Homemade Crusty French Bread Rolls are super easy to make in your bread machine. This recipe requires only five ingredients and produces the most amazing rolls you’ve ever tried.
I’ve been making these amazing French Bread Rolls for years and they never disappoint. One of the benefits of these rolls is their versatility.
The Master Taste Tester uses them to make me a breakfast sandwich with scrambled eggs and ham. I like to use them for sandwiches using nothing but mayonnaise and ham.
They’re equally amazing with just butter.
Why You Should Make This Recipe
- I’ve already mentioned that these rolls are quite versatile. They can be used as dinner rolls, slathered with butter, or for sandwiches.
- With a bread machine doing most of the work, these rolls are easy to make.
- There is nothing exotic about these rolls. They use only five ingredients and don’t require any fancy techniques.
- If you weigh your ingredients as I always do, these rolls are fool proof.
These Are The Ingredients That I Used
- Flour: I always use bread flour for these buns.
- Liquid: The only liquid needed is filtered water.
- Flavorings and Enhancers: I use Kosher salt for flavoring and granulated sugar to help feed the yeast.
- Yeast: The yeast that I use is either instant yeast or bread machine yeast.
Here’s How I Made the Dough
I started by adding the water, salt, sugar, bread flour and yeast to the pan of my bread machine in the order listed. Then, I selected the dough cycle and walked away.
The bread machine did all the work!
Here’s How I Used the Dough
- Once the dough cycle finished, I transferred the dough to a floured surface.
- Next, I cut the dough into 12 pieces and formed each piece into a ball.
Being the nerd that I am, I actually weighed each of the pieces of dough – 2.12 ounces each! This way, I knew that each of the rolls would be the same size.
- I placed the 6 balls of dough on a parchment lined baking sheet and placed the remaining balls on another parchment lined baking sheet. Then, I took my hand and flattened each of the dough balls.
I covered the baking sheets and placed them in my electric oven that I had heated for 1 minute and 45 seconds. This is a trick that I learned from Julia Child. It took several hours for the rolls to rise.
- Once the dough had risen, I removed the cover and baked the rolls in a preheated 400°F oven for 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes, the rolls were crusty golden brown on the outside and soft on the inside. I transferred the French Bread Rolls to a wire rack to cool.
The Crusty French Bread Rolls were perfect. Yum!
Frequently Asked Questions
Some years back, my daughter bought me a sheet pan extender that put inside the rimmed half sheet pan. Then, I invert another sheet pan on to of the extender. This works perfectly!
I line the baking sheets with reusable parchment paper. Other than my rounding the corners it fits perfectly in the baking sheets.
I turn my electric oven on for 1 minute and 45 seconds. It doesn’t matter what temperature is set. The 1 minute and 45 seconds is all that is needed to heat the oven and produce a perfect environment for rising.
For these rolls, I never bother using an egg wash. However, you could certainly use an egg wash if you wanted to.
Active dry yeast is different from instant or bread machine yeast in that it requires rehydration before being added to the dry ingredients. Instant or bread machine yeast can be added directly to the dry ingredients.
It’s important to use filtered water in any recipe using yeast. The reason is that tap water contains chlorine which can impede the growth of the yeast and/or actually kill the yeast.
Other Recipes for Rolls
I thoroughly enjoy making bread and rolls. Here are some of my favorite recipes for homemade rolls with the bread machine doing most of the work!
Watch How I Made These Amazing Rolls
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Homemade Crusty French Bread Rolls (Bread Machine)
Equipment
- Bread Machine
Ingredients
- 1 cup plus 3 ½ Tablespoons (9.75-ounces, 276 grams) filtered water (See Tips 1 and 2)
- ½ Tablespoon Kosher salt
- ½ Tablespoon granulated sugar
- 3 cups (15-ounces, 425 grams) bread flour
- ½ Tablespoon instant or bread machine yeast (See Tip 3)
Instructions
- Add ingredients to bread machine pan in the order listed. Select Dough cycle, and press start.
- When the Dough cycle has completed, transfer dough to a floured surface. Cut into 12 equal size pieces and form smooth balls. Place on parchment lined baking sheets and flatten with hand. (See Tip 4)
- Cover and place in a warm location until nicely risen. (See Tips 5 and 6)
- Bake in a preheated 400°F oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack.
- Yield: 12 Crusty French Bread Rolls. (See Tip 7)
Tips/Notes
- I always weigh my ingredients. The reason is that there is a lot of variability in different measures of ingredients. By weighing the ingredients, I’m assured of the recipe turning out the same time after time.
- Filtered water can either be bottled water or water from the refrigerator if the refrigerator has a filter.
- Active yeast is not the same as instant yeast. Active yeast needs to be rehydrated whereas instant yeast or bread machine yeast can be added directly to the dry ingredients.
- I weigh all of my ingredients and also weigh each of the cut pieces of dough. Each piece weighed 2.12 ounces).
- I use Julia Child’s suggestion of turning my electric oven on for exactly 1 minute and 45 seconds to produce the perfect environment.
- It takes around 3 hours for the rolls to rise to the size that I like which is more than the typical double in size.
- I store these rolls in a Ziploc bag in the refrigerator. Before using the rolls, I slightly warm them in either the microwave (15 seconds) or in the toaster oven (5 minutes at 350°).
Anonymous says
Thanks Chula. I will try adding more flour next time. I made them again today and let them rise 4 hours and when I took them out of the oven to preheat it, they fell flat. They make excellent toast though 🙂 I don’t have any problems with my yeast when making bread, but thanks for the tip on how to test it.
P.S. Your dinner rolls got rave reviews over the holidays!
Chula King says
Fingers crossed that adding more flour will solve the problem. Let me know!
Chula
Jean says
I love your recipes for rolls; however, mine do not rise in height. They tend to spread out. I do live in the tropics, so humidity may be an issue, but I do let them rise in the oven like you suggested. Also, I do not have the extended pan for covering. What do you recommend as an alternative? I have tried waxed paper and it stuck to the dough after rising resulting in a mess.
Chula King says
Hi Jean,
It almost sounds like you’re not using enough flour for the given amount of water. My main recommendation is to weigh both the water and the bread flour. Another potential issue could be the yeast that you’re using. All of my bread and roll recipes use instant yeast which does not need to bloom like active dry yeast does. You might try testing your yeast to make sure that it’s still active: Dissolve 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and 1 to 2 teaspoons of instant yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water. If the yeast is still active,you’ll see a foamy, bubbly mixture with a pleasant, yeasty aroma after 10 to 15 minutes.
If you’re letting the rolls rise in the oven, I think that you’ll be all right not bothering with a cover. Sometimes, I’ll let mine rise without the cover and they tend to do just fine.
Hope this helps!
Chula
Maccie says
Do you need to knead the dough after the dough cycle is done and before you form into the balls?
Chula King says
Hi Maccie,
You do not need to knead the dough after the dough cycle finishes.
Chula
Maccie says
Do you knead the rolls after the first rise at all and before you form them into the balls?
Anna says
Made these today and they came out flat & way too crunchy. I didn’t realize I needed to put 6 on 2 separate sheets. So I’m assuming that’s why. That wasn’t specified in the recipe instructions only within the step by step. But they did taste really good. So for that reason, I will be making them again and hopefully will be successful
Thank you
Betty says
If you are looking for a dinner roll recipe look no further! THIS IS THE RECIPE! I was looking for an easy bread machine recipe for rolls. This is by FAR the best recipe I’ve tried! The rolls came out crispy, light and delicious 🙂 I followed the recipe and the notes exactly and had no problems!
Chula King says
Thanks so much Betty! This is one of my favorite recipes. I make these rolls weekly!
Chula
Helen O says
These rolls are delicious! I followed the directions exactly as directed and weighed all the ingredients. I proofed the dough with the oven light on for a bit of warmth and voila! A light crispy crust with a lovely soft.open crumb. 5 Stars out of 5!
Chula King says
So glad the rolls turned out for you!