Butterflake dinner rolls are soft dinner rolls made of 5 layers that add a little bit of fancy to your dinner. With Thanksgiving right around the corner, these are a great addition to your holiday meals!

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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Light, flaky pull-apart dinner rolls!
- Perfect for Thanksgiving or Christmas Dinner!
How to Make
- Put the butter cubes, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a mixer.
- Scald the buttermilk over medium-high heat on the stovetop and pour it over the ingredients in the mixing bowl.
- Once the butter is melted and the mixture is just warm to the touch, combine the yeast and water in a small bowl to activate. I like to add a sprinkle of sugar to the yeast to speed up the activation. Once foamy, pour into the mixing bowl.
- Add the egg and 2 cups of the flour.
- With the paddle attachment, mix at a low speed until your ingredients come together. Then mix for 5 minutes at medium speed.
- Add the last cup of flour and mix until no white streaks remain. Remember, this is a batter dough, so it's not going to come together in a ball like a bread dough. Picture 4 shows what my dough looked like at this point.
- Scrape the sides of the bowl down and cover with a dish towel to rise until doubled. This will take a little more than an hour.
- Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle a quarter inch thick. Try to make it a definite rectangle shape the best you can. Spread a light layer of softened butter over the dough (about 1 Tbs. or a little less).
- Using a sharp knife or, my preference, a pizza wheel, cut the rectangle of dough into 1 ยฝ-inch wide strips. They don't have to be exact. You want to get 10-12 strips of dough. You don't want the strips wider than 1 ยฝ inches and no less than an inch wide. You just want each strip to be roughly the same width.
- You can either stack 5 strips of dough and cut them into 2-inch stacks. If you had extra single strips of dough, just cut them into 2-inch pieces and make stacks of 5 pieces....OR
- You can cut each single strip into 2-inch pieces.
- Stack 5 pieces together for each roll.ย If you have less than 5 pieces left at the end, either slip an extra piece in with another roll or just put what's left together.
- Place your stacks of dough in a muffin tin sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
- Let rise until doubled (about 45 minutes)
- Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes.
Recipe FAQs and Expert Tips
I like to set my oven to preheat at 350 for about 30-45 seconds and then turn it back off.ย Just long enough to add some warmth to my oven.ย Then I place my bowl of dough (covered with a dish towel) that needs to rise inside the oven and close the door.ย You can also place a dish of boiling water in the oven with your dough to make it a moist warmth.ย My dough usually rises in about half the time it usually does when I do this.
Yes, put completely cooled rolls in an airtight freezer container or Ziploc freezer bag before placing them in the freezer.ย Thaw on the countertop when you're ready to use
Place your rolls on a baking sheet and cover with tin foil.ย Heat in the oven at 350 for about 5 minutes.
More Homemade Roll Recipes
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Butterflake Dinner Rolls Recipe
Ingredients
- ยผ Cup Butter cut into cubes
- ยผ Cup Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- ยพ Cup Buttermilk
- 1 Tbs. Active Dry Yeast
- ยผ Cup Warm Water
- 1 Egg
- 3 Cups Flour
- 1 Tbs Butter softened
Instructions
- Put the butter cubes, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a mixer.
- Scald the buttermilk over medium-high heat on the stovetop and pour it over the ingredients in the mixing bowl.
- Once the butter is melted and the mixture is just warm to the touch, combine the yeast and water in a small bowl to activate.ย I like to add a sprinkle of sugar to the yeast to speed up the activation. Once foamy, pour into the mixing bowl.
- Add the egg and 2 cups of the flour.
- With the paddle attachment, mix at a low speed until your ingredients come together.ย Then mix for 5 minutes at medium speed.
- Add the last cup of flour and mix until no white streaks remain. Remember this is a batter dough, so it's not going to come together in a ball like bread dough.
- Scrape the sides of the bowl down and cover with a dish towel to rise until doubled.ย This will take a little more than an hour.
- ย Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle a quarter inch thick.ย Try to make it a definite rectangle shape the best you can.ย ย Spread a light layer of softened butter over the dough (about 1 Tbs. or a little less).
- Using a sharp knife or, my preference, a pizza wheel, cut the rectangle of dough into 1 ยฝ-inch wide strips.ย They don't have to be exact.ย You want to get 10-12 strips of dough.ย You don't want the strips wider than 1 ยฝ inches and no less than an inch wide.ย You just want each strip to be roughly the same width.
- You can either stack 5 strips of dough and cut them into 2-inch stacks.ย Place each stack in a greased muffin tin.ย If you had extra single strips of dough- just cut them into 2-inch pieces and make stacks of 5 pieces...OR
- You can cut each single strip into 2-inch pieces.
- Stack 5 pieces together and place them in a muffin tin that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.ย If you have less than 5 pieces left at the end, either slip, an extra piece in with another roll or just put what's left together.
- Let rise until doubled (about 45 minutes)
- Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes.
- Cool slightly before serving.
Allie
Made these for Thanksgiving and they turned out beautifully!
Jeff
Family dinner favorite
Rea Richardson
Do I have to do all these steps and bake the same day? I don't want to serve day old rolls. Can I cover and refrigerate just before the second rise, then take them out the next day for the second rise and bake, just before dinner?
Mindee
I usually bake them same day but I believe you could cover and refrigerate before the second rise. They may complete the second rise in the fridge however, so I wouldn't do them any earlier than the night before you want to bake them.