Soft homemade gluten free dinner rolls that are quick and easy enough for busy weeknights, but still fit for any holiday table or celebration. Never go without bread again!
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Why this is the best gluten free dinner rolls recipe
These rolls are highly enriched, which just means that they have plenty of butter and milk in the recipe. Plus, the addition of nearly 1 full cup of tapioca starch helps provide a lot of stretch to the rolls, as baked, and makes the dough very easy to shape with almost no added flour.
These gluten free dinner rolls are soft and squishy, so they're ideal for serving with any homestyle meal. Imagine them on the side of your plate of gluten free meatballs, since they're easy enough for a weeknight.
They're also perfect for your holiday table. I've made our recipe for gluten free Texas Roadhouse rolls many times for Thanksgiving, but they're more of an appetizer-type roll.
For our next holiday season, I think I'll be making this gluten free rolls recipe as they're made for soaking up the last bits of gluten free gravy from that holiday plate.
What's the best gluten free flour for these gf dinner rolls?
To make gluten free bread, the base blend I recommend is Better Batter or my mock Better Batter all purpose gluten free flour blend.
Even when our bread recipe calls for our gluten free bread flour, which we’re not using here, the base is (mock Better Batter). It has the right balance of gluten free flours when you need a recipe to hold its shape during rising and baking.
Adding nearly a full cup of tapioca starch/flour to the recipe lightens the gluten free rolls without diluting the strength of Better Batter. It also provides elasticity to the raw dough, which makes for easier shaping, and to the baked rolls.
If you can’t have tapioca starch/flour, you can try replacing it both in the mock Better Batter and as a separate ingredient in this recipe with superfine glutinous rice flour (which is just rice flour made from starch, short-grain white rice). I have had some success with that substitution, but can’t promise results.
More gluten free yeast roll ingredient notes
- Instant yeast – This recipe calls for instant yeast, but if you don't have any on hand or would prefer to use active dry yeast, you’ll need to hydrate the yeast first in some of the milk. You’ll also need 15 grams of active dry yeast rather than just 12 grams of instant yeast.
- Sugar – The primary role of the sugar is to “feed” the yeast so that your gf rolls come out big and fluffy. But the sugar also complements the salt in this recipe, giving you that delicious balance of flavors.
- Milk – Warm milk activates the yeast, so it can start feeding and doing its thing. It's important that the milk isn't too hot; otherwise, you'll kill the yeast and won't get your rise.
- Butter – Butter adds richness to these easy gluten free rolls and also helps with their rise.
- Egg whites – These egg whites contribute a lot to the recipe: they add structure, assist with the rise, and they help the gf yeast rolls hold their shape.
How to get gluten free dinner rolls to rise
This is a yeasted gf bread recipe, so you must provide a proper environment for the commercial yeast to reproduce after it’s exposed to the milk in the recipe. Yeast rises at a very high range of temperatures.
The desired dough temperature appears to be 78°F, but I don’t spend much of any time worrying about that. I typically set yeasted dough to rise on top of my oven (never inside), and turn the oven on to about 300°F. The ambient heat provides just enough warmth to help the dough rise uniformly.
Yeasted dough will rise at lower temperatures, even in the refrigerator at 40°F, just more slowly. A slower rise creates more of that somewhat sour, yeasty flavor in the dough, and is best for leaner, non-enriched bread doughs that don’t have much, if any, fat.
The worst placement for getting rolls to rise is somewhere too hot. Slow-rising dough can be very frustrating, but a too-hot temperature risks killing the yeast and preventing any rise at all.
Enrichments like the milk, egg whites, and butter in these gluten free rolls help the dough rise more quickly. But rising times for yeasted dough like these dinner rolls can vary significantly.
A dry climate will also inhibit yeast growth, so you can try adding a tablespoon of additional warm milk or water to the dough if you tend to struggle with getting yeast dough to rise. Don’t add too much, though, or the rolls are likely to overproof and then deflate as they cool (leaving them gummy inside).
More tips for making the best gluten free rolls
Measure out your gluten free flour correctly
If you've tried some of my other gluten free bread recipes, you've likely seen this tip — that's because it's such an important one. The success of your gluten free baking really relies on precision. If you want to achieve the same results I do, you need to do exactly as I do.
When it comes to gluten free flour, you want to ensure you use precisely the amount that I do. That's impossible to achieve with a measuring cup, but it's very easy to do with a kitchen scale.
Definitely use a stand mixer
You really need to use a stand mixer for this gluten free yeast rolls recipe. It's honestly the only way to ensure you get the smooth dough that's necessary for the fluffiest, squishiest rolls.
If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can get away with using a food processor fitted with a steel blade.
Unfortunately, a hand mixer won't work, and there's absolutely no way to adequately mix this dough by hand.
Eat your homemade gluten free rolls right away
Eat your gluten free baked goods straight from the oven! That's not something you'll see me say often, if ever. But that's really what you should do with these gluten free rolls.
Unlike other gluten free bread recipes, these rolls are meant to be eaten quickly. They come out of the oven maintaining their shape, so you don't have to worry about them deflating or falling apart.
Worried that you won't be able to scarf down all these rolls in one sitting? Consider halving the recipe by cutting every single ingredient amount in half.
If you make 8 rolls instead of 16, you probably won't have any trouble eating them all before night's end. Only baking for 1 or 2? Try cutting the recipe down to 25%.
Gluten free bread rolls: storage tips
Storing leftover gf dinner rolls
While I don't recommend it, you can store leftover rolls if you made too many. Because yeast breads tend to get harder the longer they sit around, you want to take care to make sure you store your rolls in an airtight container.
They'll stay good at room temperature for around 2 days, and I suggest sprinkling them lightly with water and then popping them into the microwave for 10 or 15 seconds or the toaster oven at 300°F for a few minutes to refresh them before eating.
Making gluten free yeast rolls in advance
From start to finish, this gluten free bread rolls recipe takes about 2 hours to complete. This means these rolls aren't something you can whip up last minute.
I know what you're thinking: “I'll just make the dough and freeze it until I need it!” But I don’t ever recommend freezing raw yeast dough. It may not rise after having been frozen.
“That's okay,” you say. “I'll leave the dough in the fridge until I need it!” I also don’t recommend letting the dough rise in the refrigerator for more than 24 hours, as the oven rise tends to be very irregular during baking when you do that.
So what do you do when you want to make gluten free rolls ahead of time? Parbake and freeze. Using this method, your dinner rolls will last at least a month.
How to parbake these gf rolls
To parbake the rolls, follow the recipe through baking (be sure to separate the raw rolls, leaving about 2-inches between one another), but only set the oven to 300°F. Bake for about 15 minutes or until the rolls appear puffed and are no longer wet inside.
Remove the rolls from the oven, and allow them to cool completely. Freeze in a single layer, and then wrap tightly in freezer-safe wrap. Eliminate as much air as possible, as air is what causes freezer burn.
When you're ready for your dinner rolls, just defrost them at room temperature and then finish baking them at the original 375°F until fully browned and 190°F inside.
Gluten free dinner rolls: substitutions
Gluten free, dairy free dinner rolls
If you can’t have dairy, try replacing the melted butter with melted vegan butter. Melt and Miyoko’s Kitchen brands are my favorite.
In place of dairy milk, any unsweetened nondairy milk should work. Avoid using anything nonfat, though, as richness is the goal.
Gluten free, egg free dinner rolls
There are 2 egg whites in this recipe, and they provide structure to the rolls. You may be able to replace them with aquafaba, or the brine from a can of unsalted chickpeas.
Sometimes aquafaba is a perfect substitute for egg whites in baking, and other times it appears not to work. I’m afraid I’m not experienced enough in this sort of substitution to predict the likelihood of success.
How to use active dry yeast instead of instant yeast in these gf rolls
I always bake with instant yeast (which is also called bread maker or rapid rise yeast) in yeasted recipes like this one. You cannot eliminate the yeast in this recipe, but you can make dinner rolls with our recipe for yeast free gluten free dinner rolls.
You cannot replace the yeast in this recipe with wild yeast sourdough. Sourdough recipes are entirely distinct.
If you prefer to use active dry yeast, you’ll need to use more, and to “proof” the yeast in some of the milk first. The general rule of thumb is to use 25% more active dry yeast than instant yeast, by weight. Here, that’s 15 grams of active dry yeast in place of 12 grams of instant yeast.
FAQs
there are a lot of reasons why your gf dinner rolls may not have risen. Most can be traced back to not following my recipe to a point. Here are some examples:
– Using too much flour will reduce the hydration ratio of the dough, preventing the yeast from activating; not using enough sugar won't give the yeast the food it needs to do its job.
– Improper temperatures: If your milk is too cold, it will slow down activation of the yeast; if it's too hot, it will kill it. You also won't get a good rise if you leave your gluten free yeast dough in the fridge without a tight-fitting lid or in a drafty part of the kitchen.
– Expired yeast: Bad yeast can also be a culprit. If you're not sure whether yours is good, add a bit to a mixture of warm water and sugar. If it's not frothy after 10 minutes, your yeast is no good
Dense gluten free rolls are usually the result of too much flour. This is why I always suggest that you measure yours out using a kitchen scale rather than rely on a measuring cup. Be careful, as well, about incorporating too much flour into your rolls during shaping, which will also lower the hydration ration and reduce or eliminate yeast activity.
Yes, making and freezing gluten free buns is a great way to save time.
To do this, follow my instructions above for shaping and parbaking your rolls. Freeze them once they're completely cool, and then let them defrost before popping them back into the oven to finish baking before dinner.
If you only have active dry yeast, you can use it here but you'll need to use 25% more per recipe, and to dissolve it in some of the milk before combining the milk into the other ingredients. Here, the recipe calls for 12 grams of instant yeast, so you'd need 15 grams active dry yeast.
Yes, yeast absolutely can and does work with gluten free flours. The secret to getting your gluten free dough to rise is to take exacting care when measuring out ingredients and use the proper gluten free flour blend, as specified in the recipe.
No! The recipe calls for both the amount of flour blend stated plus additional tapioca starch as an additional ingredient. You can never just leave out any ingredient in any recipe and expect results, unless that ingredient is listed as optional. All good quality all purpose gluten free flour blends contain tapioca starch; this recipe calls for more than the average, all purpose amount.
No, these rolls will not hold their shape if you shape and then let them rise for that long, even in the refrigerator.
Gluten Free Dinner Rolls Recipe | Soft, Squishy Yeast Rolls
Ingredients
- 3 ¼ cups (455 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend Better Batter is ideal here; click through for recommended flour blends
- 3 ¼ teaspoons xanthan gum omit if your blend already contains it
- ⅞ cup (105 g) tapioca starch/flour plus more for sprinkling
- 4 teaspoons (12 g) instant yeast See Recipe Notes
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ⅝ cup (13 fluid ounces) warm milk (about 90°F)
- 8 tablespoons (112 g) unsalted butter melted and cooled (plus more for brushing)
- 2 (50 g) egg whites at room temperature
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer (See Recipe Notes), place the flour, xanthan gum, tapioca starch/flour, instant yeast, and granulated sugar, and whisk to combine well. Add the salt, and whisk again to combine.
- Add the milk, melted butter, and egg whites. Using the paddle attachment, beat vigorously. The mixture will come together in a clump and clear the sides of the bowl. Keep beating until it begins to look whipped, and sticks to the side of the mixing bowl again (about 6 minutes total).
- Transfer the mixture to a lightly oiled bucket or bowl with a very tight-fitting lid. The container should be large enough for the dough to nearly double (although it won’t double fully).
- Set the container aside for at least 2 hours at room temperature, and up to 24 hours in the refrigerator. Do not let the dough rest/rise for too long, or your rolls will rise much more irregularly after shaping.
- If you’ve let the dough rest in the refrigerator, remove it from the cold and place it, still covered, on the kitchen counter. Allow it to warm to room temperature before working with it.
- Grease a quarter sheet pan or multiple round cake pans for baking, and set them aside. You will later decide if you’d like to crowd the rolls, and have them rise then bake touching, or have them separate.
- Divide the dough into 16 equal portions, each 2 1/2 ounces in weight. Working with one piece at a time, knead the dough in your clean, dry hands, without adding any additional flour of any kind, pinching any seams that separate.
- Flour a clean, dry work surface very lightly with tapioca starch, and coax the dough into a round. The dough should be firm, but easy to work with.
- Place the shaped rounds of dough in your chosen baking pan either touching (they will rise mostly up), or a bit more than 1-inch apart, taking care not to crowd them (the will rise up and out).
- Cover the pan with lightly greased plastic wrap, place in a warm, draft-free location, and allow to rise until about 150% of their original size.
- This rise can take anywhere from 45 minutes to hours, depending upon the ambient temperature in your kitchen. Overproofing is not very likely, and can be detected when the surface of your raw rolls begins to take on a pockmarked appearance.
- When the rolls are nearing the end of their rise, preheat your oven to 375°F. Once the rolls are properly risen, remove the plastic wrap from the pan(s), and brush generously on all exposed sides with melted butter.
- Place the baking pan(s) in the center of the preheated oven and bake until an instant read thermometer inserted into the center of each roll reads about 190°F.
- If there is any space between the rolls after they’ve risen, they will take around 20 minutes until fully baked.
- If the rolls are touching one another, lower the oven temperature to about 350°F at 18 minutes and continue to bake for about another 5 minutes or until the proper internal temperature is reached in the center roll.
- Remove the pan from the oven, and with the rolls still in the hot pan, brush again with melted butter and serve immediately.
Notes
If you’d like use active dry yeast in place of instant yeast, you’ll need to hydrate the yeast first in some of the milk. You’ll also need 15 grams active dry yeast to replace 12 grams of instant yeast. For the stand mixer
If you don’t have a stand mixer, I recommend making the dough in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. I don’t recommend a hand mixer, or trying to mix by hand. Originally published on the blog in 2021; in 2022, some text resources added, but recipe, photos, video unchanged. Nutrition information. Nutrition information is an estimate, per roll, and is provided as a courtesy created using an online nutrition calculator. It should not be relied upon.
Nutrition
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Thanks for stopping by!
Hi, I’m Nicole. I create gluten free recipes that really work and taste as good as you remember. No more making separate meals when someone is GF, or buying packaged foods that aren’t good enough to justify the price. At Gluten Free on a Shoestring, “good, for gluten free” just isn’t good enough! Come visit my bio!
Kate says
I made a half-batch of these today and they turned out delicious! So light and fluffy! I served them to non-GF guests and the verdict was they tasted like normal, fresh-out-of-the-oven buns.
Nicole Hunn says
That’s amazing to hear, Kate! Thank you so much for letting me know. You’re helping to change people’s perspective of gluten free baked goods, and that means a lot to me!
Sherrie says
Can I use cornstarch instead of tapioca flour
Nicole Hunn says
No, Sherrie, that isn’t an appropriate substitute. For a discussion of what the nearly full cup of tapioca starch does in this recipe and how you might be able to replace it, but I can’t promise results, please see the text of the post under the heading “What’s the best gluten free flour for these gf dinner rolls?”
Samuel says
My dinner rolls turned out kind of dense even though I used the right gluten free mix. I know that gluten free bread can turn out dense. But it still tastes good if you have it with food.
Nicole Hunn says
If your rolls were dense and you used the combination of Better Batter all purpose gluten free flour blend + extra tapioca starch as specified in the recipe, I’d ask yourself: did you measure by weight, not volume? did you incorporate flour into the dough as you were shaping it? did you allow the rolls to rise for long enough? did you bake them all the way through?
Samuel says
Thanks for the tips, will try to make it again!
Nancy says
Success at last! They aren’t as pretty as yours but at least they aren’t hockey pucks! I tried two times and could have sold them to the NHL! Then it came to me, maybe I can’t make just half the batch. So I made the recipe exactly as written and they turned out amazing. Now to have the patience to let them cool a tiny bit so I don’t burn my mouth. Lol
MJ says
Tried to print this out several times. It keeps asking for an email that wouldn’t work. Says email subscription failed.
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, MJ, I’m really sorry you’re having trouble with the print function. Did you click the consent box (it says “I consent to receiving emails and personalized ads”) before you tried to submit your email address to sign up for Grow?
Sue J. says
I don’t have a stand mixer with a paddle attachment; all I have is a hand held mixer. So many of your yeast dough recipes call for the stand mixer, so I’m reluctant to try them, though, I’d really love to. Will a hand mixer work?
Nicole Hunn says
I’m afraid you can’t make these bread recipes successfully with a hand mixer, no, Sue. You need the dough to be well-worked and smooth, and a hand mixer doesn’t have anything approaching a paddle attachment. Whisk attachments will whip the dough and aerate it. Without a stand mixer, if you’d like to make any of my yeast bread recipes, you can make my gluten free artisan bread with a bowl and spoon.
Cherie says
Can I use an all purpose GF flour with xantham gum? Or must it be a gf bread flour? I can make your flour if necessary, but I would rather not if I can use my all purpose gf.
Nicole Hunn says
This recipe doesn’t call for my gf bread flour blend, Cherie. It calls for an all purpose gluten free flour blend with xanthan gum, plus extra tapioca starch. The blend must be one of my recommended blends or you can’t expect results. Please take a careful look at the text of the post where I discuss how we aren’t using bread flour, and the recipe for what we are using.
Lisa says
I made your mock all purpose flour using with tapioca already in there. I read below others were asking about that too. could this be the place where I can use expandex modified?
Nicole Hunn says
No, Lisa, please add each ingredient separately as listed, as I said to others in the comments you saw that I previously answered. The tapioca starch is a separate, additional and necessary ingredient and cannot be replaced with Expandex, which is a totally different thing and not at all interchangeable. A recipe is a formula, and omissions are never appropriate and substations are always recommended against as they alter the formula.
Emily says
I made half a batch of these last night and have been reading through this recipe/instructions over and over again to try to figure out all of the errors I made (they turned out more like biscuits). I used Bob’s Red Mill which I now recognize is not recommended and I didn’t add additional yeast for my active dry yeast. My question is, what flour would you recommend if I can’t get ahold of the primary ones you recommend for this recipe? Would Cup 4 Cup still work better than Bob’s Red Mill?
Nicole Hunn says
Thank you for investigating where you deviated from the recipe as written. Please check the all purpose gluten free flour blends page on the blog for full information on what flour blends work, and how to make your own. It’s linked to that ingredient in every recipe that calls for it.
Leah Robb says
Can I use plant based milk instead?
Nicole Hunn says
Please see the text of the post under the heading “Gluten free, dairy free dinner rolls”
Glenda says
Can u change things to Australian standards please to make things easier. Thanks.
Nicole Hunn says
No, I can’t do that. I live in the U.S., and my readership is primarily here.
Emily says
The rolls turned out beautifully! I used potato starch instead of tapioca flour, since I was all out. The dough was not sticky, very easy to work with, and proofed quickly. My husband proclaimed that THESE are the rolls I should make for all of our bread needs now. Thank you!
Nicole Hunn says
I’m glad you enjoyed the results, Emily. For others’ benefit, potato starch does not have the stretchy properties of tapioca starch and I don’t generally recommend it as a substitute for it.
B. Kime says
I was nervous about making a yeasted GF bread for the first time. I did have the recommended flour on hand, I measured everything out on a scale, and gave myself plenty of time. They turned out pretty good! I may have added a little extra yeast (the scale was jumpy) so I’m not sure if the sour flavor was intended or due to 1/4 tsp extra yeast. Since I don’t have a lot of experience I was wondering if adding 1 tsp sugar to the recipe would throw off the process? I also watched the video but was left wondering how much kneading I was supposed to do to the measured out portions? Just enough to shape it? or actually work it as traditional bread is worked for 30 sec-1 min?
Nicole Hunn says
This recipe already has 1/4 cup (50 g) of granulated sugar in the ingredients. You aren’t kneading the dough for any reason other than smoothing it out and shaping it. Just follow the instructions on handling combined with the how-to video. The process you’re describing is for gluten development, which of course we don’t have here.
jeng says
I want to use your gluten free flour blend to make your gluten free dinner rolls, however your flour recipe calls for tapioca flour/starch AND your gluten free dinner roll recipe calls for tapioca flour/starch…please clarify
Nicole Hunn says
The recipe calls for both the amount of flour blend stated plus additional tapioca starch as an additional ingredient. Please follow the recipe precisely as written.
Megan says
I really want to love this recipe! But this is the second time I’ve tried it, and in spite of using the correct flour and other ingredients, measuring perfectly with a kitchen scale, and following the directions as well as I could, they still wouldn’t rise well and turned out dense and yeasty. I can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong! I’m pretty good in the kitchen, but this recipe just seems to go right over my head.
Nicole Hunn says
There are many ways in which you could have deviated from the recipe as written, Megan, despite using the correct flour and using a scale. My first guess is that you added flour during shaping which lowered the hydration ratio which will prevent a rise. I’m not able to guess what else might have happened, but that’s my assumption.
DZ says
Hello,
You should really change the overview at the beginning of the recipe for the rising time and overall time to make this recipe. It is very misleading to have it say 1 hour rising when in the recipe it says 2 hours rising then another 45 minutes when shaped. Very misleading
Nicole Hunn says
The recipe states that rising can take anywhere from 45 minutes to hours depending on the rising environment, DZ. That is the only proofing. The first time is a resting period, which I agree should be added to the total time. I’ve done that now. I apologize for the confusion.