Today, I’m going to share with you the rolls I served at Thanksgiving. They were a big hit, and I think you’ll love them too. Garlic herb rolls are easy to make and even easier to eat.
If you love homemade rolls, you may also enjoy my garlic Parmesan rolls or my easy cheese rolls recipes.
For ease of browsing, you can find all my bread and rolls recipes in one place. Now let’s make these garlic & herb rolls.
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Garlic Herb Rolls, at a Glance
For some reason, folks seem to think it’s hard to make rolls, but honestly, it’s just not. I promise I’ll talk you through it.
Here’s what to expect from this recipe.
✅Skill Level: Beginner/Intermediate
✅Skills: Scalding Milk, Straight Dough Method, Scaling, Shaping Rolls, Baking
✅Type: Dinner Rolls
✅Number of Ingredients: 8
✅Prep Time: 20 minutes, including about 12 minutes of kneading
✅Cook Time: 25-30 minutes
✅Yield: 24 rolls
Jump Straight to the Recipe
Tasting Notes
These rolls have a wonderful, soft yet chewy texture thanks to the bread flour. They are very lightly sweetened with honey, and they are very buttery, herby, and garlicky.
I use Kinder garlic & herb seasoning to make these rolls, so they taste very much of that blend: lots of garlic and herbs plus a gentle lift from the citrus in the blend.
If these sound like your kinda rolls and you make and love them, I have a favor to ask:
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Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make this recipe. I will suggest substitutions where appropriate.
- whole milk: The majority of the liquid in the recipe, the milk allows gluten to form, provides a nice consistency to the dough, and assists in browning thanks to the milk sugars. You can substitute 2% milk if that is what you have on hand
- butter: Lends richness and helps to carry flavor. Butter also provides for a tender roll and assists in browning. Used both in the dough and also as a spread once they come out of the oven
- honey: yields a gentle sweetness. You may substitute 2 Tablespoons of granulated sugar if you prefer
- garlic herb seasoning: I use Kinder’s garlic & herb seasoning, but use your favorite. Make sure the blend you use is not too salt-heavy or you will have to scale back the amount of kosher salt called for in the recipe
- kosher salt: Modifies yeast growth so you don’t end up with a “flabby” dough. The salt also brings all the flavors into focus
- bread flour: Provides the bulk and gluten for the rolls. You may substitute all-purpose flour, but do use a higher-protein all-purpose flour like King Arthur. If you do use ap flour, your dough may be marginally softer, but it should not be difficult to work with (higher-protein flour absorbs more liquid than lower-protein flour)
- yeast: Use instant or active dry. If using active dry, proof the yeast in a portion of the warm milk. In that case, add the salt on top of the flour (in the recipe, I call for adding the salt to the milk, but if using active dry yeast, you want to keep the salt separate until mixing to limit the possibility that the salt will kill some of the yeast and inhibit the rise)
How to Make the Rolls
These garlic herb rolls are made using the straight dough method.”
I call for the milk to be scalded first, and that’s to ensure that the enzyme that inhibits rise is off the table, allowing for these rolls to rise super high and light.
Once you scald the milk, bring the temperature down quickly by melting cold butter in the milk. Once the temperature is under 120F, add the honey, salt, and garlic & herb seasoning.
Dump the flour on top followed by the yeast.
Jenni Says: Keep the salt and yeast separate until mixing. This helps ensure that no concentrated salt and end up killing off some of the yeast and inhibiting rise.
If you add the salt with the wet ingredients, add the yeast on top of the flour. If you proof the yeast with wet ingredients, add the salt on top of the flour.
Once everyone is in the pool, mix, and then knead until the dough is smooth and extensible. (super stretchy).
Let it rise, punch down, scale out 24 rolls, shape, let rise again, and then bake.
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When they’re golden-brown and perfect, brush them with a melted butter/garlic herb mixture and let cool.
Easy!
What to Bake the Rolls In
These are scaled to fit in a 9″ x 13″ pan. You can go ahead and bake them in a high-sided 9″x13″ pan like you’d bake a sheet cake in, but I like baking in a shallow 9″x13″ quarter sheet pan with sides that are only 1″ high.
The shorter sides allows for more even browning, and it’s also much easier to remove the rolls from the pan so they can cool and not get soggy on the bottoms.
- Perfect for baking brownies or slab pies.
- Shorter sides allow for better air circulation
- It's also much easier to serve slices from a shallow pan than a deep one.
If you don’t like your rolls to touch, you can bake them on a regular half-sheet pan with a bit more space between them so they turn out a bit rounder and not quite so tall.
More Bread and Rolls Recipes from PCO
If you are a fan of baking homemade bread and rolls, you may want to check out some more of my recipes.
For another bread that relies on milk and honey, try my milk and honey bread. It makes a wonderful slicing bread for sandwiches or toasting.
My oatmeal bread smells like heaven baking and makes excellent, moist sandwich bread that is easy to bite but holds up well.
And, for holiday meals, think about making my soft and buttery pumpkin dinner rolls. They taste–and smell–just like Thanksgving!
Garlic Herb Dinner Roll Q & A
My friend Laura made these for Thanksgiving, and she didn’t have garlic herb seasoning. She used a teaspoon each of onion powder, garlic powder, and dried parsley and said it worked out really well. Use what you have, or leave out the seasoning entirely to have really lovely, fluffy plain dinner rolls.
I like to make 24 rolls from this recipe, but you can make slightly larger or smaller rolls, or make burger buns even. If you scale the dough at 4 ounces, you’ll get about 10 burger buns. Just decide the number of rolls/buns you want and then divide the total weight of the dough by that number. If you’re not using a scale (please use a scale), just cut the dough into equal-sized pieces..
Store the rolls at room temperature for a day or two, and then reheat to serve. If you need to hold them for longer, freeze them in zip-top freezer bags, pressing out as much air as you can before sealing them. Well-sealed, the rolls should be just fine for a couple of months.
Questions?
If you have any questions about this post or recipe, I am happy to help.
Simply leave a comment here and I will get back to you soon. I also invite you to ask question in my Facebook group, Fearless Kitchen Fun.
If your question is more pressing, please feel free to email me. I should be back in touch ASAP, as long as I’m not asleep.
A Note About Measurements
My recipes are almost all written by weight, including liquids, unless otherwise specified.
For accuracy and consistency of results, I encourage you to buy–and use–a kitchen scale.
I promise that baking and cleanup will be so much quicker and easier.
This is the scale that I recommend for home use. I have owned and used one for years.
Don't let its small price and small size fool you. The Escali Primo is an accurate and easy-to-use food scale that I have used for years. It's easy to store, easy to use, has a tare function, and easily switches between grams and ounces/pounds for accurate measurements.
Love These Rolls? Please Rate and Review
It will help me and other readers so much if you take a moment to rate and leave a review for this recipe.
You can use the stars to rate 1-5 (5 is best), and leave a review in the comments. It helps me make adjustments if any are needed, and comments help others decide whether the recipe is worth making.
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Thank you so much for taking the time!
Garlic Herb Roll Recipe
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Ingredients
- 14.5 oz whole milk 411 grams or 1 3/4 cups + 1 Tablespoon
- 4 oz unsalted butter 113 grams or 1 stick/8 Tablespoons
- 3 Tablespoons honey 2.25 oz or 61 grams
- 1 ¼ teaspoon kosher salt 6 grams, I use Morton's
- 1 Tablespoon garlic & herb seasoning I use Kinder's
- 22 ounces bread flour 624 grams or about 4-4 1/2 cups. If using cups, whisk the flour well, lightly spoon it into the cup, then sweep off the excess
- 1 teaspoon instant yeast 3 grams
For the Topping
- 2 oz butter 57 grams, 1/2 stick, or 4 Tablespoons
- 1 teaspoon garlic & herb seasoning
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, heat milk until steaming but not boiling, about 170-180F.
- Cut the cold butter into pieces and add to the hot milk to help cool it more quickly. Stir until the butter is all melted.
- Pour the hot milk/butter mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer and leave to cool about 20 minutes or until it cools to no hotter than 120F.
- Add honey, salt, and garlic & herb mixture.
- Dump the flour on top of the wet ingredients, and then add the yeast.
- Mix on low speed, using the dough hook, until you have a shaggy dough, about 2 minutes.
- Increase speed to medium and knead for 12 minutes. The dough will be smooth, somewhat shiny, and very stretchy. While it might start out sticking on the sides and in the bottom of the bowl, by the time kneading is done, you should have minimal-to-no sticking and the dough will gather around the dough hook.
- Shape dough into a smooth ball, spray with pan spray or brush with oil, cover, and allow to rise in a warm spot until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.
- Turn the dough out onto a clean countertop and press out the gases. Knead by hand for just 5-10 turns to redistribute the yeast, and then weigh the mass of dough. Divide by 24 to get the weight of each roll. I scaled my rolls at 1.7-1.8 oz.
- Cover the scaled dough with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out.
- Working with one piece of dough at a time, press into a thick circle about 3" in diameter. Then, tuck all the edges underneath to make a smooth ball. Increase surface tension by rounding on the counter between cupped palms. Place each round in a 9" x 13" pan in 4 columns of 6 rolls each.
- Spray with pan spray, cover the rolls, and let rise until nice and puffy, about 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 350F during the second rise.
- Melt the second amount of butter together with the teaspoon of garlic herb seasoning and set aside.
- Bake rolls on the middle rack for 25-30 minutes, rotating the pan after 15 minutes. Rolls are done when they are all nicely golden brown with an internal temperature of 195-200F.
- Remove pan from the oven. Immediately brush the tops of the rolls with the butter herb mixture. Use all of it. Some may pool in the intersections where the rolls meet, but it will absorb as the rolls cool.
- Slide the rolls out onto a cooling rack to cool warm if using right away. Otherwise, allow the rolls to cool completely. Store at room temperature for a day or two. For longer storage, seal rolls in zip-top freezer bags, pressing out as much air as possible before sealing. Bring to room temperature and reheat before serving.
Did You Make Any Changes?
Nutrition
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And there you have it, friends. Garlic herb rolls for a special dinner or any dinner. Or use them to make my ham & cheese sliders.
Thanks for spending some time with me today.
Take care, y’all.
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One of the easiest bread recipes I’ve used even for international people like me using the metric system as all the different types of measurements were added to the recipe.A very tasty recipe with the added buttery garlic seasoning added but I also think that you could used the plain dough mix without the seasoning as a plain bread roll or add other flavourings to it such as bacon and cheese for a bacon and cheese roll or flatten the dough out more and use the dough as a pizza base
I’m so glad you love the rolls, Jody! And I agree, the basic dough would be very happy with bacon and cheese in it or any sort of savory mix-ins. Yum!