Easy To Make No-Fail Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls
This is my easy-to-make no-fail whole wheat dinner rolls recipe. If you have freshly ground wheat and fresh ingredients these will be fluffy and so soft, I promise. This is my all-time favorite whole-wheat bread recipe, which also makes the best whole-wheat dinner rolls. Here’s the deal, if you start with fresh ingredients anyone can make the most delicious dinner rolls or bread. You can save money on your food budget at the same time. I grew up with my mother making bread. I absolutely love the smell of baking bread coming from the kitchen.
Easy To Make No-Fail Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls
There is just something about the feel of bread dough in your hands that is so therapeutic to me. You need to be aware that the ground wheat in your local grocery stores is not the best choice for whole wheat flour. It may have been sitting on those shelves for months. It is not fresh. Check with neighbors to see if they will grind your wheat if you don’t happen to have a wheat grinder available. I’m very fussy where I buy my whole wheat. I only buy it from Lehi Mills in Lehi, Utah. Costco sells it sometimes, at least out West.
When my girls were little they would love to have a chunk of dough to play and mold their own loaf. My grandkids and “adopted” neighbor grandkids have all loved playing with real bread dough. Well, I did a post showing how to make my no-fail white dinner rolls and I received many emails asking for a whole wheat recipe dinner roll. I wrote a similar post a few years ago, but I updated it today.
Here they are ready to bake. Today I used the recipe below and made 5-one pound loaves and one cake pan with 12 dinner rolls. I make them with about 2 to 2-1/2 inches in diameter balls. I tuck the edges underneath and space them about one inch apart in the greased 9-inch by 13-inch cake pan. These are the one-pound bread loaves I prefer: Fat Daddio’S 2-Piece Bread Pan Set
No-Fail Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls
Here is my no-fail whole wheat dinner roll recipe. Please remember if you use fresh ingredients anyone can make bread. You really can, and you will save money at the same time! This is the pan I use: All-Clad 00830 Stainless-Steel Lasagna Pan with 2 Oven Mitts/ Cookware, Silver, and the dough cutter: OXO Good Grips Multi-purpose Stainless Steel Scraper & Chopper I never “pull” or “stretch” my bread dough.
- 6 cups warm water
- 2/3 cups olive oil
- 1 cup honey
- 2 tablespoons dough enhancer NutriMill Dough Enhancer 16oz Bag
- 2 tablespoons wheat gluten L’Equip Vital Wheat Gluten Case of (6) 16 Ounce Bags
- 2 tablespoons dry instant milk
- 2 tablespoons SAF Instant Yeast
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons Real Salt
- 14-16 cups freshly ground hard white wheat flour altitude makes a difference as to how much flour you will need
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Start adding the ingredients in the order shown above with one exception into your mixing bowl…start with 7 cups of flour and slowly add more flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. I use a Bosch Mixer. I grew up making bread without a mixer..it can be done by hand. I grew up letting my bread rise twice, so I still do that. I mix it for 10 minutes in my Bosch. Form dough into balls and fill greased cookie sheets or 9 by 13-inch pans. Cover with greased plastic wrap. Let rise again. Remove the plastic wrap. Bake in a preheated oven @350 degrees. Bake about 15-20 minutes. I brush them with butter on the tops after baking.
Whole Wheat Bread or Dinner Rolls
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/4 cup or so of honey
- 1/2 tablespoon dough enhancer- optional-this makes fluffier rolls or bread
- 1/2 tablespoon wheat gluten- optional-this makes fluffier rolls or bread
- 1/2 tablespoon salt
- 1/2 tablespoon dry instant or powdered milk
- 1/2 tablespoon SAF instant yeast
- 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
- 3-1/2 to 4 cups whole wheat flour
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I literally dump everything in a bowl and start mixing with a bread mixer, bread machine or by hand. Knead for 10 minutes. You grease your pans and mold your loaves to fit your pans. Cover with a clean wet towel or greased plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in size. This recipe will make two-1 pound loaves. Let them rise and bake at 350 degrees for about 27-30 minutes. One pound pans are about 4-inches by 7-inches.
Linda ~
One of my favorite holiday meal traditions growing up was the fruit salad that was ALWAYS on the Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter dinner table. Mom made it using fresh apples, chopped, pineapple chunks (from a can, drained), mandarin oranges (from a can, drained), mini-marshmallows and tons of freshly whipped cream. I cannot recall if walnuts were added but I suppose they were. What makes this a favorite memory for me was draining the pineapple and mandarins into 2 small drinking glasses. Then, my younger sister and I got the juice treat.
Another funny memory of Thanksgiving (and I have a few): My husband and I had gotten married in June 1983. He was of Czechoslovakian descent and, well, they do things different from most people where he was raised (not sure if it was because of his ancestry or not!). So the story starts out when we went to the local Czech hall (sort of like the Odd Fellows, Grange, or other such groups) for a celebration. Well, one of the local farmers brought in a large stock tank, filled it with water and domestic geese. Then rings were sold (I think 3 for $1.00) and as the geese were swimming around, you tossed your rings. If you “rung” the neck of a goose, you won the goose. Hubby bought 3 rings for me and guess what? I won TWO geese. Now, he and I lived in town in a duplex so had no place to put 2 live geese!! Some friends with a small farm took the geese home and fed them until time to get them ready for the Thanksgiving table. For keeping/feeding them, they got to keep one of the fowl. So, even though I was raised on a farm, we didn’t raise geese and I had no idea how to cook a goose. Hubby’s mother told me to just roast it the same as a turkey. Turkey day arrives and hubby and I fired up the stove and put the turkey in along with the goose. They were about the same size. When the turkey was done, I pulled both out and, Linda, that goose looked like charcoal! Lesson learned – MIL did not know how to cook!
Another story: my husband & I were going to his brother’s home for Thanksgiving. My sister-in-law called me and asked what dishes were traditional with me. They didn’t live very close so taking my own dishes to contribute was not feasible. I told her some of the dishes that I had grown up with. One was sweet potatoes. She baked the sweet potatoes but did not candy them – I guess I was not descriptive enough on that one. The bread stuffing – another failure on my part! She had no idea how to make bread stuffing. She basically put the dry bread cubes in a baking dish and periodically took some of the drippings from the turkey and squeezed out onto the bread cubes. Very dry indeed.
Needless to say, I invited them for Thanksgiving dinner every year after that!
Now, the torch has been passed to my daughter and son-in-law. But the difference is that while they host Thanksgiving at their home, we all contribute. I always make the cranberry sauce and a gluten free/dairy free pumpkin dessert. Amazing all the recipes for both on Pintrest.
I hope and pray that you and your family and all readers have a wonderful Thanksgiving. And thank you for your wonderful posts.
Leanne
Hi Leanne, oh my gosh, I LOVE LOVE LOVE this comment! First, you bought 3 rings and tossed two to win two geese! I had the giggles right then, I was trying to figure out in my mind how to drive with them, let alone prepare them for cooking. I have never killed an animal but I have skinned a deer. That’s another story, the last one ever. Back to your story, luckily you had someone to raise the geese, that was a win-win for both of you. I could not stop laughing when you said it looked like charcoal!! This is truly a very good story that must be passed down from generation to generation. The dressing, oh my gosh, it had to have been very dry and bland without celery, onions, and seasonings. Life is good when we can laugh and learn a new skill for the following year! Happy holidays, Linda
Linda:
I love to make wheat bread/rolls with some rye and Buckwheat and rye flour along with my Wheat flour. My husband loves that when I do it.
Hi Jackie, thank you for the 5 stars, my sweet friend! That sounds so good. I have never used buckwheat, I need to expand my bread skills! Linda
Hi Linda, Have you a smaller recipe for these? There are only 2 of us and 100 rolls are way too many, for us. Happy Holidays Linda
Hi MaryAnn, I wonder if this would help. I added my two loaf recipe which means about 25 rolls but you could make a loaf of bread and one pan of 12 rolls. Happy Holidays, my sweet friend, Linda https://www.foodstoragemoms.com/easy-make-no-fail-whole-wheat-dinner-rolls/
They freeze very well.
Hi Linda, thank you the smaller recipe looks much more manageable. Can another sweetener be substituted for the honey. Honey is now much more expensive than pure maple syrup in New England, and that Maple Syrup price is only on Imported Maple Syrup from Canada. With climate change, less and less maple syrup can be made in the US, as the season is getting shorter every year, much less sap can be collected from the trees.so what about grain sugars. Can beet sugar be used? Just wondering.
Hi MaryAnn, thank you for the 5 stars, my sweet friend. Yes, I would try using other sweeteners, it’s easy to switch out sweeteners. Linda