Brioche Dinner Rolls
These brioche dinner rolls are a happy little cross between plain white rolls and the Hawaiian kind. Softly sweet, ultra fluffy and soft, these dinner rolls are just about perfect. All you need is a swipe of butter, and they’re positively delicious.
Longer knead time
Trust me when I say you should really really use a stand mixer and a dough hook for these brioche dinner rolls. All in, the time it takes to knead the dough with a stand mixer is just shy of 10 minutes. My forearms certainly wouldn’t be able to take that! Especially since you always have to knead things longer when you do it manually.
All the fat from the butter, egg and milk works against gluten development, which means you have to knead rich doughs like this longer than usual to get a good gluten structure. Add in the fact that you can’t add more than a tablespoon or two of extra flour without hindering the final texture, and it gets sticky.
So…it’s really best to use a stand mixer if at all possible.
Shaping the rolls
This is the same method I use to make bagels. It gives these brioche dinner rolls a smooth, tight surface. If you’re more of a visual learner, check out these pictures!
After dividing the dough into 12 equal parts, fold down the ends of each dough piece to the middle of one side and pinch them closed. This creates a somewhat smooth ball with one tacky side. The slight tackiness helps with the next step.
Place the dough ball with the tacky seam side down, and make a “C” shape with your palm so that the inside cup of the “C” faces the dough. Rest your hand on the counter so that your hand just touches the dough. The pinky side of your hand should be against the dough ball and the rest of your hand should angle just slightly away from it.
Applying slight pressure, use your cupped hand to draw the dough ball across the counter in a circular motion, towards your body. The dough should be tacky where you pinched the folds together, which will cause the tension when the ball moves over the counter. The shape and position of your hand helps by holding that underside mostly in place while also pushing the ball. This creates the surface tension.
Egg wash and baking
Brushing a simple egg wash over the tops of these rolls before baking them creates a deeply golden crust that adds a nice flavor. But more than that, it makes them look AMAZING.
Brioche Dinner Rolls
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Total Rise Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours + 40 minutes
- Yield: 12 rolls 1x
- Category: Bread
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
These dinner rolls are super soft and fluffy with a slightly sweet flavor.
Ingredients
For the rolls:
- 1/2 cup milk (any percentage except skim)
- 1 1/4 tsp instant yeast
- 1/4 cup + 1 TB granulated sugar, divided
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 cups + 2 TB all purpose flour
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 6 TB unsalted butter, room temperature and cut into 6 pieces
For the egg wash
- 1 large egg
- 1 TB water
Instructions
- Heat the milk to 105-110 degrees. Cold milk from the fridge should be up to temperature in about 35-40 seconds using full power in the microwave. Make sure to stir the milk after heating and before taking the temperature.
- Add 1 TB of the sugar and all of the yeast to the warm milk and mix well. Cover the mixture with a clean kitchen towel and allow to proof for 5 minutes. The yeast mixture will be frothy.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the frothy yeast/milk mixture, the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar, salt, flour and the beaten eggs. Use a stiff spatula or wooden spoon to mix everything together until it becomes shaggy and chunks of dough begin to form. Be sure to keep scraping the bottom of the bowl to incorporate as much as possible.
- Use the dough hook to knead on medium high speed for 4 minutes. After 4 minutes, the dough should be somewhat smooth and tacky. It will cling to the hook and the bottom of the bowl, but it should still clean the sides.
- Reduce the dough hook speed to medium low and add the butter one piece at a time, making sure that each piece is completely incorporated before adding another one. After all the butter has been added, increase the dough hook speed back up to medium high and knead for an additional 4-5 minutes.
- If the dough stops cleaning the sides of the bowl and becomes too sticky, add another tablespoon of flour. Do not add more than an extra 2 TB of flour.
- After kneading, the dough should be very soft and almost creamy, but it should not stick to your hands. It should slowly slide off of the dough hook and stretch while doing so, but it won’t leave much or any dough behind on the hook.
- Transfer the dough to a greased bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Allow to proof in a warm place until doubled, about an hour.
- Turn the dough out onto a clean, not-floured surface and divide it into 12 equal pieces. Fold all the edges of each piece into the middle, one edge at a time, until a ball has formed. Pinch the seams all together underneath each ball.
- After all the pieces are formed into balls, tighten the surface of each one by using a cupped hand to gently drag the ball across the countertop and create a tight, smooth surface. Pinch the seams together one more time.
- Add the dough balls to a greased 9 x 13 baking dish, cover with a clean kitchen towel, and allow to proof for another hour until puffed, but not quite doubled. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Make the egg wash by beating one large egg together with a tablespoon of water until well blended. Brush each roll with egg wash before baking.
- Bake the rolls for 25 minutes. The tops should be deep golden brown and shiny, and they should sound hollow when tapped. Allow the rolls to cool for about a half hour before serving.
- These dinner rolls will keep at room temperature for 2-3 days when sealed. After that, the quality will really start to decline.
Equipment
Buy Now β Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 roll
- Calories: 198
- Sugar: 4.8 g
- Sodium: 211.6 mg
- Fat: 6.9 g
- Saturated Fat: 3.9 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 28.8 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 4.8 g
- Cholesterol: 46.5 mg
