How do I make sure my rolls stay soft?

1)Keep the balls of dough close together in the pan. Rolls that bake next to each other form soft pull-apart sides that are almost steamed together instead of forming crusty edges. 2) Avoid overbaking the rolls. Too much oven time will make the rolls more hard as it will evaporate too much of the water in the dough. 3) Also, be sure to brush the rolls again with the garlic butter when they're fresh out of the oven will keep the surface softer than an unbrushed roll.

How can I make sure my rolls are of even size?

Rolls that are the same size will bake at the same rate. This is meant to be a quick recipe, but if you want to have perfectly sized rolls, weigh your dough in grams and then divide by the number of rolls you want to make. Weigh out portions of dough on a gram scale. This is not necessary to do, but it is something professional bakers do for consistency. You can eyeball it too. The more you work with dough, the better you get at portioning it out evenly without a scale.

Can I use these rolls to make giant party slider sandwiches like people do with King's Hawaiian rolls?

Absolutely! Baking the rolls next to each other keeps the sides together, so you can totally split the rolls in one layer. See how I do this for Reuben Sliders in my Deli Rye Pan Buns .

Super Soft Garlic Bread Rolls: Quick win for Busy Weeknights

Description

These rolls are the ultra savory dinner rolls with fluffy soft insides that you’ll want to make on repeat for any garlic bread craving. They go great with meatballs, pasta, soup, chili, and so much more.

Ingredients

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Garlic bread Dough

1/2 cup warm water (118 mL)
2 teaspoons instant yeast
(Affiliate)
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/2 cup whole milk (118 mL)
2 Tablespoons olive oil (30 mL)
1 large egg
3 cups all-purpose flour (390 g)
3/4 teaspoon salt

Garlic butter

4 Tablespoons butter (57 g)
2 cloves garlic, grated
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup grated parmesan or other hard cheese (pecorino or hard Greek myzithra)

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Instructions

Make the dough

Sprinkle the yeast and sugar over the warm water in a small bowl. Whisk to dissolve the yeast.

Mix yeast and water with pinch of sugar
Warm the milk in the microwave for about 30 seconds in a cup. Whisk in the egg and olive oil.
Pour the yeast water and milk into a mixing bowl. Measure in the flour and the salt.
To knead by hand, lightly flour a work surface, then dump out the contents of the bowl. Use your hands to push the dough away from yourself, then roll it back towards yourself. Continue this motion for about 10 minutes until you get a smooth dough. Alternatively, mix with a dough hook in a stand mixer on low speed for about 5 minutes. The dough will be smooth and elastic either way.
Cover the bowl with a towel and let the dough sit for 10 minutes.

Make the garlic butter

While the dough is resting, melt the butter. Mix in the rest of the garlic butter ingredients except the cheese.
Brush the bottom and sides of a 9 x 13
(Affiliate)
pan with a little bit of the garlic butter.

Shape the rolls

Sprinkle some flour on a work surface and divide the dough into 24 pieces.

Form your hand into a dome shape and then rotate each piece under your domed hand around to create a smooth top to each ball of dough. Place the balls in the pan, keeping the rolls close together so that they bake next to each other, keeping the sides extra soft.
Brush the tops of the balls with the garlic butter. You can drizzle some of the butter between the rolls as well. Don’t worry if you have extra garlic butter as we’ll use it after the rolls are baked.
Scatter the cheese over the tops of the rolls.
Cover the rolls to rise for 40 minutes.

Bake the rolls

Towards the end of the 40 minutes, preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C).
Bake the rolls for 15-18 minutes until they are golden brown and the tops bounce back when you poke them in the middle.
Immediately brush the rolls with the leftover garlic butter to keep them soft.

Equipment

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Notes

Larger rolls: You can make larger rolls if you’d like. 24 rolls makes small slider buns, 16 makes for larger slider buns, and 12 makes large dinner rolls.

Add a rise, get better flavor: If you want a little more flavor from these rolls, change the 10 minute resting period into a full rise of 1 hour. Yes, it will take a little longer from start to finish, but your active time will not change. The second rise will give you dough that’s slightly easier to work with and a little more flavor.

Time saving one-layer bread: To save time, skip making balls of the dough. Instead, pat the dough into the pan and allow the dough to rise into one thick layer of bread. To make into sliders, you can simply slice the bread horizontally into 2 pieces and cut into squares after you fill. This bread won’t be as pretty as the individual rolls, but it will cut down your prep time, and who doesn’t want that in party food?!

Prep Time: 20 minutes
+ 50 minutes rising time:
Cook Time: 18 minutes
Category: Breads
Method: Oven
Cuisine: American