Fluffy Hawaiian Bread Rolls | Easy Sweet Yeast Dinner Rolls

These bread rolls are light, fluffy, and delicious – perfect for Thanksgiving (or all year round!)! Follow this easy dinner rolls recipe for sweet yeast rolls that are just as tasty as store-bought. Great with my Thanksgiving dinner menu.

Butter, gravy, and leftover turkey sandwiches.

What do all of these have in common (besides being on the menu a week after Thanksgiving)?

They’re a perfect accompaniment to soft fluffy dinner rolls!

Please tell me I’m not the only one dreaming about it…the fresh, hot from the oven, pull-apart rolls that melt like butter in your mouth – even when there isn’t any butter on them?

And pie too, but that’s for a different post.

WHY MAKE THIS HOMEMADE BREAD ROLL RECIPE?

I have been baking up a storm lately to bring you a light and fluffy dinner roll recipe that is exactly like the store-bought Hawaiian rolls that many families call a staple for their feast, without all the sugar and preservatives. For the die-hard Thanksgiving dinner traditionalists, that’s an awfully high bar to meet.

There’s the sweetness. The buttery-ness. The softness. The fact that they don’t crumble in your hands.

This homemade bread roll recipe needed to have all of the good things and none of the bad.

And I think I’ve succeeded!

It’s not just me who thinks they’re good either, because Mr. Crumbs ate FOUR rolls for dinner…which pretty much sealed the deal that these were a winner.

In fact, you might want to make a double batch. Actually, make that a triple batch – trust me!

SIMPLE INGREDIENTS FOR HOMEMADE BREAD ROLLS

• Pineapple juice. Pineapple juice replaces water in this recipe to give a natural form of sweetness.
• Cottage cheese. This will melt during the dough rise and baking, and you won’t even notice the cheese in the roll!
• Active dry yeast. To help the bread rolls rise.
• Einkorn wheat flour (or you can use all purpose flour). Einkorn is an ancient form of wheat that contains all the helpful enzymes to help digest the gluten it naturally contains, making it tolerable for many people who are otherwise sensitive or intolerant to modern wheat. Read more about the health benefits of einkorn and why we use it.
• Vital wheat gluten (optional). It adds a bit of extra fluffiness to the rolls. The added gluten doesn’t affect our sensitivities, but you can leave it out if you’re unsure.
• Baking soda. To add extra oomph to the yeast and help these rolls rise as much as possible.
• Salt. To help bring out the yummy flavors and counter the sweetness.
• Honey. Just a couple tablespoons add sweetness along with the pineapple juice.
• Egg, room temperature. Adding an egg to the dinner roll recipe also helps with the fluffy texture.
• Butter, room temperature. A bit of butter in the bread rolls helps them have that warm, buttery flavor on their own, but feel free to slather them in more when they come out of the oven!

Psst…Did you know that many salts contain MICROPLASTICS? It’s a sneaky toxin that may be in your everyday salt, and thus your everyday food (um, gross). I love Ava Jane’s Kitchen because their salt is FREE of microplastics, and it tastes delicious! (PLUS, you can get a free 8oz. bag of sea salt – just pay shipping and handling!)

HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE DINNER ROLLS RECIPE

Step 1. In a small saucepan, combine pineapple juice and cottage cheese. Heat on medium-low just until 110F. This will take about 2-4 minutes. Meanwhile, measure yeast, 1 cup of flour, vital wheat gluten (if using), baking soda, salt, and honey into a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer.

Step 2. When the juice and cheese mixture is at least 105F but no warmer than 115F, add to the flour and yeast mixture and stir well with a spoon to incorporate into a thick paste.

Step 3. Add 1 ½ cups additional flour, egg, and butter (room temperature, not melted butter). Knead by hand or turn the speed of the mixer on low. Allow the dough to come together, then knead for about 10 minutes by hand or 5 minutes with a dough hook in a stand mixer.

Step 4. Add remaining flour if needed, 2 Tablespoons at a time, until the dough is smooth and elastic. You want the dough to mostly pull away from the sides of the bowl, but it will not entirely. It is better for the dough to be slightly sticky than over-floured.

Step 5. Set the bowl in a warm place and allow the dough to rise for about 1 hour. The dough for dinner rolls is ready when you can stick two fingers into the dough up to the second knuckle and the holes remain. It should be about double in size.

BAKING BREAD ROLLS

Step 6. Generously butter and flour a 9×13 baking dish.

Step 7. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and punch down to remove air bubbles. Divide the dough into 2 parts. Divide each part into 6 pieces. Shape each piece into a smooth ball (see shaping tip) and place it in the baking dish.

Step 8. Cover and let rise again, about 1 hour.

Step 9. Preheat oven to 375F. Bake rolls for 12-15 minutes, or until medium golden brown.

Step 10. Buttery dinner rolls are best warm out of the oven, but still very delicious leftover too.

EASY BREAD ROLLS TIPS & TRICKS

• To shape your bread rolls, take each piece of dough and pull the sides down toward the bottom, making a rounded shape. Don’t worry about them being perfectly round – they’ll puff up during the second rise. Just make sure the seams end up on the bottom.
• To make pull-apart dinner rolls: bake the rolls in a 9×13 baking pan as directed.
• To make stand-alone bread rolls: bake them on a greased baking sheet about 2 inches apart from each other. These are better for a sandwich or in a breadbasket. Or bake in a muffin tin to make puffy topped rolls.
• Don’t have pineapple juice? You can also take a can of pineapple, throw the whole thing in a blender, like this high-powered Blendtec, and measure out ¼ cup of pulp/juice together.
• If you’re intimidated by baking with yeast, don’t be! Read this Beginner’s Guide to Using Yeast to learn all about it.
• Einkorn makes for a wet and sticky dough. You’ll likely need to use extra flour when handling the dough and shaping it into rolls.
• If you don’t have Einkorn flour, you can make this with any combination of wheat flour you have on hand. I’ve made this with regular all-purpose, bread flour, whole wheat, a whole wheat and spelt combo, and Einkorn and they’re all seriously delicious. Honestly, you can’t go wrong!

If you want to read more about Einkorn and where you can buy it, see my post HERE.

MAKING BREAD ROLLS AHEAD OF TIME

If you want to make these bread rolls, but don’t have a few hours for the rise time, you can prepare the dinner rolls recipe ahead of time.

To make dinner rolls the day before: Mix up the dough, let it rise the first time, and shape the rolls. Cover the rolls with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight. The next day, take the rolls out of the refrigerator for 1-2 hours before baking, so that they warm and double in size for the second rise. Bake as directed.

To freeze unbaked bread rolls: Mix up the dough, let it rise the first time, and shape the rolls. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet in the freezer overnight, then move the rolls to a resealable freezer bag. When you want to bake the rolls, place them on a baking sheet to thaw and complete the second rise. Depending on the heat of your kitchen, this may take 4-5 hours. Bake as directed once the rolls have risen.

To freeze baked bread rolls: Cool completely and place in a resealable bag in the freezer. Let come to room temperature before eating or reheat in the oven at 350F for 10 minutes for that freshly baked feel.

RECIPE OF DINNER ROLL FAQS

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