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Homemade Olive Oil Bread Rolls

Nothing like a Yeast Bread, especially these delicious soft Olive Oil Bread Rolls. They are a perfect addition to any meal. Easy Homemade bread never tasted so good. 

olive oil bread, small rolls falling out of a basket


 

If you have ever been to Italy you are going to know that there are probably more types of bread than Pasta, over 350 types to be exact. So good and so hard to decide!

One type of bread that my kids always loved are these soft Olive Oil Rolls. These also make the perfect sandwich buns or dinner rolls especially with Thanksgiving and Christmas around the corner!

Some of the more known types of Bread in Italy

  • Piadina – A type of Italian Flat Bread
  • Liariano – One of my favourites, a dense closed crumb bread.
  • Focaccia di Genova – A thick almost Pizza type, slice it up the middle and fill with fresh prosciutto or mortadella. So good.
  • Grissini Italian Bread Sticks – Long crunchy sticks of bread.
  • Rosette – My husband’s favourite, a large bun with very little crumb.
  • Ciabatta – A long, broad, flat bread, full of holes.

During the Summer and early Fall my house is at the perfect temperature for my dough to rise. Bread making is not difficult it is just needs time.

I remember the days when my mother and father-in-law would fire up the wood burning stove and they would make enough bread for the week, with enough to give a loaf or two to us. So good, and if you were lucky she would make her amazing pizza too. Those were the days.

Now I’m lucky if I make enough for a couple of meals. But I have to say you can’t beat homemade bread. Warm from the oven, nothing like it.

olive oil bread on a board

How to Make Homemade Bread?

Add the yeast to the water and honey, let sit. In the stand up mixture bowl, whisk together the flour and salt, then add the yeast mixture and oil.

With the hook attachment, start to knead until the dough comes together to form a ball. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover, let it rise in a warm draft free area until doubled in bulk.

olive oil bread how to make, mixing the dough, the dough rising and making the rolls

Then form the dough into 10 -12 balls, place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, cover and let rise again. Brush the rolls with a little oil and bake until done. Let cool or eat warm.

olive oil bread how to make rolls rising and ready for baking

Can the dough be frozen?

Make the dough and let it rise (the first rise), then punch it down and form the dough into the roll shape freeze the unbaked rolls on a lightly greased baking sheet freeze until firm (3-4 hours). Once they are frozen remove them from the sheet and wrap tightly in plastic wrap then place in a freezer safe bag or container. The dough should be consumed within 6 months.

When you are ready to use the dough. Remove the dough balls from the bag and plastic wrap and place on a lightly oiled cookie sheet, cover with a clean damp tea towel and let rise in a warm draft free area until doubled in size. Bake as directed (they may need a bit more time to bake).

olive oil bread in a basket

This is a very simple bread recipe, no eggs needed, just flour, yeast, olive oil, water, salt and rather than use sugar I prefer to use honey.

Why is sugar used in Bread making?

It helps the bread to rise (without sugar the bread will take longer to rise and sometimes not at all), it also gives the bread a better flavour.

More delicious Yeast Breads

Whether you are novice bread maker or bread making is your thing, I hope you give these a try and let me know. Happy Baking. Enjoy!

olive oil bread rolls cut in half
olive oil rolls on a board

Homemade Olive Oil Bread Rolls

Rosemary Molloy
Nothing like a Yeast Bread, especially these delicious soft Olive Oil Bread Rolls.  Easy Homemade bread never tasted so good. 
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Rising Time 4 hours
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Appetizer, Bread and Pizza
Cuisine Italian
Servings 12 rolls
Calories 109 kcal

Ingredients
 
 

  • ½ teaspoon active dry yeast (1.4 grams)
  • ½ cup + 3 tablespoons water (lukewarm) (162 grams)
  • ¾ teaspoon honey (5.30 grams)
  • 2 cups flour (all purpose or bread flour) (250 grams)
  • ½ teaspoon salt (2.85 grams)
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil (40 grams)

Instructions
 

  • In a small bowl add the water and honey, sprinkle the yeast on top and let sit for 5 minutes.  Then stir.
  • In the bowl of your stand up mixer whisk together the flour and salt, make a well in the middle and add the yeast mixture and oil.  With the hook attachment knead until the dough comes together and forms a ball (about 10-12 minutes, stop halfway and scrape off the dough from the hook and the sides of the bowl).
  • Remove the dough to a flat surface and knead into a ball, place in a lightly oiled bowl (roll in the dough in the bowl), cover and let rise in a warm draft free area for approximately 2 hours, or doubled in bulk.
  • Remove the dough from the bowl and punch down, form into 10 – 12 balls** (keep the dough covered while making the balls), place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, cover and let rise in a warm draft free area for approximately 1 hour or until doubled in bulk.
  • Pre-heat oven to 400F (200C).
  • Brush the dough balls with a little olive oil and bake for approximately 10-15 minutes, until golden and when tapped on the bottom there is a hollow sound.  Let cool or eat warm.  Enjoy!

**You can also roll the dough balls into a long rectangle shape and roll up (see photo).

    Notes

    For making the dough by hand, mix the ingredients together instead of using a dough hook bring the ingredients together as much as you can with a fork, then move the ingredients to a flat surface and continue to knead by hand, it will take about 15-18 (maybe a bit longer if needed) minutes to arrive at smooth compact dough.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 109kcal | Carbohydrates: 16g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 3g | Sodium: 97mg | Potassium: 27mg | Calcium: 3mg | Iron: 1mg
    Did You Make This Recipe?Please leave a comment below or pin it to your Pinterest account!

    94 Comments

    1. 5 stars
      Made a double batch two days ago. Added some Italian herbs. Super easy recipe to follow. My boys loved it.

    2. Hi Rosemary,
      I tried this recipe, but something went wrong. When I rechecked the measurements, I noticed that while your ingredient list says 2 cups, the bracket metric says 250g, which is the conversion sum for a single cup.
      Which option is the correct one, the cup measurements or the metric gram option?

      1. 5 stars
        I did this recipe for my kids and the result is sooo yummyyy & soft! Actually, i did part of the dough as per your recipe & i added to the other part dried thyme, also very delicious. Thank you for sharing your professional ideas and will definitely try more recipes.

        1. 5 stars
          I made a loaf by hand and itโ€™s by far the best textured loaf Iโ€™ve had. Thank you!

    3. 5 stars
      Made this numerous times and have shared this recipe with family and friends…absolutely the best. I hope you and your family are healthy.

    4. 5 stars
      Made 2 batches of rolls today, yours and a different recipe. Yours were the preferred roll, definitely will make again

      1. Hi Diane yes you can freeze them, place the cooled rolls in a freezer safe bag or container, they will keep for up to three months in the freezer and the the best way to reheat them is straight from the freezer to the oven. Preheat the oven to 325ยฐ F and place the frozen rolls on the oven rack without a baking pan, 10-12 minutes should do it. Hope that helps.

    5. Hello, your recipe looks yummy and n simple enuf for me I’m not the best Baker but still luv to bake;-), my question is that I use raw turbinado sugar & due to the graininess of the sugar, is it okay to use?. thanks so much for your recipe appreciate it.
      Peace & Luv 4 U & Urs in the New Year
      Mimi

      1. Hi Mimi, yes you can substitute it, it might be better to grind it so it’s finer. Let me know how it turns out. And thanks so much, Happy New Year to you and yours also. Have a wonderful Sunday.

    6. Hi, I cannot rate this recepy yet … I’d love to learn how much you take in weight for the teaspoons.
      Is this the american teaspoon or do you use (metric) the “european teaspoon” …?
      I’m dutch and having some trouble finding the right measures but this recepy really temps me ๐Ÿ˜€ …

      Could you please help me out?
      Thanks in advance !

    7. Hi Rosemary,
      I just ordered some Organic Italian 00 soft wheat flour. Can I use that in this recipe and others that call for All Purpose? Thanks!

      1. Hi Debbie, you can use it for pretty much all the recipes but not for cut out cookies (you need a flour with more protein). It is great in Italian cakes and cookies, pasta and pizza. Hope that helps.

    8. I was just wondering, Iโ€™m in England so the ingredients differ slightly. What flour is it you use and what is the equivalent in English ingredients? It is bread flour or plain flour? Lovely recipe.

      1. Hi Ginny, thanks so much, I use all purpose so the equivalent in England would be plain flour. Hope that helps, let me know how it goes.

        1. 5 stars
          I so much enjoy your recipe blogs. my question in you answered to Ginny i:s Does it make a difference if I use Bread Flour instead of All-Burpose Flou in making breadr? I usually use Bread Flour. What Brand of flour do you usually use. This last time, I purchased a different Brand than KA Bread Flour because it was a little lesse in price, but the textureof bread was different.

        2. Hi Esther, thanks so much, you can use bread flour if you want, it just makes the bread chewier, I use all purpose because I try to use ingredients that most people have on hand. Hope that helps.

    9. 5 stars
      These looks like they’d be great for toasting with some jam! ๐Ÿ™‚ That’s my favorite thing to do with leftover dinner rolls. I’ll definitely have to give this one a try!

    4.89 from 44 votes (24 ratings without comment)

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