Hawaiian Sweet Rolls
These pillowy soft dinner rolls are heavenly with the right amount of sweetness from the addition of pineapple juice and sugar. If you like Kings Hawaiian rolls, you’re going to love these rolls.
These rolls are very easy to make, but do be prepared that sweet breads seem to take an agonizingly slow time to rise, and this recipe is no exception. You’ll want to start early in day to make these rolls in time for dinner. Because this recipe makes a very soft dough, it is easiest made with an electric mixer instead of by hand.
Potato flour used in this recipe is made from cooked, dried, and ground potatoes. It is used in bread baking to reduce the gluten strength of the all-purpose flour to make a more tender and moist crumb.
Rolls are best when served warm the same day from the oven; however, they can easily be made ahead and stored well wrapped at room temperature for several days, or freeze for longer storage.
See Make Ahead idea below
These rolls are very easy to make, but do be prepared that sweet breads seem to take an agonizingly slow time to rise, and this recipe is no exception. You’ll want to start early in day to make these rolls in time for dinner. Because this recipe makes a very soft dough, it is easiest made with an electric mixer instead of by hand.
Potato flour used in this recipe is made from cooked, dried, and ground potatoes. It is used in bread baking to reduce the gluten strength of the all-purpose flour to make a more tender and moist crumb.
Rolls are best when served warm the same day from the oven; however, they can easily be made ahead and stored well wrapped at room temperature for several days, or freeze for longer storage.
See Make Ahead idea below
Recipe type: Dinner Rolls | Yeast Rolls
Serves: 18 rolls
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Recipe Notes
Pan: one 9 x 13 inch pan Pan Prep: Greased Oven Temp: 350° Storage: Cover and Room Temperature or Freeze
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accurate, and well worth the investment. I use my Thermapen Thermometer for checking room temperature ingredients, tempering chocolate, baking bread, making pastry creams, sugar syrup, caramel, and candy, cooking meats and fish, and deep frying. Thermapen Thermometer available here.
TheBakingPan Recommends: The BEST instant read thermometer I’ve used for cooking and baking; the ThermoWorks Splash-Proof Super-Fast Thermapen Thermometeris incredibly fast,
accurate, and well worth the investment. I use my Thermapen Thermometer for checking room temperature ingredients, tempering chocolate, baking bread, making pastry creams, sugar syrup, caramel, and candy, cooking meats and fish, and deep frying. Thermapen Thermometer available here.Ingredients
Dough:
- ¼ cup warm milk (110 to 115 degrees)
- 1 package active dry yeast Tip: use quick-rise yeast for faster rise time
- ¼ teaspoon granulated sugar
- 3½ to 3¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons potato flour Tip: I use Bob’s Red Mill Potato Flour
- 1¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 large egg yolk, reserve egg white for Topping
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup canned pineapple juice Tip: I use Dole Pineapple Juice which comes in 6 oz (¾ cup) cans.
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Topping:
- 1 reserved egg white
- 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
Dough:
- In a small bowl combine warm milk, yeast and ¼ teaspoon sugar; stir together and let sit until yeast is dissolved and starting to get foamy, about 10 minutes.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine 3½ cups all-purpose flour, potato flour, and salt; sift or whisk together to mix. Set aside. Tip: the extra ¼ cup flour will be added, if needed, when mixing the dough.
- In a large bowl of an electric mixer, add eggs and egg yolk, briefly whisk eggs with a wire whisk or fork to break them up. Add ½ cup sugar, pineapple juice, melted and cooled butter, vanilla, and yeast mixture; whisk to combine ingredients.
- Add all of the flour mixture to the egg and yeast mixture. Using the paddle attachment beat on low speed to start blending the flour, about 1 minute, then increase the mixer speed to medium speed and beat 3 minutes until well mixed and smooth.
- Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula, scraping the dough into the center of the bowl. Switch to the dough hook attachment and beat the dough on medium speed for 5 minutes. While beating the dough if you find the dough isn’t coming together add additional flour, adding 1 tablespoon at a time up to ¼ cup. Tip: The dough should start coming together in a soft ball but may still be sticking to the sides and bottom of the bowl. This will be a soft and sticky dough. I normally add the full ¼ cup of additional flour, but even though the dough remains sticky don’t be tempted to add to much flour.
- Lightly grease a large (at least 8 cup) mixing bowl using either vegetable shortening or vegetable oil. Place dough in the greased bowl, turning once to grease the top of the dough. Tip: if dough seems too soft to turn just lightly brush with a bit more shortening or oil.
- Cover bowl with a small kitchen towel and let dough rise is a warm place until doubled in size, at least 1½ to 2 hours.
- Prepare one 13x9x2 inch oblong pan; lightly grease the pan with vegetable shortening or vegetable oil.
- Gently deflate the dough and turn onto a lightly oiled surface. Tip: this is a messy stage. I use a large piece of freezer paper, lightly oiled, and then when the rolls are completed I simply fold up the paper and throw away the mess.
- Use a bench scraper or large kitchen knife to divide the dough into 18 equal sized pieces. Shape each piece into a smooth ball and space the balls in the baking pan. Make 3 rows, each with 6 balls. Tip: lightly oil your hands to make rolling easier. Use a food scale if you have one to divide each piece of dough as evenly as possible to ensure even baking.
- Cover pan and let rolls rise is a warm place until doubled in size and nicely puffy, 1 to 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Topping: In a small bowl combine the reserved egg white and 1 tablespoon water. Whisk with a fork to thoroughly break up the egg white.
- Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the tops of the rolls with some of the egg white mixture; this will help the rolls brown nicely.
- Bake: Bake the rolls for 20 to 25 minutes or until the internal temperature of the outside row reads 190 degrees F using an instant read thermometer to gauge the temperature. Check the temperature at 20 minutes as you do not want to overbake these rolls. Tip: 20 minutes bake time was just right in my oven.
- Remove from oven and place pan on a wire cooling rack to cool for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.
Make Ahead Idea:
- This year 2019 for Thanksgiving I made the dough the day before, refrigerated overnight, then baked on Thanksgiving morning for fresh baked rolls at Thanksgiving dinner. These are cloverleaf shaped rolls baked in a muffin pan. The recipe is the same but I did decide to eliminate the 1 teaspoon vanilla in the original recipe.
- Make the dough and do the first proof (first rise) in a warm place, then prepare two standard 12-cup muffin pans; lightly grease each cup with vegetable shortening.
- When the dough has risen, gently deflate the dough, roll pieces of dough into 1-inch balls and place three balls in each pan cup. Tip: I use a kitchen scale to get equal sized balls to ensure even baking. Each ball weighs about ¾ ounce.
- Cover the pans with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight for a slow rise before baking the next day.
- to 3 hours before ready to bake, remove the pans from the refrigerator, loosen the plastic wrap from the pan and just loosely lay the plastic wrap on top of the rolls so they can rise easily without the plastic wrap preventing the rise. Let the pans sit on the countertop or in a warm place, 2 to 3 hours, until they come to room temperature and have risen and are puffed. They should be puffed just a bit above the edge of the pan.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Topping: In a small bowl combine the reserved egg white and 1 tablespoon water. Whisk with a fork to thoroughly break up the egg white.
- Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the tops of the rolls with some of the egg white mixture; this will help the rolls brown nicely.
- Bake: Bake the rolls for 12 to 15 minutes or until the internal temperature of the rolls reads 190 degrees F using an instant read thermometer to gauge the temperature.
- Remove from oven and place pan on a wire cooling rack to cool for 10 to 15 minutes before serving. Tip: for hot rolls tip the rolls out of the muffin pan as soon as removed from the oven and serve.
Adapted from King Arthur Flour