Gluten Free Hawaiian Rolls

This recipe for soft and tender gluten free Hawaiian rolls makes the perfect gluten free bread for any occasion—for everything from dinner rolls to burger buns!

Why you'll love these gluten free Hawaiian rolls

The recipe for gluten free Hawaiian rolls from page 181 of Gluten-Free on a Shoestring Bakes Bread is just too good not to share. I've included everything you need to know about baking the best gluten free bread you've ever had, including how to make our gluten free bread flour.

This includes general shaping instructions for all the gluten free bread in the Bakes Bread book. It also includes specific instructions for shaping small, round rolls like these. Rolls like these are going to change the way you think about gluten free bread forever.

The instructions in the book for these Hawaiian Rolls are to make 12 dinner rolls, but these days I find myself making them into 8 full-size buns instead. They make the most delightful sandwiches!

I simply love the soft, tender crumb of the bread, and the way the outside browns just right. The dough can be handled more like “regular” bread dough. You might just think you'd reached for wheat flour!

Gluten free Hawaiian rolls ingredients

I'm sharing two variations of this recipe: one made with our gluten free bread flour, and the other made with a combination of Better Batter (or our mock Better Batter blend) and additional tapioca starch/flour.

Gluten free bread flour blend

The recipe variation that uses our gluten free bread flour blend (a combination of Better Batter classic blend all purpose gluten free flour, Expandex modified tapioca starch, and whey protein isolate) is somewhat simpler, requires less liquid, less butter, and calls for a bit more yeast.

It necessarily involves dairy, though. That's just something to keep in mind as you choose the variation that best suits your needs.

Gluten free all purpose flour blend

The other gf Hawaiian rolls recipe variation relies on the addition of tapioca starch/flour, which helps add structure and chew to the rolls in a way that is usually unavailable without the use of gluten free bread flour. The best all purpose gluten free flour blend to use is Better Batter's classic blend, which already contains tapioca starch, but you must add the additional tapioca starch for the recipe to work properly.

Instant yeast

I like baking with instant yeast, which is also called “breadmaker's yeast” or “rapid rise yeast.” It's just like active dry yeast, but has less of a protective shell around the single-strain commercial yeast so it doesn't have to be soaked before adding it to the remaining bread dough ingredients.

If you'd like to replace the instant yeast with active dry yeast, you'll need 25% more yeast, by weight, and you must soak the yeast first in some liquid from the recipe, until it becomes foamy. Here, where the recipe calls for 6 grams of instant yeast, you'd need 7.5 grams active dry yeast (for 7 grams instant yeast, it would be 8.75 grams active dry yeast).

Sugar

The 1/4 cup of granulated sugar in this roll recipe aids in browning of the rolls, and adds tenderness, too. It's essential to the proper texture here.

Salt

Salt does a lot of important things in a yeast bread recipe! It helps retard the activity of the yeast, so it doesn't overproduce; it also adds flavor and balances the sweetness.

Kosher salt is the most common salt used in baking, as it is much more difficult to overmeasure than table salt, which is much more concentrated, by volume. You can also use lightly flaked sea salt.

Butter

Butter adds richness and aids in browning of your Hawaiian rolls. Don't skip it! For a dairy-free alternative, please scroll down to the ingredients and substitution section.

Pineapple juice

Hawaiian rolls get their telltale sweetness and flavor from pineapple juice in place of milk or water. You can buy pineapple juice in a can, or do what I usually do and drain the liquid from a can of pineapple slices in their own juice (not syrup!).

Vanilla extract

Since this is such a robust-flavored bread that is a bit on the sweet side, we add vanilla extract to enhance all of those lovely qualities.

The tools you'll need for making gluten free Hawaiian bread

Food scale

For reliable baking reasults, always measure your ingredients (especially dry ingredients) by weight, not volume, whenever possible. The size of dry measuring cups is not standardized, and there is unavoidable human error that often causes overmeasuring of flour, no matter how experienced the baker.

You don't need a fancy digital food scale. Escali is a great brand that makes a scale that should cost around $15 U.S.

Stand mixer with dough hook (GF bread flour blend) or paddle attachment (AP GF flour blend)

For this recipe, you simply can't effectively mix your bread dough by hand, like you can with our gluten free artisan bread recipe. The raw dough isn't wet enough to allow that sort of margin of error.

For the gf bread flour recipe, you'll need an electric mixer with a dough hook (many handheld mixers also have dough hook attachments). For the all purpose gluten free flour blend variation, a paddle attachment is what you need. You might be able to use a food processor instead, but be very careful not to overprocess.

Bench scraper

One of the most useful tools in a baker's kitchen is a bench scraper, which is one of the many kitchen tools stolen from the carpenter's workbench. I simple metal bench scraper is ideal for folding the raw dough over on itself to smooth it out, and for dividing the dough into portions.

Proofing bucket

I use 2 liter Cambro brand proofing buckets for all of my bread dough. Whether I'm just letting the unshaped dough rest and absorb some of its moisture, and chill a bit for easier shaping, or giving the dough the time for a true first proofing, Cambro buckets seal tight like a drum.

Whenever you're letting yeast bread dough rise in the refrigerator, keep in mind that it must be sealed very, very well. Otherwise, the moisture in the dough that you've worked so hard to incorporate will evaporate into the dry air of the refrigerator, and it will struggle to rise.

How to make the dough for these gluten free Hawaiian rolls

Whether you are making this bread dough with all purpose gluten free flour or with our gluten free bread flour blend plus tapioca starch and xanthan gum separately, the remaining ingredients in the dough are the same. They differ only in amounts.

1. Both varieties require use of a stand mixer to make a smooth dough. For the bread flour blend mixture, you’ll need the dough hook attachment; for the all purpose blend mixture, you’ll use the paddle attachment.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, place the flour blend (either the bread flour blend, or the all purpose gluten free flour blend, including xanthan gum and extra tapioca starch, which adds a lot of stretch to the rolls), yeast, and sugar, and whisk to combine.
3. Add salt separately, to avoid any possibility of the salt and yeast clumping together, and whisk again to combine.
4. To the whisked dry ingredients, add room temperature butter egg, pineapple juice, and vanilla, and mix on low speed until combined. Turn the mixer up to medium speed and beat (or knead, if using the dough hook with bread flour) for about 5 minutes. If you’re using the all purpose blend, continue to beat with the paddle until the dough begins to look whipped, like it has had more air incorporated into it.
5. Transfer the dough to a bucket or bowl with a tight-fitting lid that’s large enough to allow the dough to nearly double in size.
6. Place it in the refrigerator, sealed, for at least 12 hours, and up to 3 days. Before 12 hours, the dough will still be too sticky to handle; after 3 days, there will be too much yeast development and the rise after shaping less controlled.

How to shape gluten free round rolls

The short video below shows the “scrape and fold” technique that I recommend using to shape my new style of gluten free bread dough, made with gluten free bread flour. I can describe it with words, and I do in the recipe below. But there's nothing like seeing it for yourself.

General gf bread flour bread shaping tips

When working with raw yeast bread dough made with my gluten free bread flour blend, always begin on a floured surface with lightly floured hands. With the help of an oiled bench scraper, keep moving the dough as you shape it, particularly if it begins to stick to the surface or your hands.

The process of kneading dough made with bread flour is done using the scrape-and-fold method. Scrape the dough off the floured surface with the bench scraper, then fold the dough over itself. Sprinkle the dough lightly with flour, scrape the dough up again, and fold it over itself again.

Repeat scraping and folding in this manner until the dough has become smoother. Keep the outside of the dough and the surface covered in a light coating of flour as you shape the dough. Handle the dough with a light touch to avoid kneading the flour into the dough, which might dry it out and result in a tight, unpleasant crumb.

A light touch is the key. Repeat that to yourself as a mantra as you first learn to shape this bread dough. It’s the most important rule in shaping. More technique, less muscle.

You’ll notice that the recipes do not include instructions to allow dough that has been rising in the refrigerator to come to room temperature before shaping. Always begin with cold dough when shaping the dough in this book. It is much easier to shape.

How to shape round rolls

If you have previous experience shaping conventional yeast bread dough, all of that will come in quite handy when you're shaping gluten free dough made with this bread flour. This dough is not at all like the batter-style gluten free yeast bread dough. That dough can be shaped into rounds, but you must work with wet mounds of dough that looked more like cookie dough than bread dough.

For dough made with bread flour, on a floured surface, flatten the dough into a disk, then pull the edges toward the center of the disk and secure the edges together by pressing them between your thumb and forefinger. Turn the dough over so that the gathered edges are on the bottom and cup your whole hands around the dough, to coax it into a round shape.

Place the round of dough on a lightly floured surface and cup only one palm around the dough with the side of your hand resting on the counter (the side of your hand nearest your pinkie).

Maintaining contact between the side of your hand and the surface, begin to move your hand in a circular motion while gently coaxing the edges of the dough upward (toward the top of the round) with the tips of your fingers.

Tips for making the perfect gluten free Hawaiian rolls

Begin with a cold first rise in the refrigerator

Whether you're making these Hawaiian rolls with our gf bread flour recipe or the all purpose gluten free flour recipe, this is an enriched dough, meaning it has butter and milk in it. For that reason, you don't want too much yeast development which will flavor the bread and cause a more unpredictable, less controlled oven rise.

We begin by allowing the dough to rise first, in a tightly sealed container, in the refrigerator. This allows the flour time to absorb some of the moisture in the dough, which makes the raw dough easier to handle and shape.

If the dough begins to “dimple,” it's beginning to overproof, or rise too much. Be sure you get it right into the oven, then. You want a nice, smooth rise.

Handle the dough lightly

Whether you're using the gluten free bread flour formulation or the all purpose gluten free flour blend formulation of this recipe, you never want to incorporate too much additional flour into the raw dough during shaping.

When it begins to stick to your hands as you work, sprinkling the dough with additional flour will absorb some moisture and making the dough feel smoother. But it will also lower the dough's hydration, and inhibit rise in the oven.

Yeast needs sufficient hydration to rise, and bread needs enough moisture to be soft and tender. Work with the dough cold, and avoid trying to knead it roughly like you might conventional dough. Instead, handle it more with your fingertips than with your palms, and keep the dough moving so it doesn't have a chance to stick to anything other than itself.

Weigh your GF Hawaiian rolls for consistent baking

For the most beautiful presentation, make rolls that are precisely the same size as one another. Simply weigh your dough after its first refrigerator rise, before dividing and shaping it, and divide the total number of grams by the number of rolls you're making.

So if your dough weighs 950 grams total, if you're planning to make 10 rolls, they'd be 95 grams each. You can pull off pieces of dough and weigh them individually before shaping, or divide by sight, and weigh each piece and correct as necessary.

Gluten free Hawaiian rolls ingredients and substitution suggestions

Dairy free, gluten free Hawaiian rolls

The butter in these rolls can easily be replaced with vegan butter. The real issue is the whey protein isolate in the gluten free bread flour. That absolutely requires dairy for the dough to behave as you see here.

The only dairy in the all purpose gluten free flour/tapioca starch flour recipe is the butter, though. So if you can't have dairy, use our vegan butter replacement for dairy butter, and your gf Hawaiian rolls will be safely dairy free!

You can also try our gluten free hamburger buns with the dairy-free substitution instructions included right above the recipe card.

Egg free, gluten free Hawaiian rolls

These rolls contain only one egg in the dough, and one egg in an optional egg wash. If you can't have eggs, eliminate the egg wash entirely, or replace it with some cream.

In place of the egg in the bread dough, you can try using a “chia egg.” Just place 1 tablespoon ground white chia seeds in a small bowl, add 1 tablespoon lukewarm water, mix and allow to gel.

Vegan gluten free Hawaiian rolls

If you use the dairy free and egg free ingredient suggestions above, and are mindful about how the sugar you use is refined, you will have made vegan gluten free Hawaiian rolls!

FAQs

The best ways to serve gluten free Hawaiian rolls

I make these sweet gf Hawaiian rolls quite often for sandwiches (they make the best gf ham sandwich you've ever had!). To ensure that they rise evenly and not too high for stuffing with fillings, press each piece of raw dough into a flat disk.

You can also make these rolls into 10 or 12 portions, instead of 8, and roll them as we do our gluten free dinner rolls. Bake them crowded into a cast iron skillet or on a quarter sheet baking pan, and serve them with some gluten free tomato soup.

How to make delicious gluten free Hawaiian rolls, step by step