I promise these will be the softest 100% whole wheat dinner rolls you’ve ever had – and they are easy to make with this complete step-by-step tutorial (& make-ahead tip). These are so easy and so good – with or without butter! Check out more of our Best Bread Recipes.
This is the best dinner roll recipe – truly. Originally published in AOC’s first year, 2009, this incredible all whole wheat dinner roll recipe remains one of the site’s most popular recipes, which it deserves – I’ve actually had a friend tell me she dreamed about these rolls! We made a video showing you all the steps, too, so there are a couple of ways to learn how to make these soft dinner rolls, even if you’ve never made bread before. And you’ll want to – they really are amazing!
My family loves, loves this whole wheat dinner rolls recipe (well, they all tell me that 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 finally made me believe that “soft” and “whole wheat” could actually coexist in a bread.
Can you really have fluffy and soft dinner rolls that are 100% whole wheat?
MY LATEST VIDEOSActually, after tasting these rolls, many people have told me they don’t believe they are 100% whole wheat (and just plain old regular whole wheat at that). They think I’ve added at least some all-purpose flour.
But it’s all true. These soft and fluffy dinner rolls are made with only whole wheat (I’ve also made them with all spelt flour, too, with good results). It’s the eggs, 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? Follow along and I’ll show you all the steps, including what the dough should look like so you can see that it’s all true.
Be like the thousands of other people who’ve made these rolls and been the star of the party!
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How to Make Soft 100% Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls
Note: this is a picture tutorial – for full printed recipe, click the arrow at the top or bottom of the page. Some links in this article are affiliate links and if you click on them I will receive a small commission at no cost to you.
1. The first step is to dissolve the yeast in a 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.
2. Add softened butter (no substitutes, please- now is not the time!) into the bowl of a stand mixer, add the honey and cream them together with the paddle attachment.
3. Add the eggs and beat, scraping the butter from the sides. Pour in your warmed buttermilk (or milk) and the yeast mixture.
Note: It will not be smooth, as this picture above shows- it’s OK to see lumps of butter floating around.
4. Mix in 4-1/2 cups of 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.
This is the whole wheat flour I like, and this is a lighter whole wheat flour that will make your rolls even fluffier.
5. Change to the dough hook and knead for only a couple of minutes– we’re just trying to lose the extreme stickiness here, not really to develop gluten. Add a couple more tablespoons of flour, if needed.
Tip: if you keep kneading, the flour will absorb and the dough will stick to the bowl again. You should need just a minute or two, added the bit of flour and scraping the sides.
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. In the photo above, the dough is still sticking to the bowl (good), but not to my finger, so it’s ready to rise.
6. Leave it in the mixing bowl, cover it with a towel and let sit at room temperature for an hour.
This is where the video may really help explain better if you’re wondering what the dough should be like (the #1 problem people have is adding too much flour and coming out with dense, heavy rolls).
This is the dough after the first rise. As you can see, it has risen some, but is not really “doubled.” It’s OK, they will rise more in the pan.
7. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead with hands a few times, then cover it with a towel and let rest for 3 minutes. TIP: I like to use a clean tea towel for easy clean-up, plus it helps use less flour.
8. While the dough is resting, pull out a 13×9-inch pan and butter it generously on the bottom and sides.
9. Cut the dough into 24 even (or as close as you can get) pieces. 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.
10. Shape the dough pieces. 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.
Then turn the dough ball over and pinch the ends in together.
11. 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 everyone loves (the center ones are my favorites…).
12. Cover the pan (I shake off the towel I used to shape them, then cover with that), and let rise for another hour. TIP: 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.
13. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. I rotate them after 10 minutes for even browning.
14. 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 whole wheat dinner rolls recipe!
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I made these and they came out terrible. I don’t know what I did wrong. I don’t have a stand mixer, so I mixed it by hand. Also the dough didn’t really rise too much. They came out extremely dense and heavy – they were not edible at all. I had to throw them out. I was so excited about this recipe- do you have any idea where I went wrong? Thanks so much.
Oh, so sorry! I’ve never made them by hand, Michelle, but I suspect you added too much flour. Whenever the rolls are described dense and heavy, that’s been the cause. It should be a pretty wet dough.
Hi Jami! Will all 24 rolls fit in a 13 x 9 pan? Just want to clarify before trying to make these. Thanks!!
Julie
Yes, just like pictured. 🙂
I can’t wait to try these recipes! Sometimes I’m in the mood for hearty, heavy bread but sometimes I just want what my nieces used to call “Bunny Bread”.
I love this recipe! I don’t have a stand mixer, so knowing the dough would be a little wetter I wasn’t sure how it would turn out, but I had success mixing with a spoon first and then when the dough had come together, but was still too sticky, I mixed vigorously with a butter knife for a few minutes, stuck right in the middle of the dough ball/mound. I did add roughly 2 TBS whole wheat flour to help it firm up, but no more than that. I also had success halving the recipe and using two eggs. I arranged the rolls in a glass pie plate. Wish I took a pic, but they turned out great and my husband loved them! Thank you so much for this recipe! I love baking breads for him (I don’t eat wheat), but we both prefer the healthier option of whole wheat.
★★★★★
That’s great, Ruth – I’m so glad it worked with your adaptations and no mixer! And to enjoy making bread, but not eat it? That’s amazing. 🙂
Can you make this without a stand mixer? Or will they turn out wrong?
Well, it’s a wet dough, which is crucial to them coming out soft, so would be really tricking to do by hand without adding too much flour. I’d not try to knead the little bit by hand – I’d use a wooden spoon for a bit and just work to get the dough to the stage you see in the photos. If you can keep from adding too much flour, they should turn out just fine.
Oh and I forgot to say also I didn’t have honey, so I used maple syrup, the real stuff….
★★★★
So, I was just curious as to why you’ve stated that they can’t be halved? I made them that way before I actually went through the video and then panicked, as I’m not very confident in baking. But I gotta tell you they came out beautifully. I mean light and fluffy and hmm hmm good….
Glad to hear it, Chris! I state that because of the 3 eggs – I always find it awkward to try and do 1.5 eggs. That and the fact that they freeze so well. Others like you have told me they have made half batches with success, though.
These were really good! The video and instructions were perfect. I bake bread & rolls quite a bit, and with some of the non-standard recipes, you never know exactly how the dough should “feel”… your comments really helped to get the feel of the proper dough consistency. It is such a soft dough for 100% whole wheat. I may try adding just a bit more flour next time, they were somewhat crumbly. We used them for turkey/mushroom sliders and they went so nicely with the slider meat.
★★★★
Glad to read this, Terry!
BY FAR THE BEST ROLLS I HAVE EVER EATIN!!!! EVER!! White or whole wheat! I love these because not only are they addictively delicious, but they are also full of wholesome goodness. Whole wheat flour, eggs, honey, it doesn’t get much better than that. I actually did some substituting and did some almond flour to try to make it a little more low carb. AMAZING!! AMAZING!! My mom, who is an excellent cook even said they are incredible. Thanks for sharing with us!💕
★★★★★
Yeah! So glad you love these, too, Char. I’ll have to try adding almond flour, too, that sounds like something to try!
Hi — Have you ever tried letting the initial dough rise overnight like a no-knead variety? I work during the weekdays & time is always a limitation. However, the promise of these 100% wheat rolls and your beautiful photos makes me want to try. Thanks…
I haven’t, Joe, but I’d think you could put the dough into the fridge for overnight before shaping and baking. The texture might be affected (it was when I tried it with my cinnamon rolls), but it might be worth it to be able to have the rolls within your time frame. 🙂
We have a honey allergy in our house… any substitutes for the honey I could use?
Yes, you can use sugar Dana.
Thank you so much for this amazing recipe, I am going to make it next week and can’t wait.
★★★★★
Hi Jami~I have been making rolls with just regular white flour, yeast, water, salt, brown/white sugar for many years and am excited to try a whole wheat recipe with honey instead of sugar. Do you think using soy milk would be okay? Thanks~Jennette
I don’t really know – have you used in in your white rolls? Milk acts as a dough softener, creating a better texture than just water – I’m not sure soy would do that. However if you can’t have milk, it’s worth experimenting with. You can try just plain water, too.
I have to say mine turned out terrible! I have no idea what i did wrong. I followed every step. But ewhennI let tried to get the dough into a square it was sticking so much I couldnt get it off the counter, and I pit some flour on the counter so it doesnt stick. It was sticking to the knife, to my hands, to the bowl, everywhere. When I baked them later, they were not fluffy. 🙁 I heard that when baking the measures should always be in weight not volume. I was really sad I messed them up…
Did you have a chance to watch the video, too? There are a couple things that could’ve happened: 1) if you kneaded the dough longer than just a few minutes, it will absorb the flour and become really sticky again. It’ important to knead only a minute or two while adding tablespoons of flour just until the sides aren’t sticking (the bottom will be sticky still). You should be able to touch the dough with your finger and it not stick but feel tacky. 2) It’s okay to flour your surface and keep flouring your hands and knife. Using a towel to roll them out on rather than a counter goes a long way to helping them not stick. I have to keep flouring my hands while shaping them. Hope these tips work for you!
Hi! Can this recipe be used to make loaves?
I think some commenters have said they have, but I haven’t. I have a good bread recipe I use that’s not as rich: 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread.
Thanks, Jami. I have tried both your recipes – the dinner rolls and the sandwich bread. I preferred the richness of the rolls. Guess I’ll experiment using the same recipe for a loaf!
I used this recipe and followed it exactly as written. The results were exactly as described. I made two batches and shared them among my own family, as well as those of my mother and both of my sisters for our Thanksgiving dinners. I have been trying to make soft 100% whole wheat rolls for many years with little success. This year I used a stand mixer and your recipe. The results were perfectly soft and tasty homemade 100% whole wheat rolls. They were a Thanksgiving day dinner hit throughout my family. I sincerely thank you Mrs. Boys for you recipe and the video. It is simple and easy if followed as described. Happy holidays to you and your family.
SO happy to read this, Wallace! I’m so glad they helped make your holiday nice. 🙂