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Dinner rolls are essential at holiday parties! Whether you are serving as a side with your Thanksgiving turkey or plating with a roast for a holiday dinner, your guests won’t be disappointed with these delicious salted maple dinner rolls. They’re slightly salty and slightly sweet, making them a perfect pairing with any entree and help to tie a dinner together.
Each soft roll is made of a sweet yeast dough, baked to golden brown and brushed with homemade maple butter and sprinkled with flakey sea salt. The unexpected blend salty and sweet in the dinner rolls makes these rolls a statement side.
This recipe is super simple and not very technical. So if you have some extra time on your hands to make rolls from scratch the day-of. Or you can also make ahead and freeze for less stress day-of!
Looking for more dinner sides? Check out these!
Bruschetta and Garlic Parmesan Crostini
Pretzel Twists with Spicy Beer Cheese Dip
Sautéed Green Beans with Caramelized Shallots and Crispy Prosciutto
Baked Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese
Salt & Vinegar Hasselback Potato Bites
Salted Maple Dinner Rolls
Recipe Snapshot
- Make yeast roll dough.
- Knead dough.
- Let dough rise for 1 hour until doubled in size.
- Roll into dough balls and let them rise for 30 more minutes.
- Bake in the oven.
- Brush with maple butter and sea salt.
Pre-packaged rolls vs. Homemade rolls
To be honest, we were a little reluctant to make these dinner rolls. The main reason being is that the convenience of picking up a package of pre-made rolls at the grocery store always seemed to trump making them at home. And a roll recipe seemed too basic. UNTIL we made the homemade salted maple dinner roll. Nothing beats a fresh warm yeast dinner roll. Each of these salted maple dinner rolls are soft and doughy brushed with maple butter and sprinkled with flakey sea salt. You may want to make a double batch to make sure there’s enough for seconds!
How to make salted dinner rolls…
These rolls are yeast rolls, which means you have to give the dough some time to activate and rise. So after you make the yeast dough, there are two rise times. One
Tips for making perfect rolls..
- Don’t overheat the milk and yeast mixture. If the milk is too hot, it can kill the yeast, so shoot for lukewarm temperature, about 105-115ºF.
- Do not knead the dough too much. We recommend kneading about 5 minutes. It can result in a tough roll. You can test if your roll is done by doing the following tests.
Use one of the following methods to know when to stop kneading the roll dough.
- Poke test: Poke the dough. If it bounces back, you’re done kneading.
- Window pane test: Pull off a small piece of dough and stretch it until it is very thin. Hold it up to the light. If you can see light through the dough before it tears, you are done kneading.
Save time & make rolls ahead and freeze!!
You can either freeze the roll dough unbaked or you can bake ahead and freeze to reheat the day-of. Here’s what we recommend for freezing, thawing and baking frozen dinner rolls.
Freezing and reheating dinner roll dough:
- How to freeze: Shape the dough balls and freeze in a plastic bag.
- The night before serving: thaw on a parchment lined baking sheet in the fridge overnight.
- Day of serving: Preheat oven to 350ºF and bake for 18-20 minutes. Brush with maple butter and sprinkle with sea salt while hot!
Freezing and reheating baked dinner rolls:
- How to freeze: Bake rolls and do not brush with maple butter. Make sure they have cooled completely before storing and freezing. Wrap in foil and freeze in a single plastic bag.
- Night before serving: Take rolls out of freezer and thaw at room temperature overnight.
- Day of serving: Warm for 5-8 minutes in warm oven (300ºF). Brush with maple butter and sprinkle sea salt.
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Salted Maple Dinner Rolls
Description
Soft yeast rolls baked to golden brown and brushed with homemade maple butter and sprinkled with flakey sea salt.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cup flour
- 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp warm milk
- 1 packet instant yeast
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
Maple Butter
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
- Optional: flakey sea salt to top
Instructions
- Make dough. Heat milk in microwave or over stovetop on medium heat until lukewarm (about 105-115ºF). Whisk in yeast and sugar into warm milk and let it sit for 10 minutes.
- Pour yeast mixture into stand mixer with hook attachment. Add in rest of sugar, maple syrup, egg, butter, salt and flour.
- Beat on medium speed for a couple minutes. If dough is too sticky to work with, add 1 tbsp of flour until it reaches a workable dough.
- Remove dough from mixer and place on a lightly floured surface. Kneed dough for about 5 minutes and test doneness.
- Oil a medium bowl and place dough ball at bottom. Cover with towel and place in a warm dry place to rise for 1 hour. It should double in size.
- Punch the dough down and place on an unclouded counter top or cutting board. Gently roll into a log and cut dough with into 10-12 pieces.
- Roll each piece into a tightly rolled balls.
- Grease baking pan and place rolls in. Cover for 30 minutes to rise again and preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes until golden brown on top. Make maple butter. Whisk together butter and maple syrup until creamy.
- Remove from oven and brush with salted maple butter and flakey slat. Option to sprinkle with some flakey seawalls and serve hot.
Notes
Make ahead and save time the day-of serving!
- Freezing dinner roll dough
- Freezing: Shape the rolls and freeze in a plastic bag.
- The night before serving: thaw on a parchment lined baking sheet in the fridge overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350ºF and bake for 18-20 minutes. Brush with maple butter and sprinkle with sea salt while hot!
- Bake and freeze:
- Bake rolls and do not brush with maple butter. Make sure they have cooled completely before storing and freezing. Wrap in foil and freeze in a single plastic bag.
- Night before serving: Take rolls out of freezer and thaw at room temperature overnight.
- Before serving: Warm for 5-8 minutes in warm oven (300ºF). Brush with maple butter and sprinkle sea salt.
