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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!

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

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.

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

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 5 minutes.
  • 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 for about 2 hours.
  • Then form the dough into 10 -12 balls, place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, cover and let rise another hour.
  • Brush the rolls with a little oil and bake for about 10-15 minutes at 400F.
  • Let cool or eat warm.

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

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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
 
 

  • 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast (1.4 grams)
  • 1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons water (lukewarm) (162 grams)
  • 3/4 teaspoon honey (5.30 grams)
  • 2 cups flour (all purpose or bread flour) (250 grams)
  • 1/2 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!

    88 Comments

    1. I made these and they were very good — even for a novice baker without a machine with a dough hook.
      Question: how big are these rolls that you get 10 to 12 out of 2 cups of flour? I made only 5 normal size rolls out of this amount.

    2. Hi, I only have instant yeast. Can I substitute it for the active dry yeast and if so how does it change the recipe as far as liquids go? Thank you,
      Bill

      1. Hi Bill yes you can substitute with instant yeast, as far as the liquid goes it doesn’t change, the only thing that changes is you don’t have to soak the yeast, so in the stand up mixer add the flour and yeast and whisk together, then add the water, honey if you want it really isn’t necessary with instant yeast, olive oil and salt and continue with the recipe. Let me know how it goes. Happy New Year.

    3. 5 stars
      These rolls are absolutely delicious!!!! We go to an Italian restaurant and was looking for something similar to their rolls. The only difference is they add garlic on top, so that is what I added to these, taste exactly like theirs. Thank you so much for a simple, yummy recipe!

    4. 5 stars
      Very easy to make. What I liked about this recipe was that they didn’t make a large amount with only using 2 cups of flour. I rolled the dough out and cut into 10 strips and rolled them up. They came out beautiful! Thank you for the recipe.

    5. Dough was so easy to put together.. rising right now and they will go perfectly with the Chicken Cacciatore for dinner tonight. The flour is listed as 2 cups or 250g….250g is only 1 cup of flour. Should read 500g of flour is you are weighing it.

      1. Hi Lois, yes you can. 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 plastic wrap then place in a freezer safe bag or container. The dough should be consumed within 6 months. Hope that helps.

    6. Hi Rosemary, I have made your Focaccia a few times and tried the Olive oil rolls tonight, both are delicious and definitely keepers. I must have done something wrong with the rolls, because it was “runny” and I could only make blobs on my sheet pan. I used all purpose flour (250g) and I weighed my flour and I used instant yeast. I planned to cut the dough in rectangles and roll them as you did, but that was not possible. Any idea what I did wrong?

      1. Hi Louise, next time add a bit more flour until the dough comes together and is not runny, add a tablespoon at a time. Hope that helps, let me know. I don’t think you did anything wrong, it could be the type of flour or even where you live.

    7. This recipe looks delicious! I would like to make the dough and refrigerate it overnight, then make the rolls & bake them the next day. How would I do this? Would it work?

      1. Hi Sharon, yes that would work, just be sure to bring the dough to room temperature 1-2 hours, before forming into rolls, then continue with the recipe. Let me know how it goes.

    8. 5 stars
      Best bread/buns recipe I have ever tried. Love it! Love the fact that you don’t need butter, eggs or milk! It’s super easy!

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