Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls
Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls would be a splendidly soft and fluffy addition to your dinner menu! They’re soft, tender, and delicious.
This Whole Wheat Bread Recipe is made with primarily whole wheat flour, but adding a cup of all-purpose flour helps keep them light and fluffy!
Why You’ll Love these Homemade Dinner Rolls
- They’re soft and fluffy.
- Made partially with whole wheat flour, there’s more fiber and nutritional value than in ordinary white dinner rolls.
- There’s nothing better than the aroma of yeast bread baking in the oven. Except for eating a warm roll with a generous pat of butter.
Tips for Making Whole Wheat Rolls
At Chez Skinny Chick, I’m not allowed to shake up the side dishes on our Thanksgiving menu. Spinach souffle, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, and overnight fruit salad are just a given. My family is stubborn like that. But when I saw these whole wheat rolls on Deb’s blog, I knew they would be the perfect addition to our holiday table.
- Make sure your yeast is active. When it’s softening in the warm sugar water, it should start to bubble. If it does not, try again with fresh yeast.
- Adding some all-purpose flour to the whole wheat flour helps to ensure the rolls are not too dense.
- Adding honey provides sweetness and helps balance the flavor profile.
- Salt is imperative in bread recipes, otherwise, the bread will taste flat and bland.
- Using the dough hook on your stand mixer is a great, painless way to knead bread. Make sure to check that your motor is not getting too warm during the process. If it does, just turn it off and give it a chance to cool before starting again.
Sweetened with honey and leavened with a hefty dose of yeast, these whole wheat yeast buns rose to tender, fluffy perfection. The recipe called for Prairie Gold Whole Wheat Flour, made from a variety of hard white spring wheat. I didn’t realize that till I was already proofing my yeast so just used a combination of standard whole wheat and a bit of all-purpose flour.
That seemed to work well and resulted in some outstanding whole wheat dinner rolls. This whole wheat rolls recipe is ideal for holidays and every other occasion you can imagine. Bill ate them along with his dinner and for breakfast, too.
More Bread Recipes
- Whole Wheat Banana Bread
- Shokupan Bread
- Honey Whole Wheat Rolls
- Brioche Dinner Rolls
- Whole Wheat Country Bread
- Honey Oatmeal Bread
- More Bread Recipes
Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls
Tender, delicious dinner rolls made with whole wheat flour!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons dry active yeast (I prefer Red Star yeast)
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 cup warm water (105-110º)
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
- 1/2 cup 2% milk
- 1/2 cup hot water
- 3 cups whole wheat flour, I used King Arthur brand
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- Butter, optional (I didn't use)
Instructions
- Soften yeast and sugar in 1/2 cup of warm water (105-110º).
- In a bowl of a stand mixer, mix together eggs, oil, honey, salt, milk and 1/2 cup hot water. Add yeast mixture. Stir to combine.
- Attach the dough hook and add flour one cup at a time. Knead dough until well mixed and then let rest for 10-15 minutes.
- Knead the dough again for 10 minutes. The dough will be very soft.
- Place dough in an oiled bowl, loosely cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise until doubled.
- Punch down dough and form it into 24 even-sized dinner rolls. Place rolls in prepared muffin tins, cover and let rise 30 minutes. Bake at 350º for 20-25 minutes.
- When removed from oven, butter the tops of the rolls, if desired. Let rest in tins for 5 minutes and then remove.
Yield: 24 rolls
Total time: 2 hours
Notes
Recipe adapted from Wheat Montana's “Family Farm Favorite”
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
24Serving Size:
1 rollAmount Per Serving: Calories: 148Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 17mgSodium: 146mgCarbohydrates: 21gFiber: 2gSugar: 6gProtein: 4g
46 Comments on “Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls”
These rolls are the perfect addition to dinner. The flavor is wonderful, the texture is perfect and the smell of them baking is the icing on the cake!
These look amazing and I love that they are whole wheat!
Was wondering about the texture of the dough. Mine was more like a batter yeast dough. Had to spoon it into the muffin tins. Dough was way too soft to form in balls. I even added a tad more all purpose flour when kneading. Is the dough supposed to be more of a batter dough? The are baking right now – I hope they turn out!!
Hi, Anita,
No, I was able to form my dough into rolls. Did you use a full 4 cups of flour? Here is the origin of this recipe and she and I both had success with our rolls:
It’s been quite a while since I baked up a batch, but my fingers are crossed that yours will be OK!
Delicious recipe, thanks! I made these for Thanksgiving they turned out great. I linked to your recipe in my thanksgiving roundup. https://yummyhealthyblog.wordpress.com/2015/11/25/healthy-thanksgiving-menu/
Thanks so much, Stephanie! I’m delighted you enjoyed these and thanks, also, for sharing the link.
Are you sure the measurements are correct? The dough was almost liquid and more than just soft. I could barely rolls these into balls even with well greased hands. I had to add additional flour and at that it was still not the consistency I am used to working with. They ultimately taste good, but were too difficult to handle.
Yes, both Deb and I made this recipe exactly as posted and I didn’t have any trouble with my dough. It was soft, but workable. I’m glad they tasted good, but sorry you had difficulty with the dough—that can be frustrating. Thanks for your inquiry.
As usual, gorgeous photos and a wonderful choice of recipes! I make a lot of yeast rolls here and I know I’ll be trying this one.
mmmmmm honey wheat-these are SO perfect!!! love that melty butter….mmmm hmmmmmm
These could be the rolls to move me out of my AP flour rut – they sound deliciously simple and tasty. Congrats on a successful launch of #BloggerCLUE, y’all rocked this first event.
Your rolls do look perfect for an elegant Thanksgiving or anytime dinner! Love the wholesome touch of wheat flour and honey =)
I’m a sucker for a good roll for any meal and these look AMAZING!! great job with Debra’s recipe, Liz! 🙂 Thanks for putting this group together, its a blast!
What a fun group to be a part of, Liz! These whole wheat rolls look perfect – look at that gorgeous crust and the fluffy bread inside. I’m a carboholic so I’d probably hog the entire batch of rolls.
Beautiful dinner rolls, Liz! These are a must for Thanksgiving!
Nothing beats the homemade bread! These dinner rolls look wonderful!
Lizzy,
I love, love whole wheat breads. I can’t wait to try these.
Annamaria
Is there anything better than home baked bread! Your rolls look gorgeous. I think the December theme is great – all the recipes will be full of nostalgia. It made me think of my grandmother’s very special meringues xx
I never pass up a good dinner roll, or a good community. And this post brings both!! Thanks so much for organizing the CLUE group and for including me. And… thanks for these rolls!! I know I can transform these into a dairy-free version with ease. Love!
I am ready to sink my teeth into one of these! And what a fun CLUE concept. Can’t wait to check it all out!
What a fabulous society and group to be part of… and these dinner rolls are fab too!
This is a wonderful series! I’d shake up my Thanksgiving table any day for these–I CANNOT get enough of rolls (especially nutty warm wheat ones!) at dinnertime. This is a mouthwatering carby share, Liz!I love it!
Bookmarked! Always fun to try a new roll recipe and I love that these are whole wheat:@)
It’s a good idea for Christmas table ! Bill is a gourmand ! He eat for dinner and breakfas! He is so Lucky ! Your blogger club sounds so fun !
What great looking dinner rolls, I understand why they didn’t last long!
Love Debra’s blog too, she is part of Food n Flix. Fun new group, must look into it, and the rolls look, great idea on how to bake them!
yes, a variety of dinner rolls are a MUST at our thanksgiving table!! love these, Liz! and the Blogger “CLUE” Society (AKA Cook-Learn-Undertake-Eat) sounds so fun!! love this!
Beautiful whole wheat rolls, Liz, and I love that you baked them in a muffin tin. You know how I do love my muffin tin. Thank you so much for including me in the Society!
Great food styling on the butter! And great looking rolls — such a nice recipe. Thanksgiving is tough, isn’t it? Most people are so set in their ways — have to have the same dishes prepared the same way. So I always do those, then just sneak in some new ones every year! Of course, then those become a “necessary” part of the traditional dinner, so the menu keeps expanding. 🙂
CLUE Society is so much fun! Thank you for including me in it 🙂
These homemade dinner rolls sound perfect for the Thanksgiving Table – my grandma used to make the best dinner rolls when she was alive and I wish I had her recipe. Maybe if I get my baking act together I’ll give these a try for Turkey Day.
I’m still trying to catch up on blog reading – hope to get some time this week to catch up with all the great things I’ve been seeing out of your kitchen the past two weeks.
Liz – so great to be part of a cooking club again with you! You always make the best recipes and this one is no exception! I have yet to make homemade bread and this might just have to make it onto the table this holiday season! Beautiful photos! Looking forward to next month’s reveal already – so much fun!!!
Thanks for the kind words, Liz. I am so glad you tried these. Thanksgiving just isn’t the same without homemade rolls. (However, The Hubs loves those “brown ‘n serve” ones—isn’t that hilarious?) Love this new group and am certainly looking forward to the “grandma” theme next month. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving with you and yours!
I can totally see why you chose these – they look perfect!
Wow Liz! These rolls look perfect for the Thanksgiving table! Nothing like some warm delicious home made rolls to make your guests feel at home!
Warm rolls with butter is always the best, these rolls look delicious!
What a great group to be in. These whole wheat rolls look fantastic and ideal for the holidays.
These look so tasty! I am still working up the nerve to make homemade rolls for Thanksgiving but these from Eliot’s Eats may just be the ones! So glad she recommended me for an invitation – because I love it!
Your dinner rolls look perfect! These might be added to the must haves list by your family! The “CLUE” society sounds like such fun.
I’m such a terrible bread maker, but your beautiful photos make we want to reach in and grab a roll and have inspired me to try and make these. Thanks for rounding us all up for this new event, which I’m very glad to be a part of.
Warm rolls sound SO good right now. These look perfect for Thanksgiving!
What a fun group to be a part of. And these rolls look fabulous!
I guess I’m lucky. As long as there are the basics; turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, I can add whatever else I want. The vegetable dishes are wide open for experimenting with. The bread is too and I think my family would be like yours; they’d inhale Deb’s rolls.
Look delicious Lizzy I love the idea of a whole wheat dinner rolls:)
These rolls look wholesome and pleasantly delicious. I love a good yeast roll but I try to stay away because well, I have enough padding already. IF I were going to make rolls, I would make these. 🙂
Hi Liz!! So glad to be apart of the CLUE society. I did not even know that’s what clue stood for. LOL! Bread and rolls are recipes I have not tried so much on my blog… but I’m getting more comfortable to use yeast after seeing these beautiful rolls. I think they would make any meal (especially Thanksgiving) wonderful. 🙂 Now off to check out the rest of the posts from the group. 🙂
Okay… I had to come back and sheepishly say that I”m a goofball!! I see now that the meaning of C.L.U.E. is right in the logo… Duh!!!! I don’t think I did a good job paying attention in class. yikes!!
PS.. I’ve had so much fun going and checking everyone’s post so far… you did a fabulous job organizing this Liz!! 🙂