Soft Homemade Bread Machine Dinner Rolls Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How do you keep bread soft in a bread machine? ›

Pack the bread in a covered nylon bag and put it in the freezer of the refrigerator. Keeping this way can leave bread all month long. Want to save bread for a long time but still soft, should use oil paper or nylon bag, tightly packed inside to have a lump of sugar and then to cool.

Too much flour, or not the right kind, could be to blame. Dough made only from flour with a high or even average amount of protein (like bread flour or all-purpose flour) can become tough from overmixing. Protein gives bread structure in the form of gluten—the more you mix and move the dough, the more gluten you get.

Brush the rolls with butter.

Melt the butter and brush it over the risen dinner rolls. This helps the tops to brown and keeps the crust soft.

Cover the rolls with a slightly damp, clean kitchen towel. Wrap the entire plate in a dry tea towel. Microwave until just warmed through, 30 to 45 seconds. The rolls should not be piping hot, or they will turn tough and chewy as they cool.

How can you keep homemade bread soft and moist? Store bread in an airtight container or plastic bag: This will help trap the bread's natural moisture and prevent it from drying out. Keep bread at room temperature: Storing bread in the refrigerator can cause it to dry out, so it's best to keep it at room temperature.

Too much flour, or not the right kind, could be to blame. Dough made only from flour with a high or even average amount of protein (like bread flour or all-purpose flour) can become tough from overmixing. Protein gives bread structure in the form of gluten—the more you mix and move the dough, the more gluten you get.

If you want it to remain as fresh as possible, then you really have to enclose it in something like a plastic bag to retain its moisture. But the crust will be soft if you do that. For me, I just use bags to keep it fresher and then I will reheat a bun or loaf briefly to crisp the crust up again the next day.

If your dinner rolls aren't fluffy it could be because of one of two reasons. Either, you added too much flour or you possibly used all bread flour. Alternately, not giving your dinner rolls enough time to proof and get puffy before baking could yield dense rolls.

The secret to soft, light rolls, if you're looking for something like a dinner roll, is an enriched dough that contains butter or other dairy, eggs, or both. If you want something more bread-like, you want a high hydration dough that's been properly kneaded and given at least two bulk fermentations before shaping.

What is a soft bread roll called? ›

Finger roll – soft roll about three times longer than it is wide. French roll – generic term for the bread roll. Also a sweeter, softer roll with milk added to the dough. Fritter is a stuffed bread roll.

Simply put, you have to control the temperature of the bread. Allowing ample time for your bread dough to rise and the yeast to form will create the holes in the bread that give it a lighter texture. Letting your dough get puffy and grow before it goes into the oven is critical.

For best moisture retention, slice bread from the center out, rather than from one end. Store airtight with the two cut halves facing each other and pressed together. Wrapping bread to retain moisture keeps it soft, though it robs crusty artisan bread of its crispy crust.

Avoid storing bread on the countertop at room temperature for too long, and wrap the loaf tightly to prevent air from penetrating the surface of the bread and causing it to become hard and dry, particularly on the cut side.

A clean dish towel is one of Hartzheim's favorite options. "Plastic bags help keep the crumb (the interior of the loaf) soft but also make the crust soft. If you will toast the bread, it's fine, but otherwise, it's a mushy, unpleasant crust.," says Hartzheim.

Cause: typical of too much flour (or other dry ingredients) or not enough liquid; less often a result of too little yeast, too little sugar, too much salt, or old ingredients. Here's what you can try doing to improve your loaf: Reduce your flour* or increasing your liquids.