By Melissa Clark
Updated Nov. 27, 2023
- Total Time
- 4 to 5 hours
- Prep Time
- 5 minutes
- Cook Time
- 1 hour, plus 3 to 4 hours’ rising time
- Rating
- 4(102)
- Notes
- Read community notes
These tender, fluffy morsels are everything you want in a Parker House roll. The secret to their particularly moist interior is adding instant potato flakes to the dough, a technique adapted from King Arthur Baking Company. Softened butter, seasoned with black pepper and Demerara sugar, is brushed on top both before and after baking, giving these rolls a glossy, burnished crust that gets a little crisp at the edges where the sugar meets the pan. (For a more classic Parker House roll, skip the pepper and sugar.) Like all rolls, these are best served warm from the oven or on the same day they’re baked. Then split and toast any leftovers for breakfast the next morning.
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Ingredients
Yield:18 rolls
- 3cups/360 grams all-purpose flour, more as needed
- ¾cup/48 grams instant potato flakes (not flavored)
- 3tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2½teaspoons instant or active dry yeast
- 1teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3tablespoons unsalted butter, more for bowl
- 1cup/227 grams whole milk
- 1large egg
- 8tablespoons/113 grams unsalted butter, softened
- 1tablespoon Demerara sugar
- 1teaspoon fine sea salt, more for sprinkling
- 1teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, more for sprinkling
- Flaky sea salt
For the Dough
For the Seasoned Butter
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (18 servings)
161 calories; 8 grams fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 2 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 19 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 3 grams sugars; 3 grams protein; 116 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
Prepare the dough: In a large bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook, combine flour, potato flakes, granulated sugar, yeast and salt. Mix briefly to combine.
Step
2
In a small saucepan or in the microwave, melt butter. Add the milk to the hot butter; the mixture should be warm to the touch (if it’s hot, let cool until warm to the touch). Whisk in the egg. Add to the dry ingredients and mix on low speed or by hand with a wooden spoon until a shaggy dough forms. Knead the dough by hand on a lightly floured surface, or in the stand mixer, until the dough is smooth, elastic and sticky, about 10 minutes by hand or 4 to 5 minutes in a mixer.
Step
3
Transfer to a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap or clean towel. Allow to rise until almost double in size, about 1 ½ to 2 hours (or longer if your room is cold).
Step
4
Prepare the seasoned butter: In a small bowl, combine butter, Demerara sugar, salt and black pepper, mixing with a spatula until smooth. Using a pastry brush, brush a little of the butter mixture on the sides and bottom of a 9-by-13-inch pan. Set aside.
Step
5
When the dough has risen and appears soft and puffy, transfer it to a very lightly floured surface and divide it in half. Roll or pat half of the dough into an 8-by-12-inch rectangle. With a pastry brush, brush about 2 tablespoons butter mixture over the entire surface of the dough. Fold dough in half to make an 8-by-6-inch rectangle.
Step
6
Using a bench knife, regular knife or pizza wheel, cut the dough into thirds lengthwise and then thirds crosswise to make 9 pieces. Place them in the buttered pan. Repeat with the remaining half of dough, using about another 2 tablespoons butter. (You will have 18 rolls.) Once all rolls have been shaped and placed in the pan, brush tops generously with about half of the remaining butter, reserving the rest for after baking.
Step
7
Cover the pan and set aside in a warm place to rise until very puffy, 1 to 2 hours.
Step
8
When the rolls are nearly proofed, heat oven to 425 degrees. Once proofed, sprinkle rolls with flaky salt, more Demerara sugar and lots of cracked black pepper. Bake until golden brown on top, about 17 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven, and brush with remaining seasoned butter. Pull apart to serve warm or at room temperature.
Ratings
4
out of 5
102
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Cooking Notes
CamillaC
I love these! I used potato flakes (found in organic section of my Giant supermarket), but I think you could also use plain instant mashed potatoes. I made them the day before and did a "cold rise" for the second rise - put the tightly wrapped buttered pan with rolls in the fridge overnight (16 hours), then right into the oven, and they were perfect.The topping is superb - it takes plain rolls to another level.
cold rise
I made these the other day and they were amazing. I baked a half a batch the first day and let the other half do its second rise overnight in the fridge. The ones that did the cold overnight rise were much more flavorful and had better texture. Will be making these tomorrow through the shaping step, refrigerate and then transfer them in a cold cooler to my destination 2.5 hours away. Will put in the fridge when I get there and bake the next morning! Wish me luck! Precious cargo!
CJS
Yes, potato flakes=instant mashed potatoes.
J Murphy
Re: the potato flakes. The head note to this recipe mentions that the technique is adapted from King Arthur Baking Company. Their Parker House roll recipe calls for: 1/4 cup (50g) potato flour or 3/4 cup (50g) dried potato flakes (instant mashed potatoes)
erin
Don’t cut the sugar in the dough! The yeast eats it! They didn’t turn out super sweet. The Demerara sugar gives it a nice crunchy texture . Maybe some coarse salt to sub?
DL
I’ve made these twice now, both times without potato flakes (no particular interest in that ingredient). The first time I didn’t have to do anything differently; the second time I had to add more flour because the dough was too wet. Both times they turned out beautifully
judyvla
Help! I made the dough for these exactly according to directions and it was so dry and stiff I could hardly knead it. Could it have anything to do with the fact that I used pea milk? (I’m allergic.) They haven’t risen, either, though that might be my cold kitchen. I’m going to give them a couple of hours in a slightly warm oven, and then back to the drawing board. Can I just as more liquid to get a sticky, soft dough? I haven’t made bread for decades! Xmas dinner pressure!
Sarah G
How do you think these would perform if made through step 6 then frozen till the day for thawing and the final rise and bake?
Phil
My partner made these for Thanksgiving and were delicious, easy, and a major hit—so much so that he was asked to make them again a few days later to have with leftover Turkey soup. Highly recommend!
Allan
Amazingly fluffy and delicious.
Thomas H
I checked the temperature of the milk and butter prior to adding to make sure it was between 110 and 115 F. This improved the rise. Then I added a quarter cup more milk so that the dough wasn’t too dry.
JB
Added a bit of garlic to the butter for extra flavor. These turned out great!
Enzo the baker
These rolls are going to be made on a regular basis from now on. Great right out of the oven or at room temp. A savory treat!
DL
Thank you, Melissa. I won Thanksgiving with these :-)I actually ended up double-folding some of them to make room in the pan (I must have measured wrong) and those ones were even butterier and toastier. I’ll be making these every year.
Chaz
Recipe is great but 20 minutes in my oven absolutely scorched the bottom of these. Had to start over.
erin
Don’t cut the sugar in the dough! The yeast eats it! They didn’t turn out super sweet. The Demerara sugar gives it a nice crunchy texture . Maybe some coarse salt to sub?
E Fennell
I'm going to make these but don't want them to taste sweet. Anyone tried to cut either of the sugars?
cold rise
I made these the other day and they were amazing. I baked a half a batch the first day and let the other half do its second rise overnight in the fridge. The ones that did the cold overnight rise were much more flavorful and had better texture. Will be making these tomorrow through the shaping step, refrigerate and then transfer them in a cold cooler to my destination 2.5 hours away. Will put in the fridge when I get there and bake the next morning! Wish me luck! Precious cargo!
J Murphy
Re: the potato flakes. The head note to this recipe mentions that the technique is adapted from King Arthur Baking Company. Their Parker House roll recipe calls for: 1/4 cup (50g) potato flour or 3/4 cup (50g) dried potato flakes (instant mashed potatoes)
Dawn
Is there any food safety concern with brushing the uncooked dough with some of the butter and reserving the rest for after baking? With the egg in the dough I’d be worried about the potential to contaminate the pastry brush that’s dipping into the same butter both before and after the rolls are baked. If I make these, I’ll set the last portion of butter aside and use a clean brush on the baked rolls.
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