These high altitude Parker House rolls are melt-in-your-mouth soft, fluffy, and buttery, sweetened with pure maple syrup and slathered with salted maple butter. If you’re looking for the perfect dinner roll recipe to make for Thanksgiving dinner, you’ve found it! The pillowy yeast dough is enriched with eggs, whole milk and butter, and filled with maple butter before being rolled into spirals and baked until golden brown. And if you like, you can use honey instead of maple syrup. They’re fantastic either way! Read on for a step-by-step tutorial for making these easy and classic dinner rolls.
Looking for more Thanksgiving recipes? You’ll love this sweet potato casserole with brown sugar pecan streusel, classic pecan pie, cranberry raspberry sauce, and brown butter pumpkin cake.
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Why are they called Parker House rolls?
These classic, buttery dinner rolls are called Parker House rolls because they were invented at the Parker House Hotel in Boston in the 1870s. Traditionally, portions of dough were rolled into an oval shape, then folded over. They are known for being incredibly soft, fluffy and buttery.
Why You’ll Love These Rolls
Easy to Make Dough. If you’ve never worked with yeast dough before, it’s really nothing to be intimidated by. This is an incredibly easy recipe to make, and if you follow the tips throughout today’s post, you’ll love the results of these fluffy rolls. It’s also such a versatile dough to work with. I use the same enriched dough for all of my cinnamon rolls, and even a cinnamon swirl loaf bread.
Perfect for Thanksgiving. I don’t often make rolls, but Thanksgiving and Christmas are definitely occasions that call for the extra effort of making homemade bread. Enjoy hot buttery rolls with Thanksgiving dinner, and then make a fabulous sandwich the next day with leftover rolls, maple butter, turkey and whole grain mustard.
Stays Soft for Days. These rolls stay soft and tender for days after baking – if they last that long!
TIP: Be sure to refer to the recipe card at the end of the post for the complete list of ingredients and instructions
Ingredients
Dough
- Butter + Milk + Eggs. A lean dough is made from little more than flour, yeast and salt. Enriched dough, though, contains fat for more flavor, and a more tender, fluffy texture.
- Maple Syrup. Parker House rolls should be lightly sweetened. While you can use plain granulated sugar, honey or maple syrup adds another depth of flavor that’s just delicious.
- Flour. The flour gives the rolls structure and strength. When making yeast dough, I prefer to use bread flour, rather than all-purpose flour. Bread flour contains a higher percentage of protein, which makes chewier bread, rolls and pizza.
- Yeast. The yeast is the leavening agent, which makes the rolls rise and puff up. Yeast works by feeding on sugar, producing carbon dioxide in the process. This fermentation creates gas bubbles, which makes the bread rise.
- Salt. The salt adds flavor and balances the sweetness.
- Nutmeg. A little freshly grated nutmeg is subtle, but delicious in these rolls, especially with the flavor of the maple syrup.
TIP: When working with yeast dough, it’s important that all ingredients are at room temperature. Be sure to warm the butter and milk to between 110-115 degrees Fahrenheit. Yeast is very sensitive to temperature, and if the ingredients are too cold, the yeast will not be activated. Too hot, and they will kill the yeast.
Maple Butter
- Butter + Salt + Maple Syrup. The butter is so good, you’ll want to just eat it with a spoon. Maple syrup adds sweetness and flavor, and salt just makes everything better. You’ll be using the butter both to spread over the dough before shaping it into rolls, as well as to serve with the baked rolls.
Instructions
Make the dough.
- In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium low heat. Stir in the milk, and warm just until the mixture reaches between 110-115 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove from the heat. If it gets too hot, let it sit for a few minutes until it cools down to the correct temperature. It’s important that you check the temperature – if it’s too cold, it won’t activate the yeast, and if it’s too hot, it will kill the yeast.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the flour, yeast, salt, and nutmeg. Add the warm butter/milk, maple syrup and 2 eggs.
- Knead the dough on medium/low speed for 5 minutes. The dough will be very soft and sticky, and will not form a dough ball.
Let the dough rise.
- Grease a bowl with non-stick baking spray or oil. Use a spatula to scrape the dough out of the mixing bowl, into the greased bowl. Cover the bowl of dough tightly with plastic wrap. Set the dough in a warm place to rise until doubled in size, about 45-90 minutes. If your oven has a bread-proofing setting, you can use that to proof your dough. If not, let your oven preheat to the lowest setting, turn the oven off, and then set your dough inside to rise.
- After the dough rises, set the bowl of dough, still covered, in the refrigerator, and chill for 2 hours, or preferably overnight.
TIP: The chilling and rest period allows the gluten to rest and the dough to develop flavor. Also, since this is a very soft dough, it’s extremely difficult to work with when it’s not chilled. The cold dough is very easy to roll out, fill, roll up and cut.
Make the maple butter.
- While the dough is rising/chilling, get your butter ready.
- In a bowl, use a hand mixer (or a strong arm) to combine the softened butter with the maple syrup and salt until smooth and creamy.
- You’ll be using about half of the butter to spread inside the rolls before baking, and saving the other half to serve with the rolls.
Roll out and shape the rolls.
- When you’re ready to shape your rolls, grease a 9×13 baking dish with butter or non-stick baking spray.
- Use the remaining 1/4 cup of flour to flour your work surface, and turn the cold dough out onto the flour. Divide the dough into 2 portions, and work with half at a time.
- On your floured surface, roll out half the dough into a square measuring about 12×12 inches.
- Spread the dough with 1/4 of the maple butter.
- Use a pastry cutter to cut the dough into 6 strips, then roll up each strip into a spiral (with the butter inside).
- Repeat with the other half of the dough and 1/4 of the maple butter.
- Arrange the spirals of dough in your baking dish, seam side down. With cinnamon rolls, you would arrange them with the spiral facing up, but with Parker House rolls, the smooth side of the dough should face up.
- Set the pan in a warm place for 20-30 minutes, until the rolls have started to puff up a little, and just barely touch each other.
Note that in the next photograph, the pan is a little bigger than a 9×13 pan. In a standard 9×13 baking dish, the rolls will be a little closer to each other.
Bake the rolls.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Lightly beat the last egg, and gently brush the beaten egg over the tops of the rolls.
- Bake the rolls for about 20-25 minutes, until the tops are golden brown and the rolls are baked through.
- While the rolls are hot, you can brush the tops with a little more of the maple butter, and sprinkle them with flaky salt, if you like.
- Serve the rolls warm with the leftover maple butter.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to use whole milk?
You can use whole milk, low fat or skim, as well as buttermilk. I haven’t experimented with non-dairy milk options, but I imagine they would work fine.
Will active dry yeast work instead of instant/rapid rise yeast?
Yes. With instant yeast, you don’t have to activate the yeast first, and you can simply mix it right into the other dry ingredients. With active dry yeast, you need to activate it first. Do this by sprinkling the yeast over the warm milk, along with a teaspoon of sugar. Let it stand for about 15 minutes, until foamy, then proceed with combining all of the ingredients together for kneading.
Can I use all-purpose flour instead of bread flour?
Yes, you can.
How long does it take the dough to rise?
The time can vary quite a bit, usually depending on the temperature of your ingredients, and how warm or cold your kitchen is. I’ve had dough double in size in less than 30 minutes, and other times it will take close to an hour and a half.
Is it possible to make the dough without a stand mixer and dough hook?
It is, but it will be more difficult. Since this is a very soft and sticky dough, it’s hard to knead by hand without adding too much flour to keep it from sticking. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you might try simply beating the dough in a bowl with a spoon. It will take a strong arm, and you’d need to beat the dough for about 10 minutes to develop the gluten sufficiently.
Can I make the dough the night before and bake the rolls the next day?
Absolutely. Since the dough needs to chill after rising, it’s actually ideal to make the dough the night before, let it rise, and then chill it in the refrigerator overnight. The next day, when you’re ready to bake the rolls, you need simply to roll out and shape the chilled dough before baking. You can make and chill the dough up to 3 days in advance.
What’s the best way to reheat leftover rolls?
The best way to reheat Parker House rolls is in the oven, rather than in the microwave. You can toast them in a convection oven until warmed through, or reheat then in a 300-degree oven for 5-10 minutes until the exterior is crisp again, and the inside warm and soft.
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High Altitude Parker House Dinner Rolls with Maple Butter
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Dough Hook
Ingredients
Dough
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- ¾ cup whole milk
- 3 ¼ cups bread flour, spooned and leveled (plus 1/4 cup for rolling out the dough)
- 1 packet (2 1/4 tsp) instant or rapid rise yeast
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- 3 tbsp pure maple syrup or honey (or 1/4 cup granulated sugar)
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 large egg, (for egg wash)
Maple Butter
- ½ cup unsalted butter, very soft
- 4 tbsp pure maple syrup or honey
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
Instructions
Dough
- In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium low heat. Stir in the milk, and warm just until the mixture reaches between 110-115 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove from the heat.If it gets too hot, let it sit for a few minutes until it cools down to the correct temperature. It's important that you check the temperature – if it's too cold, it won't activate the yeast, and if it's too hot, it will kill the yeast.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the flour, yeast, salt, and nutmeg. Add the warm butter/milk, maple syrup and 2 eggs.
- Knead the dough on medium/low speed for 5 minutes. The dough will be very soft and sticky, and will not form a dough ball.
- Grease a bowl with non-stick baking spray or oil. Use a spatula to scrape the dough out of the mixing bowl, into the greased bowl. Cover the bowl of dough tightly with plastic wrap. Set the dough in a warm place to rise until doubled in size, about 45-90 minutes.If your oven has a bread-proofing setting, you can use that to proof your dough. If not, let your oven preheat to the lowest setting, turn the oven off, and then set your dough inside to rise.
- Set the bowl of dough, still covered, in the refrigerator, and chill for 2 hours, or preferably overnight.This rest period allows the gluten to rest and the dough to develop flavor. Also, since this is a very soft dough, it's extremely difficult to work with when it's not chilled. The cold dough is very easy to roll out, fill, roll up and cut.
Maple Butter
- While the dough is rising/chilling, get your butter ready.
- In a bowl, use a hand mixer (or a strong arm) to combine the softened butter with the maple syrup and salt until smooth and creamy.
- You'll be using about half of the butter to spread inside the rolls before baking, and saving the other half to serve with the rolls.
Assembly
- When you're ready to shape your rolls, grease a 9×13 baking dish with butter or non-stick baking spray.
- Use the remaining 1/4 cup of flour to flour your work surface, and turn the cold dough out onto the flour. Divide the dough into 2 portions, and work with half at a time.
- On your floured surface, roll out half the dough into a square measuring about 12×12 inches.Spread the dough with 1/4 of the maple butter.Use a pastry cutter to cut the dough into 6 strips, then roll up each strip into a spiral (with the butter inside).
- Repeat with the other half of the dough and 1/4 of the maple butter.
- Arrange the spirals of dough in your baking dish, seam side down. With cinnamon rolls, you would arrange them with the spiral facing up, but with Parker House rolls, the smooth side of the dough should face up.
- Set the pan in a warm place for 20-30 minutes, until the rolls have started to puff up a little, and just barely touch each other.
Bake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Lightly beat the last egg, and gently brush the beaten egg over the tops of the rolls.
- Bake the rolls for about 20-25 minutes, until the tops are golden brown and the rolls are baked through.
- While the rolls are hot, you can brush the tops with a little more of the maple butter, and sprinkle them with flaky salt, if you like.
- Serve the rolls warm with the leftover maple butter.
Can the rolls be made ahead of time completely and wrapped and frozen?
Yes, you can do that, although I would not brush the baked rolls with the maple butter if you’re going to freeze them. Let them thaw completely to room temperature, and then you can reheat them at 50% power in the microwave, or in a warm oven, then brush them with the butter.