and pictures. We had them for lunch with home made chicken noodle soup and they were a hit. Thanks so much. I’ll definately be making these again and again.
So glad, Cheryl- you made my day- thanks for letting me know!
As a bead lover but not a bread baker…..I do not have a fancy Kitchen Aid mixer with attachments. Could I use my hands for these steps or does it just work better with the actual tools?
Since they don’t require a lot of kneading, Liz, I think they should work fine if made by hand. I’m just lazy 🙂
Public service announcement – do NOT accidentally double the honey in this recipe – lol! Oh goodness. I couldn’t figure out why my dough was so wet. Eventually I got it to an okay consistency, went through all the steps, and baked them. Gorgeous and the smell was divine! Came back later and all the center rolls were deflating. Uh oh! We ate some of the outside ones (which were heavy but tasty), but the others had to be tossed because they were so thick and doughy. I’m a fairly practiced baker so I was so embarrassed. After dinner I sat down to reread the recipe and realized my error. I had half a cup of honey. Trying to do too much at once will do that to you:). I’m going to try again with the correct ingredients because I can imagine these are incredible when made correctly. What a day:)
Goodness! I never knew… 🙂 I have had many mishaps like that, though – always when I try to multitask. Most recent was too many eggs in cookies, sigh.
Thank you Tiffany. I was wondering what I did wrong. I did the same thing. Darn it. I’ll have to make another batch.
Great, thanks! 🙂
*how long
Hello Jami!
I made these a few days ago and they were SO delicious! My hubby loved them too!
I was also wondering how to make it into a loaf because its just SO good! Do you know howling I would have to bake it for?
Thanks a bunch!
Zoya
You know, I never have baked as a loaf, but a reader above wrote that she did and that it’s good that way too. I’m assuming it would take what other loaves take – usually 30 to 45 minutes until browned and hollow sounding when tapped on the bottom. Give it a try!
Hi Jami,
I found your 100% Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls on Pinterest! I made these for my family today! They loved them! I followed the recipe exactly! They were great! My 7 year old grandson requested them for next Sunday. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe. These rolls are the BEST!
Yeah!!
I found this recipe just in time, Canadian thanksgiving is tomorrow and these are coming along. My husband came into the kitchen and asked me what they were for, he was very sad that he had to wait till tomorrow, lol.
We did a quality test 😉 YUMMY!!!
Thank goodness for Pinterest! After 20+ years of housewifery, I have a favorite bread recipe, favorite chocolate cookie recipe, favorite sugar cookie recipe… but I never found THE roll recipe until now. Thanks for providing such a great one! I just tasted my first one and it was delicious. This recipe is a “keeper” for sure and will be made for many Sunday dinners.
What did we do before Pinterest? I’ve already forgotten… 🙂
YOU DID IT! You created 100% whole wheat dinner rolls that are actually fluffy! I can’t tell you how many recipes I’ve tried. All dense and not fluffy. People, these are fluffy. Like the fluffiest I’ve ever had, including the ones made with white flour. I’m going to use spelt next time! Thank you so so much for this amazing recipe. I will never try another dinner roll recipe again. 🙂
Jami, you are my hero- these are AWESOME and I’m going to make them for Thanksgiving! I’ve been searching for an awesome bread recipe, and this is SO EASY!! During my rise stages, I put my dough outside (it was in the high-80’s or low-90’s). It rose perfectly in the heat! Also, I used 3 packets of Red Star instant/fast yeast- i think that is about 2T + 3/4t. It was just easier than trying to measure from the packets into a spoon.
Thank you so much for this Godsend recipe! I can’t wait for tomorrow when I slather it in nutella! 🙂
Ya-hoo – you’re welcome! And your comment made smile, ’cause that’s pretty much how I felt when I found the original recipe all those years ago – so I’m HAPPY to share. 🙂
I sent the picture’s on your facebook. Hope you enjoy.
Have a great weekend.
Carla
I entered your recipe in our County Fair. I made rolls and and 2 loaves of Bread. Won 4 1st place and qualified for our state fair competition. I am going to enter. The competition is next weekend. I will let you know how I do if you would like for me to.
Again, thanks for posting.
Carla
Wow, Carla, this is awesome! You’re the first person to tell me something like this – how fun. 🙂 Yes, do please let me know how they do at the state fair! Btw, what state are you in? Most state fairs I’ve heard about in the west are usually held the end of August – is yours usually in September after the kids have gone back to school?
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I live in Tecumseh, Oklahoma. Hope you don’t mind the pictures that I have sent you.Our county fair has always been in September. Our State starts today. I am really excited. I qualified last year. Won 2nd in the State last year. But, I know I have a really good chance with your recipe. so, wish me luck. Again,hope you don’t mind the pictures I sent you. I love your web-site, please, keep posting.
Carla
Oh, I see my pictures did not post. Just let me know if you would like to see I will try to send again.
Can you attach them to an email and send them that way? My info is on the contact page – it would be fun to see them!
Hi Jami-
Do you think these would work with freshly ground whole wheat flour and using a bread machine? Can’t wait to try them!
I don’t see why not – they’d probably be just as awesome! Though I haven’t used a bread machine and these really don’t take much kneading, I would think mixing and doing a bit of kneading in the machine would be similar to the mixer I use. Hope you enjoy them!
I am thrilled to have found this recipe that uses 100% WHOLE WHEAT flour. We all know that “enriched” is NOT as good for us as whole grains. Most of what I find in the grocery store either has “enriched” flour or white flour as the main ingredients for wheat bread. Yuck. So, I’m excited to make these. They look so soft and delicious!
Thank you for posting these rolls. I can not make whole wheat bread and I really just gave up. I saw your recipe today and decided to try one last time. Let me tell you that you were right. These are the best. So light and fluffy. I made 12 rolls and 1 loaf of bread out of one recipe.
Thank you!!!!
So glad you liked it, Carla! I’ve never tried making a loaf from it – I’ll have to remember that when I’d like a soft, rich loaf.
Will these still turn out right if you don’t have a standing mixer, paddle attachment, or a dough hook?
Thanks,
Brenda
I’ve never made them any other way – but that’s mainly because I’m lazy and don’t want to hand-knead. 🙂 That’s the way our grandmothers did, though, so I would assume you can and they will turn out! 🙂
I make these without a standup mixer and do it by hand – they turn out great. 🙂
That’s good to know – thanks!
Hi Sherbear,
I don’t have a standup mixer and was wondering how many times you knead the dough or to what consistency you knead it.
Thanks!
I am trying to find a recipe for soft whole wheat bread and was wondering if you’ve ever tried this in loaf form? Also, have you tried it with both kind of milks and it turns out good both ways? Does the buttermilk give it a sour taste?
No, Veronica, I’ve never tried this as a loaf – with the butter and eggs, it’s a pretty rich bread. 🙂 And yes, I’ve used both regular milk and buttermilk – I’ve actually not noticed a difference (I never taste any sour when using buttermilk, actually), even though I’ve read that buttermilk makes things more tender. 🙂
best whole wheat rolls (or any kind of rolls) i’ve ever made, or eaten!! thanks for the recipe! my family loved agreed! i don’t know what it is, but this recipe turned out so light and soft… didn’t seem like 100% whole wheat!
So happy they turned out for you like mine- and I’m always amazed by them too, even after all these years! They really are soft and lovely. 🙂
OMG!!! This is the best recipe ever! I have made other recipes that I got online and none of them comes close to this. It’s super fluffy and tender. I tweaked a little and added a tablespoon of vital wheat gluten. Thanks for this recipe. this is a keeper!!!!
Chermaine
hi. I have bookmarked this recipe for months now and I am only trying it today. I have both red star quick-rise instant dry yeast and active dry yeast. Which one should I use? I read that you used instant dry yeast. Is this the same with the quick rise instant dry yeast? Thanks in advance.
Chermaine
Actually, both should work fine, because the yeast is dissolved first. I use instant because that’s what I get in bulk and it works in traditional applications like this or being added to dry ingredients.
Oh, and instant is the same as quick-rise from what I’ve read.
Hope you like them- and hope I’m not too late with this response!
These look so good, I can’t wait to try them!
Jami:
I just tried your recipe. I was preparing to make a different batch and had used 3 tsp of yeast and ground my whole wheat berries just before making the rolls but they looked heavy so I added 40% bread flour. Not only did they turn out fluffy but had a hearty crunch as well. Thank you for an easy tutorial and excellent product. We are having the rest of them for lunches with sliced turkey and pepperjack and have enough to share with our co-workers tomorrow. It’ll make a quick lunch as we’re moving offices and dont have time to take a lunch. Thank you so much.
Rebecca, North of Seattle.
Susan- I usually make them a day ahead and reheat them (wrapped in foil) right before the meal. Sometimes I make them weeks ahead and freeze them and they are good too. Two packets will work fine- A packet usually holds a scant tablespoon (meaning just under). Yeah, it’s a lot of yeast- probably why they are so light even with the whole wheat. 🙂 And I use instant yeast, too. Technically you probably don’t have to “proof” it in the water first, but it doesn’t hurt it and I’ve never been willing to mess with the original!
Stephanie- Then we’ll both be eating these at Thanksgiving!!
I will be bringing these to our family Thanksgiving feast. Thanks for reposting in time for the holiday!!! They are exactly what I was looking for, and will be PERFECT to make tiny sandwiches for the roadtrip back home!
Looks great! How far out do you make your rolls? Do you make them the day of or ahead of time? Did I read that correctly?-2 Tablespoons of yeast? That is more than two packets. I have the instant yeast. Is that what you use?
LOVE your blog.
Susan
Hi,
I am like Naomi – have you tried it in a loaf form yet? Sounds great!
Thanks and looooove your blog!
Steph
Naomi- I’m so glad they went over well for you- thanks for letting me know, I LOVE it when someone has success with a recipe. 🙂
Jami, I made these for a congregation meal last week and were they ever beeautiful! A lady said to me, “Those rolls you made – there are NO WORDS! Except – BUTTER!” And these were not even close to being warm. I’ve made good rolls before, with white flour, and I’ve got a really good recipe for a loaf with my freshly ground flour, but never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I’d find a recipe for rolls like that, with whole wheat flour!! Now I’m wondering if that recipe would make a good loaf as well. I don’t know a reason why not, do you?
And just like some others have mentioned, I loved the floured towel tip and how to cut the rolls and shape them. MY rolls were PERFECT! All the same size! And buttered on top! I’ve been thinking of them ever since, and when I can make them again. I’m planning to make them for my Mom’s birthday tomorrow; she always loves when I bring her some home-baked bread, but she’ll flip over these! Thank you so much. I love having great recipes like this one so I can make wonderful food for people I love.
A very nice recipe. I made a half batch of these today, and they came out great–thank you!
Hello, i’d like to try this recipe but with a smaller amount, does it work if i simply half all the ingredients in the recipe?
I’ve not tried that, so I can’t say. I know sometimes with breads it’s a bit tricky to halve recipes. I always freeze the half I don’t need. 🙂
hi jami, i went to look at your updated bun recipe and this caught my eye. i will try this recipe soon, it’s a staple around here. thanks for sharing!
Jami, I say the more the merrier 😉 I had perfect rolls again last night and really, it’s your little tips that have made the difference . . . I wasn’t squishing my rolls close enough or able to get a smooth finished top on them. Sounds like little things, but I wish I had a picture to show you the blobby messes they were 🙂 And again, the floured towel thing is a revelation! (no more scraping up dried dough off the counter with a spatula)
Oh, good Rebekah- thanks for letting me know! I never know how much info is too much. 🙂
Just wanted to say thanks for the tips about using a floured towel, cutting equal portions with a knife, and how to shape each roll – I’ve never had mine turn out so beautifully!!! Plus, I’m usually unenthusiastic about the dough/flour mess on my counters, but the towel method is awesome! Double batches for my family of seven. Yum!~
Dna- I’ve never frozen the dough, but I’m sure it could be done. Here’s a good article about freezing dough using any recipe you want:
http://www.ehow.com/how_4554726_freeze-own-bread-dough.html
Good Luck!
I know youtalked about freezing after you baked them but could you freeze the dough? I would love to know how to do thaat. Our freezer is small. I use to buy the frozen dough but would rather make mine:0
Laura- You’re welcome! I’m happy to share. 🙂
Oh, that’s great! Other recipes were telling me to “partially” bake them and then freeze them, but if DH had to wait for me to finish baking rolls before he dug into his soup, he’d be sneaking pieces of white bread! I’ll definitely be trying this recipe next week. Thanks so much for your advice! I really appreciate how you help along those of us who are, ahem, less accomplished homemakers….
Laura- They freeze beautifully! I just put them in ziplock freezer bags and have eaten them months later with no problems. You might want to package them up as you want to eat (say 4 to a package), then you won’t disturb the others.
And I’ve never really had any bread that didn’t freeze well- I freeze all our bread that we’re not eating and when it thaws is actually fresh tasting.
I just dug this out of your archives on the hunt for a whole wheat roll recipe I could freeze. Have you ever tried freezing this? How would you suggest I do it? My husband loves bread but is trying to cut back on carbs, so I was hoping to thaw just a few rolls at a time, but I’ve never frozen bread before. Thanks!
Anon-
These rolls use regular WHOLE wheat flour- not bread flour (which you could use, but it’s more expensive and they don’t need it), and not unbleached (which is just white flour without the bleaching process). You want the brown, 100% whole wheat flour.
Good luck!
These look fantastic, and you certainly came out with perfectly formed rolls, a challenge of mine.
I would like to reach in and eat one…
Did you use regular unbleached flour or bread flour? I get confused on when to use which flour!
She said she uses whole wheat flour.
These look delicious! Thanks for the recipe. My family requested Pumpkin rolls for Thanksgiving (from Tammy’s Recipes) but I will definitely try these for Christmas (or sooner!). Thank you for your great blog.
These are the BEST 100% whole wheat buns I have ever made! Thank you for a fantastic recipe:)