These yeast rolls are an adaptation of my grandmother’s yeast bread recipe. Grandma’s traditional cake yeast was changed with dried cake yeast because it is more readily available, and I have upped the sugar to make a somewhat sweeter roll than she used to. They taste great when paired with Danish Lurpak® butter, which has a slight tanginess similar to Grandma’s. Rolls can be prepared the night before and warmed at 300 degrees F for approximately ten minutes, foil-wrapped.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 30 mins |
| Servings: | 24 |
| Yield: | 24 rolls |
Ingredients
- ¾ cup white sugar, divided
- 1 ¾ cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
- 2 ½ (.25 ounce) envelopes active dry yeast
- 6 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour (such as King Arthur®), or as needed
- 2 teaspoons salt
- ¼ cup lard, melted
Instructions
- Dissolve 1 tablespoon of sugar into the water in a small bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over the water; let stand 5 minutes until the yeast softens and begins to form a creamy foam. Meanwhile, whisk the flour, the remaining sugar, and salt together in a bowl. Once the yeast has foamed, stir the melted lard into the yeast, then stir the yeast mixture into the flour until a sticky dough forms.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly-floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. You may need to add additional flour to keep the dough from sticking. Once elastic, cover the dough with the mixing bowl, and allow to rest for 15 minutes. Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish with lard.
- Cut the dough into three equal sections, then cut each section into 8 pieces. Form into balls and place into the prepared baking dish in 6 rows of 4. Cover with a light cloth and let rise in a warm place (80 to 95 degrees F (27 to 35 degrees C)) until doubled in volume, about 45 minutes.
- Preheat an oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
- Bake in the preheated oven until the tops of the rolls are golden brown and the bottoms sound hollow when tapped, about 1 hour. Allow to cool at least 10 minutes before eating.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 169 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 32 g |
| Cholesterol | 2 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Saturated Fat | 1 g |
| Sodium | 195 mg |
| Sugars | 6 g |
| Fat | 3 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
They turned out great! I proofed the rolls in my microwave, heated up an empty microwave for 30 sec twice in about 15 min intervals. I was looking for a roll for my white castle recipe and I didn’t want too sweet of a roll so I only added 2 tablespoons of sugar for 10 rolls. I do recommend adding 1/4 teaspoon of salt for a more savory roll.
I have been wanting to learn to make yeast rolls for years….I’ve tried many many recipes on here but they always come out heavy. Not the light I want. It would be amazing if someone done a video instead. I’m a self taught cook and pretty good at it but yeast rolls are the devil to me haha
Why did you list 6 1/2 c of flour! I followed this receipt to the T and the dough is dry and crumbled.
Delicious. I mixed in the 6.5 cups flour right at the start. Mixing them seemed dry but I just continually kneaded the dry bits into the dough and they ended up perfect. Dough wasn’t too sticky or dry. I added 1tsp garlic Pwdr, one tsp basil, and one tsp rosemary, ground up in my mortar. Added to the flour mixture. They were awesome. As previously suggested by another reviewer, I divided the buns onto two greased cookie sheets. The buns came out nice and big, great for sandwiches.
Not as good as grandmas but pretty darn close
I’d never attempted rolls before but my sister who always handles the rolls was really tired from a busy day at work. These were for Easter dinner and while they were in now way as pretty as Dotty’s the taste was there for sure. The family raved about them. I will definitely make these again. I used my new Kitchenaid 600 pro and kneaded with the dough hook for 8 minutes. Love these.
My husband really loved them. I will make them again.
Good
I made no changes to the recipe and was severely disappointed. The recipe calls for way too much flour. I even added extra liquid to try and save it, but it was so stiff and dense.
These are easy & delicious!!!
I submitted this recipe, and after reading some of the less positive reviews, I read the directions and I see why, I NEVER add the entire amount of flour in the beginning. I start off with about 4 1/2 ( FOUR AND ONE HALF) to 5 (FIVE) cups of flour and add as needed, six and a half cups is the MAXIMUM. Also, I have noticed cooking times, in my old oven these rolls took about one hour to cook, in my new oven the cook time is about 45 minutes. My suggestion is to start checking for doneness at about 45 minutes by looking for golden top color and thumping top of rolls, there should be a hollow sound. If you up are still unsure if they are done, towards the center of the pan pick two rolls and pull apart to look inside to be sure bread is cooked through. Another tip is if you don’t have lard substitute bacon drippings, that works just as well, my daughter actually prefers them that way. When made correctly these rolls are light, fluffy and tender. I don’t know if I mistakenly submitted this recipe that way or if it was changed by the editors as other submitters have suggested, either way it’s wrong. It is so frustrating to put so much money and time into a recipe only to have it fail, I really hope these tips help to ensure you get the same success as I do when making these soft, flavorful rolls.
the dough was way too stiff
A sticky dough does not form! I ended up with a dry heap of flour. Very disappointed, I didn’t read reviews first, bummed out in Bethlehem!
5 Cups flour 2 cups water 3 pack yeast. Let rise twice as long
very easy and made me look good. loved them.
***USE LESS FLOUR*** I only used about 5 cups of flour and 1/2 cup for kneading.
I used 5 cups of floor (make sure its fresh) and made them into 36 smaller balls–Im a guy and do a lot of parties and these always are a hit…also try some of the ambrosia recipes here they are good too.
I knew when I seen “lard” in the recipe it was a old recipe, so it had to be good. My mom has been making these rolls as long as I can remember. We have them every year at Thanksgiving. Best rolls on the planet.
These rolls are amazing sweet, tender, and easy to make. Would make this again and again.
I’ve never made yeast rolls before, so I read all of the reviews and followed their advice and my rolls came out DELICIOUS! They created the best aroma in my kitchen… I actually made them with 2 cups whole wheat flour and 3 1/2 cups white (which may be why they came out a little more dense than I was hoping, but many other reviewers said this was just a dense recipe…either way they made great dinner rolls). If you only use 5 1/2 cups of flour (which I recommend starting out with) you will have to add a little extra as you’re kneading because it will be a little sticky for sure. Turned out great and will be saving this recipe! Thanks Dotty and thank you reviewers for your insights! Side note: I had a little extra dough than I needed so decided to try out the dough as cinnamon crescents, and they were very delicious!
I am not sure if I messed the recipe up or what. First off, I overcooked them because it said to bake for about an hour. I should have checked at the half hour mark. That probably would have been long enough. They were overdone – my fault for not checking but I think if it takes about a half hour to bake, it shouldn’t say an hour on the recipe. Even if they hadn’t been overdone I don’t think I would have liked them. They were too dense and tasted more like biscuits to me. I was really disappointed. This was my first attempt at making yeast roll so maybe I need more practice but I am going to try another recipe.