Easy, No-Knead Dinner Rolls

Name: Easy, No-Knead Dinner Rolls
Prep time: 180 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 210 min
Yield: 12
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 4 cup All-Purpose Flour (4 cups (512 g) unbleached all-purpose flour); 2 tsp Kosher Salt (2 teaspoons (10 g) kosher salt); 2 tsp Granulated Sugar (2 teaspoons (8 g) sugar); 2 tsp Instant Yeast (2 teaspoons (8 g) instant yeast or active dry yeast, see notes above); 1 tbsp Thyme (1 to 2 tablespoons minced fresh thyme leaves or other herbs (a mix of rosemary, sage, and thyme is nice) — up to 2); 2 cup Water (2 cups (454 g) lukewarm water, see notes above); 2 tbsp Unsalted Butter (room temperature butter, about 2 tablespoons, plus more for brushing, if you wish, see notes above) — optional

A simple, no-knead dinner roll recipe using instant or active dry yeast, flour, and fresh herbs, baked in a muffin tin for a soft, pull-apart bread.

210 minAmerican

Servings12

Add to grocery list

Plan it in the app to put it on your week.

Vegetarian
Pescatarian
Halal

Steps

1If you are using instant yeast: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, instant yeast, and fresh thyme leaves. Add the water. Mix until the flour is absorbed. Cover with plastic wrap or a tea towel or cloth bowl cover. Place in a warm spot to rise (see notes above) for 1.5 to 2 hours.
2If you are using active dry yeast: In a small mixing bowl, dissolve the sugar into the water. Sprinkle the yeast over top. There is no need to stir it up. Let it stand for about 10 to 15 minutes or until the mixture is foamy and/or bubbling just a bit — this step will ensure that the yeast is active. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and thyme. When the yeast-water-sugar mixture is foamy, stir it up, and add it to the flour bowl. Mix until the flour is absorbed. Cover with plastic wrap or a tea towel or cloth bowl cover. (At this point, you can cover the bowl and place it in the fridge for 1 to 3 days.)
3Place in a warm spot to rise (see notes above) for 1.5 to 2 hours. Meanwhile, generously butter a 12-cup muffin pan, plus a few ramekins (2 to 4) if you wish… recently, for simplicity, I have just been baking 12 large dinner rolls in my muffin tin and not bothering with the ramekins.
4Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Using two forks, punch down your dough, by pulling it from the sides — see video for guidance — and to the center. You want to loosen the dough entirely from the sides of the bowl. Take your two forks and divide the dough roughly into 6 portions. Then, using the two forks, scoop up half of each of these portions and plop each into a buttered muffin cup. Repeat with remaining dough. This won’t be pretty, but it doesn’t matter. Try your best to divide the dough equally, and if you have extra dough, bake it off in the buttered ramekins. Let the dough rise for about 17 to 20 minutes or until it has risen to just above the top of the muffin cups.
5Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 375º and make for 10 to 15 minutes longer. Remove from the oven and turn the rolls onto a cooling rack or directly into a bread basket. Pass the butter. (Note: If you wish to butter the tops of the rolls, do so in the muffin tin or on the cooling rack. A sprinkling of sea salt over top is a nice touch.)