Honey Wheat Rolls from 101 Cooking for Two

Name: Quick and Easy Honey Wheat Rolls
Prep time: 60 min
Cook time: 18 min
Total time: 78 min
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups AP flour; 1/2 cup whole wheat flour; 2/3 cup water (or milk); 2 ¼ teaspoons instant yeast (one pack); 1 egg; 1 tablespoon honey; 1 tablespoons butter; 1/2 teaspoon salt

Recipe Table of Contents

4.55 from 11 votes

Easy and quick honey wheat rolls will become a family favorite. Make them 100% whole wheat dinner rolls, or keep them lighter. Homemade honey wheat rolls go with any meal or special holiday celebration.

A wheat roll opened up to show the soft inside.

Table of Contents

👨‍🍳How to make this recipe
🌾Adjusting the amount of whole wheat flour
✔️FAQs
📖Bread and Roll Recipes
🖼️Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
📝Full Recipe

Blue ribbon divider used for visual effect

Introduction

I do love bread. Any bread and the nutty flavor of these honey wheat rolls is something special.

This is an easy recipe to adapt to your preference. Make it 25% whole wheat for a lighter wheat dinner roll or any amount up to 100% for whole wheat rolls. I'm for a 25-50% mix as my sweet spot.

These are good size rolls and make excellent slider buns for sandwiches.

Knead by hand or fire up that stand mixer setting on your counter—when was the last time you cracked it open and fired it up? Well, do it tonight and make these healthy dinner rolls.

👨‍🍳How to make this recipe

Melt butter with honey in the microwave and mix.
Warm milk or water and add yeast. Allow to proof.
Mix and knead in a stand mixer or by hand.
Divide into equal parts, place in a baking pan, cover and allow to rise to double in size.
Bake until golden brown.

🌾Adjusting the amount of whole wheat flour

For a lighter wheat roll, use a 3:1 ratio of all-purpose white flour to whole wheat flour. Most people will enjoy this lighter version. Using a 1:1 ratio will not need much accommodation other than a bit more water.

If you want 75-100% whole wheat, you may need a few teaspoons more water, and they will not rise quite as much. Wheat flour needs more water. And doubling the butter will help the texture.

This dough should be wet and light, so use some flour on your hands and surface. But if you touch the dough lightly, it is slightly sticky.

✔️FAQs

Can I Do This Without a Mixer?

Sure. Do some hand kneading. About 4-5 minutes should do it. But if you have the stand mixer, let it do the work.

Should I use milk or water?

Milk will make a somewhat silkier texture. Either will be fine, but they need to be warm, about 105°, for the yeast.

What type of yeast to use?

Use instant, quick, or rapid dry yeast—they are all basically the same. All dry yeast is the same organism, and the instant type has more live yeast than the old-fashioned active dry yeast.

It is a good idea to "proof" yeast before using it. This proves it is good before proceeding with the recipe. You have no control over the supply chain storage, and even "in date" yeast may be dead. Also, a lot of yeast is still good long after the expiration date.

My house is cold. How do I get them to rise?

Many ovens have a setting for this. For others, turn the oven on the lowest setting for a few minutes. Turn it off and rise your dough in the still-warm oven. Ovens vary a lot, so I can't be more specific.

How to store homemade honey wheat rolls?

Your homemade honey wheat rolls have no preservatives, so they will only last 2-3 days sealed at room temperature. I never like to refrigerate bread, but if you want, then for up to 5 days refrigerated.

Freezing is an option and will be good for 1-2 months only.

📖Bread and Roll Recipes

60-Minute Dinner Rolls

Stand Mixer Lunch Lady Rolls

Julia Childs French Bread; Simplified

Cornbread Drop Biscuits

This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.

101's Best Recipes, Bread Recipes

🖼️Step-by-Step Photo Instructions

Place butter and honey in a small bowl and microwave for 20 seconds. Mix the melted butter and the honey.

Measure ⅔ cup of warm water or milk (about 105°) and add the yeast.

For Stand Mixer: Add flours and salt to the stand mixer bowl and mix. Add all ingredients to the stand mixer after the yeast mixture starts to foam (about 5 minutes). Mix on 2 with the dough hook for about 8 minutes. After 2 minutes, stop and scrape down sides if all dry is not mixed in. The dough should be wet and a bit sticky if you work it. You may need a few teaspoons of water or flour.

For hand Kneading: Add flours and salt to a large bowl and stir with a wooden spoon. After the yeast mixture starts to foam (about 5 minutes), add all ingredients to the bowl and mix until everything is incorporated. Move the dough to a surface (I use a baking mat) and hand kneed for 6-8 minutes. The dough should be wet and a little sticky if you work it. You may need a few teaspoons of water or flour.

Turn dough onto floured surface and roll into a 2-inch diameter roll.

Cut into six even pieces and roll into balls. Lightly dust with flour.

six pieces of dough in a round baking pan with plastic wrap

Place into a 9-inch cake pan sprayed with PAM and covered with plastic wrap. A 6X9 baking dish will work well, also.

raised wheat rolls in pan covered with plastic wrap

Place in a warm place to rise, about 30 to 40 minutes. Also, preheat the oven to 375°.

Bake until golden brown. 16 to 18 minutes. Brush with butter and cool.

📝Full Recipe

honey wheat dinner roll opened up in a hand

Quick and Easy Honey Wheat Rolls

From Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan

Easy and quick honey wheat rolls will become a family favorite. Make them 100% whole wheat dinner rolls, or keep them lighter if you want. Homemade honey wheat rolls go with any meal or special holiday celebration.

Tap to leave a Rating

4.55 from 11 votes

Print Collection

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 18 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 18 minutes

Servings #/Adjust if desired 6 servings

Ingredients

US Customary - Convert to Metric

Instructions

Place butter and honey in a small bowl and microwave for 20 seconds. Mix the melted butter and the honey.
Measure ⅔ cup of warm water or milk (about 105°) and add the yeast.
For Stand Mixer: Add flours and salt to the stand mixer bowl and mix. Add all ingredients to the stand mixer after the yeast mixture starts to foam (about 5 minutes). Mix on 2 with the dough hook for about 8 minutes. After 2 minutes, stop and scrape down sides if all dry is not mixed in. The dough should be wet and a bit sticky if you work it. You may need a few teaspoons of water or flour.
For hand kneading: Add flours and salt to a large bowl and stir with a wooden spoon. After the yeast mixture starts to foam (about 5 minutes), add all ingredients to the bowl and mix until everything is incorporated. Move the dough to a surface (I use a baking mat) and hand kneed for 6-8 minutes. The dough should be wet and a little sticky if you work it. You may need a few teaspoons of water or flour.
Place the dough on a floured surface and roll into a 2-inch diameter roll.
Cut into six even pieces and roll into balls. Lightly dust with flour.
Place into a 9-inch cake pan sprayed with PAM and covered with plastic wrap. A 6X9 baking dish will work well, also.
Place in a warm place to rise, about 30 to 40 minutes. Also, preheat the oven to 375°.
Bake until golden brown. 16 to 18 minutes. Brush with butter and cool.

See the step-by-step photos in the post. Some recipes have an option to display the photos here with a switch above these instructions but the photos DO NOT print.

My Private Notes

Click here to save your own private notes only you will see. These will print and be saved for your next visit.

Recipe Notes

Pro Tips:

I use 25 to 50 percent whole wheat flour. You can increase it to 100%.
You will need more water with more whole wheat. The exact amount of liquid to the amount of flour varies some by the "hydration" of the flour. Sometimes you will need a bit more water or a bit more flour.
If you go over 50% whole wheat flour, I also suggest doubling to butter for 100% whole wheat.
White whole wheat flour is fine.
The dough needs to be moist and a bit sticky. It is easy to have this too dry to rise well.
Cold weather option: turn on over to lowest temp and heat until that temp is reached the turn-off oven.
Use a 9 inch round pan or 6X9 baking pan.
Double for 12 rolls and use a 9X12 cake pan.
Good at room temperature for 2-3 days and can freeze for a few months but I'm not a big fan of freezing or refrigerating bread.

To adjust the recipe size:

You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.

Nutrition Estimate

Serving size is my estimate of a normal size unless stated otherwise. The number of servings per recipe is stated above. This is home cooking, and there are many variables. All nutritional information are estimates and may vary from your actual results. To taste ingredients such as salt will be my estimate of the average used.

Course : Bread

Cuisine : American

© 101 Cooking for Two, LLC. All content and photographs are copyright protected by us or our vendors. While we appreciate your sharing our recipes, please realize copying, pasting, or duplicating full recipes to any social media, website, or electronic/printed media is strictly prohibited and a violation of our copyrights.

Editor's Note: Originally Published February 8, 2011. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.