Lion House Dinner Rolls
These dreamy lion house dinner rolls are tender, buttery, perfect, and almost indulgent enough for dessert!
There isn’t much more I can say about these rolls than they make an appearance at my dinner table several times a month and are probably only one of two or three roll recipes I make regularly.

I usually substitute half the white flour with white wheat flour, but when made with 100% white flour, they are almost indulgent enough to eat for dessert.
Tender, buttery, perfect.
I love them and it would have to take a mighty good roll recipe to replace these beauties.
Lion House Dinner Rolls
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons active dry yeast
- 2 cups warm water
- ⅓ cup (71 g) sugar
- ⅓ cup (75 g) butter, softened
- 1 large egg
- 2 ½ teaspoons salt
- ⅔ cup nonfat dry milk
- 5-6 cups (710 to 852 g) flour (see note)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the yeast and water. Let stand 5 minutes (no need to do this if using instant yeast – just add the yeast and water together with the other ingredients). Add sugar, butter, salt, dry milk, 2 cups flour and egg. Beat together until very smooth. Add remaining flour gradually (about 1/2 cup at a time) until a soft but not sticky dough is formed. Knead the dough for at least five minutes if using an electric mixer and for at least 10 minutes if mixing the dough by hand. When the dough is smooth, supple and elastic, place it in a lightly greased large bowl covered with greased plastic wrap and let it rise until doubled.
- Separate the dough into two portions. Roll each section out to an 11X14-inch rectangle. Brush the top with melted butter. Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut the dough into two pieces, the long way (see photos below). Then slice the dough into five or six strips across so you end up with 10 to 12 small rectangles. Roll each small rectangle up like a snail and place on a silpat-lined or lightly greased baking sheet with the roll resting on it’s open edge. Repeat with the second portion of dough.
- Cover the rolls with lightly greased plastic wrap and let them rise until doubled. Bake at 375 degrees for 12-14 minutes until they are nicely browned.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: from The Lion House
Roll out the dough to about an 11X14-inch rectangle.
Brush with melted butter then slice the dough in half the long way.
Use your hand measure in an “L” shape to measure the approximate distance to slice each rectangle for the individual rolls.
Continue with that method until the rectangle is sliced into five or six sections across, giving you 10 to 12 rectangles total.
Roll each rectangle up like a snail.
Place on the sheet pan with the roll resting on the open edge.
The only dry milk I could find is buttermilk. Should I use 2% milk instead? This is my first time attempting to make these rolls.
Dry buttermilk should work just fine in these rolls!
I never buy dry milk, so I sub out the (dry milk + water) in the recipe and just use 2 cups (liquid) milk instead. Condensed milk works, too.
I had forgotten about these rolls! I make bread and rolls quite a lot, but my kids said these were the best rolls they’d ever had! These will definitely be in our regular rotation.
Hi Mel! I’m a new fan…every recipe I try turns out amazing (most recently the overnight creme brulee french toast casserole). I’m so glad my friend told me about you! I’m going to try these rolls for Thanksgiving and I have a question about timing. I’d like to bake them at my host’s house which is an hour away. Is there a point I could get the rolls to and travel with them safely? If I use the refrigerator method you mentioned in a previous comment (roll out and shape the dough, then place on a cookie sheet, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate), how long can the dough be refrigerated? Is overnight ok?
Thank you!!
Hi Ali, yes, you can definitely refrigerate the rolls overnight before baking!
I want to make these rolls for thanksgiving this year. Yum! My boys have dairy allergies. I can substitute everything for vegan options except the non-fat Dry milk. Any ideas?
You might try a non-dairy milk for half of the water and see how that goes.
What temperature should the water be ? I ask not to be picky but warm to one person is different to another
Probably right around 100 degrees.
I made these several years ago for Thanksgiving and everyone liked them. Wanted a tasty loaf bread and thought I would try this recipe as a loaf. I halved the recipe (because I only had a tablespoon of yeast-but still used the whole egg) and was glad I did; the half made one loaf. I baked it at 375 and started checking it around 25 minutes. It turned out to be a soft bread and tasted like the rolls.
I have never made rolls as absolutely perfect as these! And perfect EVERY TIME. I don’t change one thing, I think the powdered milk makes it . . . . That’s the secret. I went to the lion house website and found some tips on how they roll these, amazing. The Mormons are no joke, these people can COOK!
These were delicious! Is there a secret to helping them not bust open? Most of mine were not pretty, but they tasted realllllyyy good! Thanks Mel!
I try to make sure the point or edge (if in a rectangle) is tucked pretty far underneath the unbaked roll so it doesn’t pop as it rises and bakes.
Beautiful recipe. I do 3-4 cups of flour let it rise. Then add the extra flour to make a bread dough roll out cut and shape (I barely knead at all) then let rise 2nd time. Also I add a bit more sugar (1/2 a cup ish) as I like them sweet.
Makes amazing sweet yeasty fluffy rolls your family will literally go crazy for.
Everyone begs me to make these.
Hi- I have not made bread before – if using my kitchen aid should I use the dough hook? I am a new follower- love your site !! Thanks !
Yep! Hope they work out!
I have made these before and they’re delicious! I am going out of town to my in-laws for Thanksgiving and would love to make them on Tuesday since we’ll be traveling Wednesday.. Do you recommend freezing them or just re-warming them in the oven before serving?
PS I am a very long time follower who checks your site first for any recipe I need!
Hey Kara! That far in advance, I’d probably recommend freezing and also rewarming lightly before serving. Happy Thanksgiving!
While I’m on a commenting spree, I’ll add here that these rolls are amazing! My aunt makes the best rolls every year for Thanksgiving that are so time consuming, but my family swears these rolls are even better and take way less time! We always have to double or triple the recipe because the crowd goes wild. 😉 I make them for holidays, but tonight I’m making them to go with your delicious Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice soup because I’m pregnant and it’s what I’m craving. 🙂 Thanks Mel!
Wondering if anyone knows a sub for the dry milk. Eleventh hours problems~
Hey Lauren – sorry for the delay in responding – sometimes if I’m out of powdered milk, I’ll sub in milk for some of the water.
How long will these stay fresh covered on counter?
Right around 24 hours (although they really are best fresh and warm, if possible).
Mel, any tips for how to keep the powdered milk from clumping? I find I have this problem in any recipe that calls for dry milk.
The clumping shouldn’t be a huge issue once the dough starts mixing – all the kneading should eliminate those small clumps (the same thing happens when I use dry milk in roll recipes). However, if the clumps are still noticeable after the dough is finished kneading, you could try sifting in the dry milk.
Can you make this in your bread maker?
I don’t have a bread maker, so I’m not sure. Sorry!
Hi Mel…Thanks a lot for all that you do… Your blog is THE ONLY one i refer for all my bakings especially bread… This recipe turned out great with rave reviews from my husband and daughter…. Though i did forget to add in the egg it still was super fluffy and delicious… Thanks again for all you do…God bless you and your family abundantly…. Wish you a Merry Christmas and a blessed new year 2018…
Thank you!!
I’m doing trial runs for Thanksgiving and these turned out amazingly fluffy and perfect! I did the cornmeal ones a couple days ago and felt like they were a little to dense….could’ve been my yeast tho. These are definitely a winner and I felt like there were fewer steps. Your instructions were super clear and easy to follow. I’ll be making these again on Thursday!
Hi Mel! I’ve made these rolls every Thanksgiving for several years now. They always taste delicious, but they are also always quite flat. In fact, I find that most bread and rolls I make come out flat, even though the texture and flavor are very good. Any tips for getting rounder rolls and loafs? Your rolls are so nice and round and remind me of a snail shell. Mine look like a snail that’s been run over LOL! I’d appreciate any tips!
Hey Tiffiny – if your rolls are turning out flat, it sounds to me like you might need more flour. There’s that balance between underfloured and overfloured (where they won’t rise well) but they need enough flour for structure. The other thing you might try is placing them closer together on the baking sheet so they use the stability of each other to rise up instead of out.
My friend, Janet Jensen introduced me to this recipe over 30 years ago. We shape the rolls in the traditional round way. Our recipe is slightly different in that we use milk instead of powdered milk. It is from and the Lion House Cookbook 1984
Janet also loves this recipe because your rolls don’t fall if the dough is left out to rise longer than expected. This dough can be left to rise for 5 to 6 hours without doing it any harm. It is also a good dough for maple bars and cinnamon rolls.)
1/4 cup butter or marg
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup milk scalded
1 Tbsp dry yeast
1 Tbsp. Sugar
¼ cup lukewarm water
2 tsp. salt
4 cups flour
3 eggs
Add butter and 1/4 cup sugar to hot milk. Cool to room temperature. Combine yeast, 1 T. sugar and lukewarm water. Let stand 5 min. to soften yeast.
Add salt to flour. Combine milk and yeast mixtures and add 1 cup flour. Add eggs and beat well. Continue adding flour gradually beating until smooth after each addition. This is a soft dough, and most of all of the flour can be handled by the electric mixer.
Cover bowl and place out of draft until dough rises about triple in amount. Punch down. Cover again and place in refrigerator overnight, or until thoroughly chilled. When ready for use (dough will keep well up to 5 days) remove from refrigerator and roll and shape while cold. (You can handle a much softer dough if it is chilled.) Place on greased pans. Brush dough with melted butter. Let rolls rise 1 to 1 ½ hours.
Original recipe: Bake rolls at 375 for 10 to 15 min. or until desired doneness. Jamie bakes at 350 for a little longer.
Have you ever used Eikorn flour to make these?
No, but I’ve used Einkorn wheat in my every day bread recipe and it’s amazing so I’m guessing it would work pretty well here.
I know this is probably a silly question, but have you ever made these using your round dinner roll technique where you split them into twelve balls and roll them into a perfectly round ball? I need to take some to a church dinner tonight, and when I do the rectangle and roll them up, they never look uniform…I always have some big and some little and some sideways ones. But I do better with the round ball. Does it even matter?! 🙂
I think you could roll these however you want, Salem! So go for the round ball technique (that’s my vote). Just be sure to let them rise long enough once formed – part of the reason the Lion House Rolls are so delicious is because they are so light and fluffy. Good luck!
Was the “you could roll these however you want” comment an intended pun?! 🙂
Thanks for the answer! They turned out incredible, beautiful, and delicious.
Haha!
Melanie,
I make these all the time and love them, and always double the recipe….but I never can remember how much yeast to use and have to search through your comments to find the answer….if you ever have time you should put that in the notes in your recipes! Thanks for this fabulous blog.
I made these rolls for the first time yesterday for Easter and they were AMAZING! I tried it with the instant yeast and it was SO easy! Everyone loved them and I will make them again for sure! Thanks!
Hi! Can you tell me if the sugar in this makes them sweet? If so, I may reduce the amount. Thanks so much! Love your recipes!
I don’t think the rolls are overly sweet but you could decrease the sugar if you’d like to.
Thank you both for your reply. I will let you know which I do and how they turn out. Happy Thanksgiving.
Barb
All great ideas and hints. Have you ever frozen these after they are all rolled out, but before you bake them. I would like to take them out of the freezer and put in over for the fresh roll serving on Thanksgiving Day.
Thanks in advance for your reply
I just made these rolls last night (Sunday), for Thanksgiving on Thursday — I took them out of the oven *just* when they started to turn brown. My plan is to bake them for another 5 minutes right before we eat.
To test this out last night, I let the rolls cool and then baked one (in a toaster oven) for about 5 minutes. It turned out perfectly.
Essentially, I par-baked the rolls and they will bake up the rest of the way right before we eat, just like frozen / pre-packaged rolls, but so much yummier!!
I haven’t done that, Barbara. Usually I bake them, cool them and freeze. They thaw and warm up great (although someone else just left a comment on underbaking just slightly so you might follow her suggestion).
Barbara,
I have made these and frozen them just as you said. I roll them out, cut them and then roll them up just as the directions say. Then I put them on a waxed paper covered cookie sheet and put them in the freezer for about an hour. Kind of a par-freeze, I guess you could say. When they are pretty firm I put them in a freezer bag and throw them in the freezer.
On the day that I want to bake them, I take them out of the freezer in the morning and follow the rest of the directions for how close together to put them on the pan and let them do their thing.
IIRC, if I take them out of the freezer by 9am they are ready mid to late afternoon.
I hope that helps!
Mel- Great recipe! By far the best I’ve ever found! Thank you for letting us into your life.
Hi Sara:
Thanks for this great info. As it worked out, I never had time before dinner to make them ahead, so just made them in the morning and baked for Thanksgiving dinner at 2. Truly they were delicious and very easy to make. I did substitute 2 cups of fat free half and half for the water and dry milk. I would also cut them smaller next time as another person had suggested. Even the left overs today taste great. I might just make a batch and freeze for future dinners.
Thanks to all.
Barb
Thanks for the tips, Sara!
Have you frozen these rolls with much success? I’ve made this recipe a ton of times and think they would be perfect for Thanksgiving, but with all the other cooking going on, I just don’t think I could get fresh rolls made. I am wondering how they would reheat.
Hi Elizabeth – I freeze these all the time and they reheat great!
Hi – I made these last night, although I use “made these” loosely haha.
I think I under-floured my dough. It turned out more like batter, even after the first rise. Because I didn’t want to waste the dough, I added ~1/2 – 3/4 cup flour to the risen dough, rolled the dough into balls, and proceeded to let them rise and bake (forgot the melted butter on top – oops!). They turned out so soft and tender and delicious!
Anyway, I’d like to be able to actually roll them out next time and create the spiral look. Any tips for if they end up under-floured again and I don’t notice it until after the first rise? Can you just put it back in the mixer, add more flour, and let it rise again?
Thanks in advance for your help 🙂
Oh, and I JUST realized that I used a full 2 Tbsp of instant yeast. No wonder my apartment still smells like yeast! Haha I swear I’m not new to baking!
When you were making the dough in the mixer, did it clear the sides of the bowl while mixing? I’d suggest stopping the mixer, getting a bit of dough in your hands and rolling it into a ball – if it is so sticky it can’t be rolled, add more flour then (before you take it out of the mixer to rise).
Thanks for responding!
It definitely didn’t clear the sides and definitely could NOT be rolled. *shifty eyes* Oops!
I’ll be trying again though. AND I’m making french bread sub rolls for your meatball sub recipe this weekend – I’ll let you know how that goes 🙂
French Bread sub rolls turned out AMAZING. I’m re-making the Lion House rolls for Thanksgiving and I’m SO looking forward to them.
After many failed attempts at other roll recipes from youtube and allrecipes these have never failed me. Even when I substitute for whole wheat, coconut oil, earth balance dairy free butter, and no milk powder these rolls are always fluffy and delicious. Due to the humidity in my area I usually need to hold back on some of the water and yeast. People always ask me about these. And my toddlers light up when it’s time to make these rolls together. Although theirs look more like crinkly brown stones. Sorry, “delicious” crinkly brown stones.
Tracy, did you make these dairy free? What did you use in place of the butter and the dry milk? I need to make a batch with butter and one completely dairy free, nada, nothing, ugh! Thanks for any recommendations.
I’m thinking these would make fantastic cinnamon rolls…
I use this recipe to make cinnamon rolls. I do add another 1/3 sugar to the recipe though.
These were, hands down, the best dinner rolls I have ever made. Just perfect!
Thanks, Mel.
Well written recipe. First timer baking Lion House Dinner Rolls and they turn out very well!
Thanks
Can you substitute milk for the dry milk? I never have that on hand.
Suzanne – Yes. Other commenters have omitted the water and dry milk powder and just used warm milk (in place of the water) with success.
My family absolutely Adores these rolls will a capital A! I just have a little tip. I am the designated roll bringer for family functions and was having a hard time with making two batches because of timing, etc. I decided to try and make them half sized (since they really are ginormous anyway) and I’ve never gone back. I just roll them out like I would for full-sized rolls. I still cut the dough in half horizontally but then I double cut them the other way. So instead of having 5 wide rectangles across, I end up with 10 really narrow ones (for a total of 20 per rolling, 40 per batch). They are still a great size and we love it that way! I love that the kids can easily eat them and it’s prefect for taking “just one last roll” without overdoing it.
Loved these! Made them with 2 cups white whole wheat and the rest all-purpose flour. Great flavor and texture. Thanks Mel!
Why didnt mine brown on the top at all? I did everything exactly like it said…
Viktoriya – Sometimes it depends on where the oven rack is placed in your oven; in my particular oven I notice that my rolls brown best in the top third so that might be worth a try.
How long do you let it rise?
Victoriya – it depends on the warmth of your kitchen, but generally 1-2 hours.
I LOVE your tutorial on these rolls–it has changed my life. 🙂 I saw on your Thanksgiving prep schedule post something about doing the rolls ahead but I have a more specific related question. I’m bringing rolls (4-5 dozen) to a family gathering on Christmas Eve. I’m trying to avoid the “spending all day in the kitchen” scenario. Would you recommend making the dough the day before and baking the day of or baking the day before and just try to rewarm the rolls before serving? If you make the dough the day before, do you shape them? I’ve just had such success with your recipe but I’ve always done the whole kit and caboodle in one stretch of time. I don’t want to jinx the success by trying to stretch it among a couple of days but spending all of Christmas Eve just baking rolls seems unrealistic. Any chance you would be willing to post a “how-to make rolls ahead of time” tutorial? 🙂 Thanks for your website. Yours is one of two sites that I look at daily because it is just the best!
Hi Nancy – so glad you love this recipe! I won’t have time to post a tutorial on making these rolls in the next little while but I’d love to offer my two cents. If it were me, I’d make the dough, let it rise, then shape the rolls and place them on the sheet pan and cover with greased plastic wrap. Pop the sheet pans in the refrigerator and take them out on Christmas Eve to rise and bake (it will probably take 2 hours for the rise/bake). Good luck!
These are the best rolls I have ever made or ate; First I tried a mix then got the Recipe off line, very fancy taste soft rolls. I made the roll up kind then the rose rolls and people just caved the taste and look of these tender rolls. Now I’m a Pastry Chef by trade so I bake a lot of breads, cakes, ect….So anyone wanting a Great soft fancy dinner roll try theses. Great Job Mel and thank you so much for sharing this recipe. Signed Chef Seth.
Hey Mel! I am a HUGE fan of your rosemary bread recipe, as well as everyone who I have ever made it for (specifically the same crowd I’m feeding for Thanksgiving. That bread is the only type of bread I’ve ever tried to make, but rolls are more traditional, right? I’ve already made one batch of these rolls and they’re rising right now. I am going to make a second batch and had the thought of adding some rosemary in with it? How do you think that would turn out? What amount would you recommend adding in? Thanks!
Lori – I think adding rosemary to these rolls would be absolutely delicious! I would probably add a couple teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary to the dough and then a bit more finely chopped rosemary to the tops right before baking. Good luck!
If I substitute actual milk for the milk powder – do I eliminate all of the warm water (2 cups) or is there a different ratio? So excited to try these but have never used dry milk and the only boxes my grocery store had were huge! A big investment for an experiment.
Jackie – I’m pretty sure a few other commenters have indicated they scrapped the milk powder and used all milk (for the water).
I got my own answer from the video on making rolls that comes with the Lion House Bakery book. They said to go ahead and use 2 cups of milk but to scald it first because milk has an enzyme that can affect the yeast.
For anyone who had success using regular milk instead of dry milk, did you just use 2 cups of warm regular milk in place of the warm water and dry milk? Thanks a lot!
These were SO good and SO easy.. Thank you Mel for posting these and many other of my new favorite recipes!
Hi from across the pond! I’ve just been introduced to your site today and would love to try your rolls as they sound yummy! Please can you convert cups to metric/ imperial please! I’m looking forward to trying them out! thanks and have a fab Christmas!
I think I have found my blog soul mate! These rolls were amazing! Perfectly fluffy and seriously tasted better than store bought! I would rather make bread than buy it anyway and these were such a hit at my dinner party, I will be making them again and again! I can’t wait to try out your ciabatta bread next! Thank you so much for all that you do and have a very merry Christmas!!
Will I ever succeed at making rolls?! First try I used wheat and white flour….hardly rany rise. This time only white and then I think I added too much flour! Can you just make all my rolls for me?! 😉
Hi Traci – I’ve never tried shaping these differently but I think it’s worth a try!
Hi Mel- I have tried sooo many of your bread recipes and have loved them all! The front runner in our family so far is the Lionhouse Roll. My boys devour them. I think we like the fact that they are so, so soft and have just a touch of sweetness. My question is, if I’m looking for a roll to make them little sandwiches on that is similar to the Lionhouse, what do you reccomend? We like the french bread rolls too, but they still prefer Lionhouse. I was actually wondering if I could make the Lionhouse recipe and just shape it differently so it was more conducive to making sandwiches on? Thanks!
I made these with the autumn minestrone like you suggested- perfect! I love these rolls and I am going to make them again!
Substituted the 2 cups water with 2 cups whole milk (warmed to 100 degrees) and left out the powered milk. I took time to watch the tutorial; it was simple to follow and gave the rolls a flare. Used all organic ingredients for this recipe – incredible rolls, thank you for posting!