Warm, buttery Bran Dinner Rolls! I’m a bread girl (and pasta) 🙂 and these are hands-down my favorite dinner rolls. They have a light airy texture and just a hint of sweetness. Definitely my “go-to” dinner roll and my family’s favorite.
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If you aren’t terribly comfortable with making yeast bread/rolls, this is a great recipe to start with. It’s super easy and very forgiving. As with any yeast recipe, the temperature of the water that you dissolve the yeast in is the most critical part. Once, you get that part down, the rest is a breeze.
There are a couple of things I should mention about this recipe:
First, you can really use any kind of bran. I have used All-Bran cereal before (it looks like rabbit food, LOL). The recipe for these photos was made with a basic wheat bran which is similar to an oatmeal texture. Either way, the rolls will turn out great.
Second, don’t be concerned with the amount of flour needed. Once you turn the dough onto a floured surface to knead, just add flour and continue kneading until the dough is no longer sticky and has a smooth texture.
Here are the steps to creating these awesome Bran Dinner Rolls:
- Dissolve 2 pkg of yeast in 1 cup of warm water and set aside
- Add shortening, bran, sugar, and salt to 1 cup of boiling water. Cool to lukewarm.
- In a large bowl, add eggs, dissolved yeast, and the cooled mixture.
- Add 2-3 cups of flour and mix until dough falls from a spoon in “sheets”.
- Add 3-4 cups of flour, mixing as you can. When it becomes difficult to stir, turn it onto a floured surface and begin kneading in the flour until your dough becomes smooth.
- Put the dough in a large greased bowl turning the greased side up. Let rise until double in size.
- Punch dough down and form golf ball size rolls. Place in greased pans.
- Brush with margarine or butter and let rise until doubled in size.
- Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 30 minutes.
So, that’s it! Very simple and a great dinner roll for a beginner or seasoned baker. You should also check out this Banana Bread recipe. No yeast needed :).
Until next time…Cheers!
Bran Dinner Rolls
There's nothing more satisfying than a hearty roll loaded with butter! Great with honey or jellies too.
Ingredients
- 2 pkg yeast dissolved in 1 cup warm water
- 1 cup boiling water
- 2/3 cup shortening
- 1 cup wheat bran or 100% all-bran (Nabisco)
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 6 1/2 - 7 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Dissolve yeast in 1 cup of warm water (105-115 degrees). Set aside.
- In a small saucepan, bring 1 cup of water to a boil and remove from heat.
- To the boiling water, add shortening, bran, sugar, and salt. Cool until lukewarm.
- Add eggs and dissolved yeast to the cooled mixture.
- Add 2-3 cups of flour and beat until the dough drops from a spoon in "sheets".
- Add 3-4 cups of flour and stir as you can. Dump the dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth.
- Put the dough in a large lightly greased bowl; turn greased side up. Cover; let rise in a warm place until doubled in size.
- Punch down dough. Using a knife, cut pieces of dough and roll into balls (golf ball size).
- Place in 9' x 13" pans (12 balls per pan). Brush with softened margarine or butter and let rise 1 hour or until doubled in size.
- Heat oven to 375 degrees. Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes.
Notes
The dough is very soft compared to many other bread doughs.
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Nutrition Information
Yield 48 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 634Total Fat 6gSaturated Fat 2gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 3gCholesterol 12mgSodium 107mgCarbohydrates 126gFiber 5gSugar 4gProtein 17g
Nutritional data is not always accurate.
If made a bit larger, are these rolls suitable for sandwiches, or would it be too tender? Thank you!
I haven’t made them larger but, I think they would hold up fine. I like your idea!
Hi Kim, may I ask what kind of yeast you used?
Thanks for reaching out. I live in a rural area so I use whatever is accessible. However, I typically use Fleischmann’s Active Dry Yeast in the .75oz packets.
Our family is having one of those “lost recipe” experiences. My dear cousin, now deceased, used to bring extremely light, tender, slightly sweet bran yeast rolls to gatherings. We are, several years later, sadly discovering that no one else has the recipe. Would your recipe work for cloverleaf rolls? Would I place 3 smaller balls in a tin instead of one large one? Love to cook, but am not a baker. The desire to replicate a lost family treasure is inspiring me to give it a go. Thanks.
You can definitely shape these as you like. If you want to do the cloverleaf, I would still use a golf ball size of dough, per the recipe, and split that into the three smaller balls. A muffin tin should work fine for this. I hope this helps. Send me a photo of your finished product. I would love to see them!
Kim