French Bread Rolls {Step-by-Step}
These popular, no-fail French bread rolls are light, fluffy and delicious! They are so easy to make; perfect for bread-making beginners and experts alike!
If you want one of the easiest, foolproof, most delicious roll recipes around, this is it.
This French bread roll recipe has been around a loooooong time, and after 10+ years, it is still the roll recipe I probably make the most (that’s saying a lot, because I have a lot of favorite roll recipes).
A Very Forgiving Dough
The dough for these French bread rolls is straightforward and very forgiving. I usually use my Bosch stand mixer, but many of you make this dough in a KitchenAid mixer and others make it by hand.
Dough ingredients:
- warm water
- yeast (instant or active dry yeast)
- sugar
- oil
- salt
- flour (all-purpose or bread flour)
Mix all the ingredients together until the dough forms a soft, slightly sticky ball of dough that clears the sides of the bowl and doesn’t leave a lot of sticky residue on your fingers.
How to Make Yeast Dough at Home
Stop stressing about adding the exact amount of flour called for in a recipe! Many, many factors determine how much flour is needed (elevation, humidity, how we each measure flour, etc.)
Judge the dough based on how it feels and how it looks. If you need to add a bit more flour, that’s ok!
For this recipe, grab a piece of dough after the flour has been added. Initially, it might leave a little sticky residue on your fingers.
Try rolling it into a ball without any oil or cooking spray on your hands. If it can form a ball shape without sticking to your hands in a shaggy, horror-movie mess, you are good to go. If not, add a bit more flour (a couple tablespoons), mix and try again.
Adding too much flour can spell death to light and fluffy homemade bread or rolls.
Let it Rise
I’m lazy and let the dough rise right in the mixing bowl. It is a pretty quick-rising dough.
Once it has doubled in size, it’s ready to get shaped into rolls.
Shape the Rolls
Cut the dough into 12 equal pieces. I usually weigh each piece to make sure they are uniform. Each dough piece usually weighs right around 2.6 to 2.7 ounces.
Cup your hand and roll the dough into a smooth ball (keep the pinky side of your hand against the counter while you roll). Pinch the bottom to seal, if needed.
Place the rolls in a greased 9X13-inch pan.
For a double batch (I almost always double the batch), I like to place and bake the rolls on a half sheet pan (24 rolls fit perfectly).
Bake the rolls until golden and then brush the tops with butter.
The Perfect Roll for Sandwiches or Subs
Over the years, these French bread rolls have become more than a dinner roll.
These French bread rolls have become my go-to for any recipe that needs a wonderful all-purpose roll or bun.
Here are a few examples:
Whole Wheat Version
I also posted a 100% whole wheat version of these French bread rolls with a few small but important notes/changes, so if whole wheat is more your jam, check that out (although you can definitely add whole wheat flour to the recipe below as I’ve done many a time throughout the years).
Freezer Friendly
There is not an easier, more perfect roll recipe out there!
These French bread rolls come together fast, and honestly, I haven’t met a single person who wouldn’t fight to the death for one of these fluffy, heavenly rolls.
I always, always at least double (most often triple) the French bread rolls batch, because the baked and cooled rolls freeze amazingly well!
Step by Step French Bread Rolls
Tools for Making French Bread Rolls at Home:
*Affiliate links included below for products I’ve purchased from Amazon; feel free to shop around for the best price!*
- -I like to weigh out the dough for this recipe and others; this is the beloved kitchen scale that I have
- -Here is the large 8-quart container I use for letting the dough rise (comes in many different sizes; also carried in stores like Standard Restaurant Supply, if you have one local); smaller 4-quart version here (keep in mind you have to purchase the lids separately)
- –Silicone pastry brush for slathering on the butter
- -My favorite OXO bench knife for portioning out the dough
A quick note about mixers: I have a Bosch Universal and use it for 99% of the bread recipes I make. Here is a side-by-side (unsponsored) review I did between a Bosch stand mixer and a KitchenAid stand mixer.
French Bread Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups warm water
- 1 tablespoon instant or active dry yeast (see note)
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar or honey
- 2 tablespoons canola oil, vegetable oil or other neutral-flavored oil (olive oil will work, too)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 ½ to 4 cups (497 to 569 g) all-purpose or bread flour, more or less (see note)
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook or in a large bowl by hand, combine the warm water, instant yeast, sugar, oil, salt and 2 cups of the flour.
- Begin mixing, and continue to add the rest of the flour gradually until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl. Begin kneading the dough for 4-5 minutes in a stand mixer (7-9 minutes by hand).
- The dough should be soft and smooth but still slightly tacky to the touch. After a few minutes of kneading, stop the mixer and grab a small piece of dough to test if it needs more flour or not. It might leave a little bit of sticky residue on your fingers, but if you can roll it into a small ball without it sticking all over to your hands, it is good to go. If not, gradually add a bit more flour as needed.
- Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover. Let the dough rise until doubled, 1-2 hours.
- Lightly punch down the dough and turn it out onto a lightly greased countertop.
- Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces (about 2.75 ounces each, more or less), and form the dough into round balls (video tutorial here right at minute marker 2:20).
- Place the rolls in a lightly greased 9X13-inch pan or on a large, rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment or lightly greased. Space the rolls about 1/2- to 1-inch apart.
- Cover the rolls with lightly greased plastic wrap taking care not to pin the plastic wrap under the baking sheet or else the rolls will flatten while rising. Let the plastic wrap gently hang over the sides of the pan to fully cover the rolls but not press them down.
- Let the rolls rise until very puffy and doubled, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake for 15-17 minutes until lightly browned and cooked through.
- Immediately out of the oven, brush with butter.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: Mel’s Kitchen Cafe
Recipe originally published 12/2007; updated with new pictures, step-by-step tutorial, and recipe notes.
I make these rolls all the time. Tonight I was low on oil and wanted to use for browning my meat so I subbed melted butter for the oil. This took it to the next level!! I’ll be doing this from now!
Love this recipe…I make bread as well as rolls out of this…matter of fact if I see there is a recipe from you on something that I might be cooking I always try it first
I love rolls
Love this recipe and so did my family very soft and taste delicious 💜🩵
Absolutely delicious, the whole family enjoyed the fluffy scones. 100% recommend it to beginner bake’s too. ❤️❤️❤️
The most success I’ve had with bread rolls.
This recipe is definitely going in the vault 😀
Best bread rolls ever. They rose so quickly and were soft and fluffy with a great French bread flavor.
The recipe was amazing as the rolls were equally amazing!! Thank you!
Best recipe yet. Everyone raved about it. I made it into two long rolls. Scored the top.
Making it again today.
I saw some saying their cook times were different. Gotta remember not all ovens are calibrated, and alot of stuff makes a difference. Like it says once it’s golden brown it’s done. Delicious
Highly recommended
Hi Mel what would be the water measure in mls?
Can we say 375ml?
Using an online converter, 1 1/2 cups water is right around 354 ml (so 375 ml is probably fine).
I’d say 4 1/2 if I could. Easy to make, they rose well (perfect weather that day and today, second try on its way). But the recipe as written made 15 huge rolls and they were still more dense as they should have risen more. They bake well and taste good. The flour was Bob’s red mill artisan bread flour at 144 g/cup so pretty close. So not sure how I ended up with so much more. Just retried (will rise a bit longer) and got 16 rolls.
I love this recipe! They come out great every time. But I was wondering if I could do the second rise in the fridge overnight?
Yep!
Your rolls are outstanding. BUT your cups and grams are very confusion, a cup of flour that weighs 142 grams has to packed solid. I used your grams and the rolls were excellent..
I test all my recipes using 142 grams of flour per cup – this is the amount that best approximates fluffing the flour, scooping the cup in and leveling off.
My mistake, found you answered this question from another comment!
Mel, I make these rolls on the reg and love them. I’m wondering about freezing the dough after shaping into balls? Just curious if you’ve tried this! Thanks so much for your blog Mel, you’re my go to.
I made these buns and they were so soft and fluffy. Definitely recommend. I will for sure use this recipe again.
These were so amazing, soft on the inside, I had mine with garlic, parsley and some butter with cheeseit was delicious and then later had them with peanut butter and jelly. I also love the fact that this recipe doesn’t require a lot of ingredients.
I tried it multiple times. It’s so good!
Excellent recipe.
Thank you for sharing the recipe. I made it last night for my family and everyone enjoyed it. The morning after the rolls were still soft and moist.