Sweet Brown Bread Rolls

Name: Sweet Brown Bread Rolls
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 24 min
Total time: 154 min
Ingredients: 250 grams of whole wheat flour (about 2 cups); 300 grams of bread flour (about 2 1/2 cups); 7 grams of instant yeast (1 envelope); 6 grams of natural unsweetened cocoa powder (1 tablespoon); 12 grams of salt (2 teaspoons); 300 grams of water, warm (1 1/3 cups); 85 grams of honey (1/4 cup); 85 grams of molasses (1/4 cup); 4 tablespoons of butter, softened; egg wash (1 egg whisked with a teaspoon of water or milk); oats or seeds (optional toppings)

October 9, 2025
No Comments

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

One thing that makes me love a restaurant (and want to go back) is the bread. If there is a basket of warm bread on the table, I am a happy girl and if that bread is really good… I don’t care if the server is fabulous, I don’t care what we are all chatting about, I don’t even care if the room is freezing cold, because I will just be over here enjoying my bread.

While I can appreciate all styles of dinner rolls, some steakhouses serve these slightly sweet brown bread rolls that are just fantastic and we are making them today.

They are hearty and chewy, but also really soft. They have a subtle sweetness and a flavor that I feel I should warn you about, because if self-control is not your strong suit… you’re gonna wanna be careful with these.

If you are looking for a great sweet brown bread dinner roll that is easy to bring together and stays soft for days then you are going to love these rolls. Let’s get started…

Begin by gathering your ingredients.

You will need 3 elements…

- - a large bowl with 250 grams of whole wheat flour (about 2 cups), 300 grams of bread flour (about 2 1/2 cups), 7 grams of instant yeast (1 envelope), 6 grams of natural unsweetened cocoa powder (1 tablespoon) and 12 grams of salt (2 teaspoons)
  - a microwave safe glass with 300 grams of warm water (1 1/3 cups), 85 grams of honey (1/4 cup) and 85 grams of molasses (1/4 cup)
  - and 4 tablespoons of softened butter

Let’s talk about the cocoa powder real quick. If you are wondering why it is in this recipe, it adds several important elements to this bread dough, but you will not actually taste the cocoa powder at all.

Adding cocoa powder will help give this dough its rich flavor, it adds depth to the color of the bread and also helps to give the bread its beautifully soft texture. While nothing terrible will happen if you omit it, I would highly recommend that you don’t. It is an important element to the success of these delicious rolls.

Whisk the honey and molasses into the warm water until it has fully dissolved and then add it and 4 tablespoons of softened butter into the flour mixture.

Mix the dough using a wooden spoon or danish dough whisk until you no longer see dry ingredients left behind.

You can bring this dough together in a stand mixer, but it doesn’t require a lot of kneading, so I usually do it by hand.

Lightly flour your hands and knead the dough in the bowl until the dough comes together and feels even throughout. If you are not familiar with kneading dough, thats ok! Simply dust your hands with flour to help prevent the dough from sticking to your hands and use your fist to press the dough down, grab one of the edges and pull the dough up and fold it down over itself and then work your knuckles into the dough again. You’ll do this over and over until it feels like the moisture within the dough is consistent.

This dough does not need to be kneaded to any specific level of smoothness or springiness, you just want to knead it enough to bring all of the ingredients together fully. Its a really easy dough to work with.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rest in a warm place for about an hour or until it puffs up to about double in volume.

Transfer the dough onto a floured surface and divide it equally into 8-12 portions depending on how large or small you want your rolls.

I divided my dough into 9 portions and this ended up giving me rolls that were approximately 3″ wide similar to small burger buns.

To shape the dough into round balls, simply bring all of the outer edges of the dough into the center. Rotate the dough so you can see that all of the edges have been brought up and around into the middle and press them down to secure them. Flip the dough over and you should have a smooth rough ball of dough.

Place the shaped rolls onto a parchment lined baking sheet leaving about 2 inches between each portion. Repeat until all of the dough has been shaped and then cover the rolls with a kitchen towel and let them rest in a warm place for 60-90 minutes.

When the rolls have been rested, brush them with an egg wash (an egg whisked with a teaspoon of water or milk) and press some oats or seeds onto the top of each roll.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 22-24 minutes or until the underside of the rolls are golden and the internal temperature reaches 200 degrees.

Let the rolls rest on a cooling rack for a while before you serve them. They can be served warm, but similar to other breads, the internal texture on these rolls gets better and better the more that they cool.

These sweet brown bread rolls are amazing. The have the most amazing texture that balances just the right amount of chewiness, heartiness and softness. Remember how we talked about what cocoa powder can do for the texture of this dough? Well, you’ll be a fan when you take your first bite.

They are just a little bit sweet, but the flavors perfectly balanced. I usually really want butter with bread, but these rolls are actually fabulous just as they are.

If you are looking for a great dinner roll recipe or a unique roll to serve sandwiches on then you should absolutely give these sweet brown bread rolls a try. You are going to love them so much!

Print Recipe