Soft Thanksgiving Dinner Rolls| Garlic Parmesan Pull Apart Rolls

I am proud to partner with the Idaho® Potato Commission to bring you this recipe for Thanksgiving dinner rolls, also known as Garlic Parmesan Pull Apart Rolls.

Watch my Thanksgiving dinner roll web story here.

Why You Need to Make These Rolls for Thanksgiving

Because of the potato’s high starch content, yeast loves it.

I can practically hear the yeasties salivating as I tip them into their dinner bowl full of complex carbohydrates they can happily break down into sugar and alcohol, all the while merrily burbling out carbon dioxide.

And with so many yeasties eating so much delicious food and, um outgassing, so much carbon dioxide, dough made with potatoes or even just the water from cooking potatoes rises relatively quickly to dazzling heights.

Potatoes also have the most desirable ability to keep breads soft and fresh for several days.

How do they work this magic?

When you cook a starchy Idaho potato such as russet, all the starch granules swell up with moisture like little sponges. That’s called gelatinization.

In this instance, gelatinization has nothing to do with actual gelatin and everything to do with the way starches behave when heated.

And the cool thing about gelatinization is that, unlike sponges that dry back out, starch granules hold onto their moisture for days. And it is this ability to hold onto moisture that keeps breads baked with potatoes so soft and fresh for a relatively long period of time.

It seems like magic, but it’s just delicious science.

Here are some more reasons you’re going to love these dinner rolls:

• They’re soft and squishy with a nice soft crust
• Subtley flavored with garlic and Parmesan cheese
• Enriched with avocado oil (or olive oil) and egg
• They only take about 2-2 1/2 hours to make, including rise time

How to Make These Soft Dinner Rolls

Ingredients and Substitutions

Here’s what you’ll need to make these guys:

• Idaho® Russet Potato: Use a starchy rather than waxy potato for best results. Using waxy potatoes will result in rolls that are firmer at room temperature. Russets are my recommendation, but Yukon Golds will work as well.
• Fruity oil such as avocado or olive: Either works here. If you don’t like the flavor of either, use a neutral vegetable oil
• Granulated sugar: Adds a touch of extra tenderness (because we want super tender dinner rolls). You may substitute a little squeeze of honey if you prefer
• Garlic: Used both in the dough and in the butter topping. I use a premade paste, but you may also use finely minced garlic
• Salt: I use Morton’s kosher salt. If you use Diamond Crystal, increase salt by about 1/4. If using table salt, decrease by about half
• Pepper: I like freshly ground
• Milk: I use whole milk. You may substitute 2% or a plant-based milk
• Egg: Adds a bit more liquid, fat, and emulsifiers. Makes the dough a touch richer
• Parmesan cheese: Used in the dough and in the topping, Parmesan provides a warm nuttiness that’s hard to resist. Use fresh Parmesan rather than the kind in a can. It will melt into the dough better and have much more flavor than canned.
• Flour: I use bread flour. For even softer rolls, you can use all-purpose flour, but do use a higher-protein AP like King Arthur. Since bread flour soaks up more liquid, if using all-purpose flour, you may need to decrease the amount by a little.
• Yeast: Use active dry or instant. If you are at all concerned that your yeast is old and possibly dead, proof it in some of the milk (warmed up a bit) to make sure it foams before proceeding with the recipe
• Butter: I call for salted in this recipe. You may also use unsalted, but in that case, add about 1/4 teaspoon salt to the melted butter before brushing it on your rolls.

Are These Hard to Make?

The recipe is a matter of boiling potatoes and drying them out on the stove for just a bit, and then mixing them together with the other ingredients.

The recipe even tells you what order to add everything. I do recommend using a stand mixer for these rolls.

The soft dough needs a good 10 minutes of machine kneading, and that translates into maybe 20 minutes–at least–of hand kneading.

Also, for consistency’s sake as well as ease of measuring, I list all my ingredients by weight (except for teaspoons or tablespoons), so to succeed with my recipes and to standardize your own recipes, a kitchen scale is pretty necessary.

Equipment You May Need

Do you have a kitchen scale and a stand mixer?

If you’re going to be spending time making at least a fair amount of bread or rolls, you will want to invest in both.

A Microplane is also an excellent and multi-purpose tool in the kitchen. For this recipe, I use it to grate the Parmesan, but you will find all sorts of uses for it, from zesting citrus fruit to grating ginger and nutmeg.

You can change up the “look” of these rolls by changing the baking pan.

If you don’t mind some odd-shaped rolls and are good with calling them “rustic,” you can bake them in a 10″ round pan.

If you prefer squared-off, more regularly shaped rolls like the ones in these photos, bake in a straight-sided 9 x 13-inch baking pan.

And if you want rolls that look more like burger buns, you’ll want to bake them far enough apart that they don’t get squared off from touching each other.

In that case, you’ll want to bake on one or maybe two half-sheet pans.

You can also run the risk of underbaking your rolls.

Since they’re full of potatoes and oil, they’re not going to give you a “hollow thumping sound” so you’ll know they’re done. Do what I do and rely on an instant read thermometer.

You’re looking for a temperature of 195-200F.

How Long Does It Take To Make Them?

Let’s see.

• About 15 minutes to boil the potatoes and 5 minutes to dry them out.
• During that time, you can get out and weigh the rest of your ingredients. Then it’ll take a minute to put everything together, 11-12 minutes of mixing/kneading, about an hour or so of rising.
• Then you’ll scale and shape the rolls, let them rise again for 30-40 minutes and bake.

What is that total? Maybe 2 hours, start to finish.

Pro Tip

NOTE: Refrigerate the dough overnight for the first rise or shape the rolls and refrigerate them overnight for the second rise.

The schedule is up to you. Be the boss of yeast and, if the timing isn’t working out for you, put it to sleep by refrigerating it. It’ll work way more slowly in the fridge and then perk back up once it warms back up. Nice!

I buy my yeast in bulk, and it just lives in the fridge until I need it.

Freezing

Yes! One of the wonderful properties of homemade rolls–or any bread, really–is that it freezes and thaws beautifully.

What I like to do is allow my rolls to cool completely and then place them in zip top freezer bags, pressing out most of the air without squishing my rolls.

When I want to thaw them, I take out what I need and either thaw in the microwave for a few seconds or allow them to come to room temperature slowly on the counter.

You can then wrap them in foil and heat for about 10 minutes at 350F for just-baked flavor.

I know you have a burning question: Are these really the best rolls for Thanksgiving? Yes. Yes, they are.

The Beloved and I have been plowing through them like it’s our job, and I can’t wait to make these again and again. And yes, to serve them at our Thanksgiving dinner. Enjoy!

If you have questions about this post or recipe, don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can leave a comment on the post and I will get back to you within about 24 hours.

If your question is more urgent, please shoot me an email, and I will respond within 4 hours, unless I’m asleep.

A Note About Measurements

NOTE: Most of my recipes are written by weight and not volume, even the liquids.

Even though I try to provide you with volume measurements as well, I encourage you to buy a kitchen scale for ease of measuring, accuracy, and consistency.

This is the scale I use, love, and recommend. If you’re unsure, please read my post about how to use a food scale.

Thanks again to the Idaho® Potato Commission for sponsoring this post. And thank you guys for supporting the brands with whom I work.

Thank you for spending some time with me today. Take care, and have a lovely day.