BEST PARKER HOUSE ROLLS RECIPE | MerryBoosters (2024)

This Parker house rolls recipe makes the best soft and fluffy dinner rolls in the easiest and quickest method.The parker house rolls made with this classic yeast rolls recipe are soft, feather light ,buttery and super delicious.

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT THIS EASY PARKER HOUSE ROLLS RECIPE

• It’s so easy to make the parker house rolls.
• We use only seven basic ingredients to make these soft dinner rolls.
• This parker house rolls recipe does not require any special equipments to make those fluffy dinner rolls.
• This homemade dinner rolls recipe does not require as much proofing time as many other dinner rolls recipe.So this parker house style dinner rolls can be made faster as compared to other dinner roll recipes.
• The rolls made with this recipe are delicious, buttery, super soft, light and fluffy.
• This parker house rolls recipe can be adapted in such a way that we can easily make the dinner rolls dough ahead of time.

WHAT ARE PARKER HOUSE ROLLS

A Parker House Roll is a dinner roll made by flattening the center of a ball of dough with a rolling pin and then folding the dough in half.The recipe for Parker House Rolls first started appearing in cookbooks in the 1880s.

Two main features that makes Parker House Rolls unique are

• the folding of dough on itself while shaping the dinner rolls
• brushing the top of the dough with butter which gives a nice rich and buttery flavor to the parker house rolls.

HOW TO MAKE PARKER HOUSE ROLLS

Parker House Rolls are made just as we make any other dinner rolls.

This parker house rolls recipe is actually adapted from our Quick Dinner Rolls Recipe.

We can make these parker house rolls in five simple steps

1. Prepare the dough
2. Rest the dough
3. Shape the dough
4. Proof the shaped dough
5. Bake the Dinner Rolls

INGREDIENTS

1. Flour (Bread flour or All purpose flour) :325 g or 2 and 1/2 cups
2. Milk/Water (Lukewarm) :120 ml + 15 ml (1/2 cup +1 tbsp)
3. Butter (Unsalted) :50 g or 3 and 1/2 tbsp
4. Sugar :38 g or 3 tbsp
5. Salt :3/4 tsp
6. Yeast :1 1/2 tsp if instant yeast and 1 3/4 tsp if using active dry yeast
7. 1 Egg

1.PREPARE THE BREAD DOUGH

To make parker house rolls or any other yeast rolls ,its better to use ingredients at room temperature.

Because Yeast which is the leavening agent that we use in our bread recipes is very thermosensitive. The yeast will not get active or will be activated very slowly in a cold environment . And it will get killed if we use hot ingredients..eg hot milk or water.

The preferable environment for the yeast buds to bloom and grow is a sweet and warm environment (temperature ideally around 95 F)

So,In to a bowl add in the milk (lukewarm or ideally around 95 F) yeast,sugar,salt and egg.Combine them together.Then add in the butter (preferably softened, at room temperature which is easy to blend).Now add the flour into this and combine everything together.Using rear end of a wooden spoon will make the process so much easier.

Now transfer the dough on to a clean work surface and we need to knead the dough until it forms a smooth and elastic dough.

In the beginning of kneading, we may find the dough to be very sticky and we may get tempted to add more flour into this.But don’t do that .Just continue to knead and in about 3-4 minutes we will see the extra moisture will get absorbed into the flour.And if you feel the dough need some more moisture at around 8 minutes of kneading,you can add 1 more tablespoon of milk or water.

HOW SHOULD I KNOW MY DOUGH IS KNEADED WELL

We can test the doneness of dinner roll dough :If properly kneaded, the dough should stretch, without tearing or breaking, into a thin membrane that you can see through.

If we are using bread flour it is easy to attain this stage of dough(it may take around 10 minutes of kneading);As bread dough contains more proteins than all purpose flour.

But if we are using all purpose flour,it may take longer to attain this stage of perfection.

Our bread would still be good and soft even if our dough didn’t pass this window pane test.But if the dough passes the window pane test ,and the one hour proofing,then it is guaranteed that your bread will be super soft and fluffy.

It will be so much easier if you are using astand mixerto prepare the dough.In a stand mixer,just knead the dough for 8-10 minutes using the dough hook attachment.

2.REST THE DOUGH

Keep the well kneaded dough on the counter and cover it with a bowl.Let the dough sit and relax for 30 minutes.

This time will give some time for the taut gluten strands to relax which will make it easier for us to roll the dough and shape the rolls.This resting time will reduce the elasticity of the dough which will which will prevent the tendency of dough to rebound back while we roll the dough.

3.DIVIDE AND SHAPE THE PARKER HOUSE ROLLS

After 30 minutes of resting the dough, let’s place it on a lightly floured work surface.

Roll the dough using a rolling pin into an approximate square shape of 27 cm x 30 cm x 1 cm.So that the sheet has a thickness of 1/4 -1/2 inch.

Brush the top of dough with softened butter or melted butter.

Now divide the rectangular sheet into equal parts.

To make it easier for you ,here is how I divided the sheet.5 stripes from one side and 3 from other side to get 15 equal pieces.(It is not necessary to follow the exact measurements or stress over this step; our intention is to make them as even in shape as possible.The more similar they are in size, the more even they will get baked).

Now Fold the dough on to itself, to 3/4 of the length as in the video.

And place the rolls on the prepared baking tray (greased or lined with parchment paper) with the smooth surface on top.This will prevent the rolls from unfolding while they proof and bake.

4.PROOF THE PARKER HOUSE ROLLS

Cover the dinner rolls with a plastic film and let them rise for 60-70 minutes or until they puff up really well.

5.BAKE THE PARKER HOUSE ROLLS

After one hour of proofing our rolls have all risen well.Brush the top with egg wash (optional).

Bake the Parker house dinner rolls at 350 F for 15-16 minutes.

The baking duration may vary according to the size of the rolls.

Bigger rolls will take longer and smaller rolls will get baked in less time.

If we bake parker house rolls in a closed baking trays the rolls are closely packed, even if the top of rolls get golden brown in color, we need to bake for a little longer for about 18-20 minutes (according to the size of the tray)to get the yeast rolls baked all through out.

CAN I MAKE THE PARKER HOUSE ROLLS DOUGH AHEAD OF TIME

Yes you can make the bread dough ,ahead of time.Make the dough and without proofing the dough , keep it in fridge (you can keep the dough in fridge for up to 2 days).

Whenever you want to make the dinner rolls or yeast rolls or parker house rolls, just take out the dough from refrigerator and place it on a lightly floured work surface.

Now roll the dough ,divide and shape the rolls.And let the parker house rolls proof.

As the dough is still cold, it will take longer than usual for the dough to really puff up.For me it took around 85-90 minutes.

When the rolls are puffed up, take it in to the 350F preheated oven and bake for 15-17 minutes.

HOW TO MAKE PARKER HOUSE ROLLS AHEAD OF TIME

We can make shaped Parker house Rolls ahead of time.

Prepare the dough and then after resting the dough, divide and shape the rolls.

Place the rolls on to the prepared baking tray.

Cover the shaped rolls with a plastic film.

Now if plan to make them in two days, you can keep the tray in refrigerator.

Or if you plan to make the parker house rolls later than that, then you can keep the tray in freezer.Once the rolls are frozen you can either place them in freezer bags and keep it in freezer or leave the tray as it is(which I found, much easier)

HOW TO MAKE PARKER HOUSE ROLLS USING SHAPED AND REFRIGERATED DINNER ROLLS

When you want to bake the dinner rolls, take the shaped and refrigerated parker house rolls and let the tray sit at room temperature for 90 minutes or until they really puff up.My room is around 28 C and it took 90 minutes to puff up or proof well.This proofing time may vary according to the room temperature.If you are in a cold place, then you may require 110-120 minutes for the rolls to puff up.

When the parker house rolls are proofed, remove the plastic film and brush the rolls with egg wash (optional) and take the tray into the 350F preheated oven and bake for 15-18 minutes or until they are golden brown in color.

HOW TO MAKE PARKER HOUSE ROLLS USING SHAPED AND FROZEN DINNER ROLLS

For shaped and frozen parker house rolls, what I found to be a better way is to thaw the rolls one day before baking by placing the frozen tray in refrigerator.

And on the baking day, just take out the tray from fridge and keep it on the counter for 90 minutes or more until they puff up well and then bake.

Bake at 350 F preheated oven for 15-18 minutes.

CAN I FREEZE THE PROOFED DINNER ROOLS AND BAKE

Yes we can keep the proofed dinner rolls in freezer or refrigerator and bake them.

In that case, what I found is that, we still require almost the same amount of time for the rolls to come to room temperature before the baking(So there is no much saving of our time)

When I baked the proofed and frozen parker house rolls ,I found the rolls getting browned unevenly and not getting a smooth surface on top.

But when comparing the crumb structure, they are almost similar in texture.Both turned out soft and fluffy 🙂

So I prefer keeping the shaped parker house rolls without proofing into the freezer or refrigerator as the better method of making them ahead of time.

HOW CAN I SUBSTITUTE EGG IN THIS PARKER HOUSE DINNER ROLL RECIPE?

Role of egg in bread making:

Eggs added to doughhelp with rising.A bread dough rich with egg will rise very high, because eggs are a leavening agent (think genoise or angel food cake). As well, thefats from the yolk help to tenderize the crumb and lighten the texture a bit.Eggs also contain the emulsifier lecithin. Lecithin can add to the overall consistency of the loaf.

So it is difficult to substitute something else for egg to get the same result.

At the same time, I can say that ,as we have usedonly one eggin this parker house rolls recipe, we can easily replace the egg to make dinner rolls without much difference in texture and taste of the rolls.

As one egg is approximately 45 ml,just replace the same volume with milk or water.So you can add 3 tablespoon of water or milk in place of one egg.

Remember, this will not be equivalent to adding an egg,but I can promise you that it will be difficult to find any difference between the one made with and without egg in this particular parker house style yeast rolls recipe.

HOW TO STORE PARKER HOUSE ROLLS?

How to store Parker House Rolls at room temperature?

Once the rolls are completely cooled,place the dinner rolls in a plastic storage bag, or wrap in foil and store at room temperature.

Properly stored, these parker house rolls will last for about 2-3 days at normal room temperature.

In extremely warm, humid temperatures, the parker house rolls should be frozen for longer-term storage.

How to store Parker House Rolls in freezer to use later?

For freezing: Place the buns in a heavy-duty freezer bag or wrap the buns tightly with aluminum foil or plastic freezer wrap and freeze.

Properly stored, they will maintain best quality for about 3 months.

HOW TO REHEAT PARKER HOUSE ROLLS

Thaw the dinner rolls and then brush/spray some water on the dinner rolls and place them into a 350 F preheated oven for 5 minutes.

The dinner rolls will be soft and fresh and they smells too good.

WATCH THE VIDEO TO SEE HOW EASY IT IS TO MAKE PARKER HOUSE ROLLS.

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