One Hour Whole Wheat Rolls are soft whole wheat dinner rolls that can be made from scratch in about one hour!
Whole wheat can get a bad rap when it comes to baked goods, but whole wheat doesn’t have to mean dry or tasteless! This one hour whole wheat dinner roll recipe makes soft dinner rolls that are ready in about one hour.
They have a mix of whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour that helps to keep the rolls soft, and the honey and butter help to give the rolls great flavor. The rolls mix up quickly, and they’re perfect for weeknights, weekends, or holiday dinners!
How to make one hour whole wheat rolls
In a small saucepan, stir milk, honey, and 4 tablespoons butter together. Heat over low heat just until butter melts and honey dissolves. Cool to about 100-105 F.
Pour the milk mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the yeast and warm water. Let stand for 5-10 minutes, or until yeast is foamy.
Add the whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup all-purpose flour and salt to yeast mixture. Using a dough hook, mix on low speed for about 1 minute.
With the mixer still going, add remaining all-purpose flour, 1/4 cup at a time. You may not need to use all of the flour.
Mix about 1 ½ minutes, or until dough starts to clear the sides of the bowl. Knead on low speed for about 2 more minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic – the dough will still be slightly sticky to the touch.
Place dough in a greased bowl, turning it to grease the top. Cover the dough with a clean, dry dish towel.
Let it rise in a warm place, free from draft, for about 15 minutes.
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, and divide into 15 equal pieces. Form each piece into a ball and place on the prepared baking sheet.
Cover the baking sheet with the dish towel, and let the dough rise for about 15 minutes.
Bake at 375ºF for about 12 minutes, or until the rolls are golden brown. Toward the end of the baking time, melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Set aside.
Brush rolls with melted butter.
Tips
Tips- Milk: You can use any milk from skim milk to whole milk in this recipe. Using a milk with a higher fat content (i.e. whole milk) will give you a slightly richer result.
- Honey: I like the slight sweetness that the honey gives the rolls. If you prefer, you can use 2-3 tablespoons of honey if you like.
- Butter: I use salted butter in this recipe.
- Yeast: Check out my note just above this if using instant yeast.
- Shaping: I have a video at the top of this page that shows how to make different shapes with the roll dough.
- Rising: To create a warm place for your rolls to rise, turn your oven to 350F for exactly 60 seconds. Then, turn your oven off. This will give your rolls a nice warm spot, which is especially important if you have a cool kitchen.
Can I use instant yeast instead in place of active dry yeast?
You can! Substitute an equal amount of instant yeast and continue with the recipe as-written.
There’s no need to wait for the yeast to proof.
Can I make the rolls without a stand mixer?
You can! If you would like to mix the rolls by hand, just add an additional 2 minutes to the kneading time.
How to store
I store these rolls, covered, at room temperature for up to 3 days.
More bread and roll recipes!
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One Hour Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls
Equipment
- Stand mixer
- 9x13 metal baking pan
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/4 cup honey
- 6 tablespoons butter divided
- 3 ½ teaspoons dry active yeast
- 3/4 cup warm water 105F – 115F
- 1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
- 1-1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Grease a 9x13-inch metal baking pan; set aside.
- In a small saucepan, stir milk, honey, and 4 tablespoons butter together. Heat over low heat just until butter melts and honey dissolves. Cool to about 100-105 F.
- Pour the milk mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Add the yeast and warm water. Let stand for 5-10 minutes, or until yeast is foamy.
- Add the whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup all-purpose flour and salt to yeast mixture. Using a dough hook, mix on low speed for about 1 minute.
- With the mixer still going, add remaining all-purpose flour, 1/4 cup at a time. You may not need to use all of the flour.
- Mix about 1 ½ minutes, or until dough starts to clear the sides of the bowl.
- Knead on low speed for about 2 more minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic – the dough will still be slightly sticky to the touch.
- Place dough in a greased bowl, turning it to grease the top. Cover the dough with a clean, dry dish towel.
- Let it rise in a warm place, free from draft, for about 15 minutes.
- Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, and divide into 15 equal pieces.
- Form each piece into a ball and place on the prepared baking sheet.
- Cover the baking sheet with the dish towel, and let the dough rise for about 15 minutes.
- Bake at 375ºF for about 12 minutes, or until the rolls are golden brown.
- Toward the end of the baking time, melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Set aside.
- Brush rolls with melted butter.
Video
Notes
- Milk: You can use any milk from skim milk to whole milk in this recipe. Using a milk with a higher fat content (i.e. whole milk) will give you a slightly richer result.
- Honey: I like the slight sweetness that the honey gives the rolls. If you prefer, you can use 2-3 tablespoons of honey if you like.
- Butter: I use salted butter in this recipe.
- Yeast: Check out my note above the recipe if using instant yeast.
- Rising: To create a warm place for your rolls to rise, turn your oven to 350F for exactly 60 seconds. Then, turn your oven off. This will give your rolls a nice warm spot, which is especially important if you have a cool kitchen.
- Nutrition values are estimates.
Nutrition
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Reader Interactions
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Comments & Reviews
Jacqueline says
Question:
Can I use bread flour I have wheat & white bread flour and I want to use them.
Kate says
Hi! I haven’t used bread flour in this recipe to say for certain. However, I’ve had good luck substituting bread flour for all-purpose flour in other roll recipes.
Nivida Bagga says
I just made these today for dinner & OMG these were insane!!! Super soft & delicious. Earlier I used to proof my dough for more than an hour, these were so quick & unbelievably moist. Thanks for this great recipe. I think I’m gonna stick to it for sure in the future.
10/10 😊
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad that it worked well for you!
Lola says
These were excellent and fast. The whole wheat flavor was not overpowering, nor were the rolls dry: just soft and delicious. The only change I might make is not buttering the tops afterwards. Thank you; this shall be added to my recipes.
Kate says
Thank you! I’m glad that you liked the rolls!
Lia says
We super love it! We used 4tbs of sugar instead and we just love it. We ate them for lunch yesterday. Now for breakfast! Thank you
Lia from 🇵🇭
Lia says
Hi, can i use sugar instead of honey? Honey is very expensive where we live
Kate says
Hi! Yes, you can use sugar. I recommend using less flour if using sugar because the sugar will not add moisture like honey will.
Lia says
Thank you. Making them now and will give you update after lunch. Which is about an hour from now.
Gail says
Could I use all WW flour maybe with a little vita wheat gluten?
Kate says
Hi! I think that you could, but all whole wheat flour can make for drier, heavier rolls without other adjustments. I have a honey wheat roll recipe that uses all whole wheat flour. You may find that that recipe is more what you’re looking for.
Rebecca says
When I think of wheat rolls, I think of a dry or crusty roll. But this is the exact opposite! These are soft, slightly sweet, and so delicious. The first time I made the recipe, I did the 15-minute rises, but I felt like the rolls were a little too soft (like you could squish it back to a ball of dough again). So the second time, I lengthened the rising times to 45 minutes each, and the roll turned out a bit firmer (how I wanted it) but still so soft and tasty! We love these rolls!! I also feel better about feeding these to my kiddos since they’re sweetened with honey and half the flour is whole wheat!
Kate says
Thank you! I’m glad that you liked the rolls!
Miranda says
Made these for Thanksgiving, they turned out great! My only tweak was to reduce the honey to 2TB. I also used a food processor to make the dough, I don’t have a stand mixer. Although it comes with a dough blade, I read that the cutting blade works better so I opted for that. With this method, you add the dry ingredients to the bowl and slowly feed the wet into the tube. I tested the dough a few times until it seemed elastic, it was so easy. I also used the oven to raise the dough both times: turn it on for a minute to heat, then off. This creates a nice warm space for the dough to rise. I skipped brushing them with butter at the end, since we always butter them anyway. They were just perfect! The whole wheat gave them structure and the white made them soft and airy. We used local honey too which was a real treat.
Kate says
Thank you so much for sharing your notes!
Lynne says
I love this recipe! First time making rolls and they came out so soft and were delicious.Now I need to try the hamburger and hot dog rolls.
Kate says
Thank you! I hope that works well for you!
Stephanie says
Lovely soft dinner rolls.
Kate says
Thank you so much!