Homemade Honey Rolls

With cooler weather coming in I am all about comfort food and cozy recipes. This recipe for homemade honey rolls is delicious and easy to make as a side dish or a main feature of your meal.

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Recipe Source

This recipe is adapted from one of my most treasured cook books, Old Favorite Honey Recipes by the America Honey Institute. It was published in 1945 and is chalk full of excellent from-scratch honey recipes.

With recipes dating back 76 years, they take a little tweaking, adjusting, and downright Googling of terms to make the recipes. In the end I always end up with a delicious recipe made with fresh honey and from scratch ingredients.

What’s the difference between a bun and a roll?

A bun tends to be soft all around and lighter in density and texture.

A roll is more likely to have a crisp, hard top with a chewy, dense texture inside. A roll’s exterior is one you’ll have to tear into with your teeth, rather than just bite into.

Both rolls and buns are equally delicious for different reasons.

Benefits of Honey as a Sweetener

Honey is often used as a sugar substitute and touted as being “healthier”.

Calorie wise, honey actually contains 68 calories to your standard sugar’s 48 calories.

Where honey could be interpreted as a healthier option is all in the digestion.

Bees naturally add enzymes to the nectar they collect. These enzymes divide sucrose into glucose and fructose, which our bodies are able to digest and absorb.

Whereas table sugar, glucose and fructose stay bound together. Our bodies are not able to break this down until it reaches our small intestine.

Honey also has a more moderate effect on blood sugar as it has a lower glycemic index than sugar. This basically means because we can absorb it more easily it results in a much lower spike in our blood glucose levels. Lower blood glucose levels are linked to lower chances of heart disease and Type 2 Diabetes.

You can learn more about honey and how we process it here.

How much yeast is in a “cake”?

One consistent feature of the Old Favorite Honey Recipes is that it calls for yeast in “cakes”. I have honestly never seen yeast sold in a cake before, so this took a little research.

Yeast cakes have been sold in different sizes over the years so unfortunately there isn’t a simple conversion.

Thankfully, Red Star has a great chart that helps you figure out how much yeast you need based on the amount of flour you use.

This recipe calls for one cake of yeast which based on the flour amounts is equal to a packet of yeast, or 2 and 1/4 teaspoons of yeast.

Ingredients for Homemade Honey Rolls

One of the benefits to using old fashioned recipes is they almost never call or funky processed ingredients.

• 1 Cup Milk
• 1/4 Cup Butter
• 1/2 cup Honey
• 2 1/4 tsp Yeast (One packet)
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 Cups Flour
• 1 Egg

Supplies for making Homemade Honey Rolls

• Small sauce pot
• Medium sized bowl
• Rubber spatula or wooden spoon
• Towel

Homemade Honey Roll Recipe

Begin by scalding the milk. Scalding milk means heating the milk until it is nice and steamy, just before boiling.

Stir in the butter and honey. Allow it to cool to room temperature.

Next, add yeast, salt, and two cups of flour.

Beat one egg and stir it into the mix. Stir in the remaining two cups of flour and knead until smooth. About 5-10 minutes.

Grease a bowl with butter and place the dough inside. Cover with a wet flour sack towel.

Let rise until doubled in size and punch down. Allow to rise again.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Shape the dough into rolls a little larger than a golf ball.

Place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. If you want the rolls to bake together, keep them only a centimeter or two apart.

Cover with the damp towel and allow to rise a final time until about doubled in size.

Bake for about 20 minutes.

How to Store Dinner Rolls for Best Freshness

Like most breads these are best eaten when still warm from the oven, slathered in butter.

If you do have leftovers, I recommend storing them in an airtight container in the fridge. If you decide to make up a big batch of them, allow them to cool completely, then store in gallon sized ziploc bags in the freezer. They will stay good for up to three months.

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