Brown and Serve Rolls

Brown and serve rolls are the ultimate make-ahead holiday recipe! These soft, fluffy rolls are flavored with garlic and brushed with butter before serving. There’s no way you can eat just one!

It’s no secret that I love everything carbohydrate related. I mean, this site is called My Baking Addiction, for Pete’s sake, so it should come as no surprise that for me, holiday meals are all about the sides.

From homemade cranberry sauce to fresh green bean casserole, if I were to snap a picture of my plate come “game time”, you’d find the tiniest smidge of protein, and plenty of everything else – including at least two fluffy, freshly baked dinner rolls.

Sometimes they’re parker house rolls, sometimes they’re garlic knots, and sometimes they’re these amazing brown and serve rolls.

What are brown and serve rolls?

If you’ve never made brown and serve dinner rolls before, you’re in for a treat.

These homemade yeast rolls are perfectly fluffy and topped with plenty of melted butter when they come out of the oven. But the real magic is that you can make them up to ONE MONTH ahead of time!

When you make the rolls, you par bake them, then let them cool. Bag ’em, tag ’em, and store them in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Then, whenever you are ready to eat them, all you have to do is thaw (if they were frozen) and pop them in the oven to finish browning.

Yeah, they’re that easy.

I’ve added minced garlic and often throw in some fresh rosemary to this dough—after all, who doesn’t love garlic and herbs? But you can absolutely leave one or both of those out if you prefer a more classic dinner roll.

Go ahead and make these rolls right now. You’ll want to have them at Thanksgiving, Christmas dinner, and every Sunday pot roast dinner in between.

How to make brown and serve dinner rolls

If making yeast bread makes you nervous, don’t be. This recipe using instant yeast and only requires 1 rise, so it’s great for bread-baking beginners!

Ingredients you’ll need

To make these brown and serve rolls, you will need:

• 8 to 9 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 envelopes instant yeast (equal to 4 1/2 teaspoons)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 4 teaspoons fine sea salt
• 3 to 4 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary (optional)
• 4 to 5 large minced garlic cloves
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter

One thing to remember about making yeast dough is that the dough may not always require the same amount of flour each time. This is because of factors like humidity, etc, that vary from day to day.

But you should still know how to measure flour correctly so that these rolls can come out as perfect as possible very time!

Any milk will work in this recipe. I have used whole milk and 2% milk with no problems, and expect that you could easily use non-dairy milk (and dairy-free margarine) just fine.

The rosemary and garlic are optional. Leave them out if you prefer a more classic dinner roll (although I always like to include the garlic, personally!).

Making these rolls

Start by adding 3 cups of the flour along with the dry yeast, sugar, salt, rosemary and garlic (if using) to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment.

In a separate bowl or measuring cup, combine the milk, water, and butter. Heat until the mixture is very warm—about 120°F on an instant-read thermometer. I like to do this in my microwave, heating in 30-second intervals.

Don’t worry if the butter does not melt completely.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and beat for 2 minutes on medium speed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. The mixture is going to be very loose.

Add 2 more cups of the flour and beat for another 2 minutes on high speed. With the mixer on low speed, stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 8-10 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Lightly cover the dough with a clean tea towel or piece of plastic wrap and let it rest for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, divide the dough into 4 equal portions. Each of these portions will be enough to make 1 dozen rolls.

Shape each dough portion following the directions under “dinner roll shape options” below.

Cover again and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until almost doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Par bake the rolls at 275°F for 20-25 minutes, or until they just start to change color. Let the rolls cool in the pans for 20 minutes before moving to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Dinner roll shape options

There are some fun options when you’re shaping your brown and serve rolls. You can go with a classic shape or get more creative! All of these are easy to do, but are a great way to impress your guests.

Each of these shapes uses 1 of the 4 divided dough portions from the batch of dough above to make 12 rolls. Since a full recipe makes 48 (4 dozen) brown and serve rolls, you can make each portion into a different shape or make them all the same shape!

Classic Dinner Rolls: Divide dough into 12 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a smooth round ball. Place each one in a greased muffin cup OR place all in a greased 9-inch round cake pan.

Cloverleaf: Grease a standard muffin tin. Divide dough into 36 equal pieces. Place 3 dough pieces into each of the 12 muffin cups.

Bowknots: Roll dough into a 12 x 6-inch rectangle. Cut into 12 (1-inch) strips. Tie in a loose knot and tuck ends under to seal. Place on greased baking sheets about 2 inches apart.

Curlicue Rolls: Roll each piece to a 12 x 9-inch rectangle. Cut into 12 (1-inch) strips. Hold one end of each strip firmly and wind dough to form a coil. Tuck end firmly underneath. Place on greased baking sheets about 2 inches apart.

Storage and reheating instructions

Once the par baked rolls are completely cool, place them in zip-top freezer bags. Refrigerator for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 1 month.

When you’re ready to serve, thaw frozen rolls overnight in the refrigerator or at room temperature for 1 hour.

Place the rolls on ungreased baking sheets and bake at 375°F for 10-13 minutes, or until golden brown.

If desired, brush the tops of the rolls with melted butter right as they come out of the oven.