Skip to content
Leavened Products

Parker House Rolls

Parker House rolls are soft, buttery folded dinner rolls from a Boston hotel, served warm with the holiday roast at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Recipe Parker House Rolls
  • Difficulty Medium
  • Preparation 50 minutes
  • Cooking 25 minutes
  • Servings for 24 rolls

Parker House rolls are the classic American dinner roll: a soft, slightly sweet dough enriched with milk, egg and plenty of butter, pressed into rounds, brushed with butter and folded in half, so that each roll bakes into a tender golden pocket that opens easily along the fold.

They were created in the nineteenth century in the kitchens of the Parker House, a Boston hotel founded in the 1850s, and by 1896 they appeared in Fannie Farmer’s Boston Cooking-School Cook Book. The hotel, now the Omni Parker House, still serves them.

Warm from the oven and brushed with more butter, they go on the table with the turkey at Thanksgiving and with the roast at Christmas.

Ingredients for 24 rolls

  • 570 g of All Purpose Flour (4 cups)
  • 7 g of Instant Yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons of Salt
  • 300 ml of Whole Milk at room temperature (1 1/4 cups)
  • 115 g of Butter unsalted, melted, for the dough (1/2 cup)
  • 1 Egg large, at room temperature
  • 25 g of Sugar granulated (2 tablespoons)
  • For shaping and brushing:
  • 85 g of Butter unsalted, melted (6 tablespoons)
  • Water for misting
Copy Ingredients List
Open in App

Method

  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the flour, the yeast and the salt. In a jug, whisk the milk, the melted butter for the dough, the egg and the sugar until the sugar dissolves.
  2. Fit the mixer with the dough hook and, on low speed, slowly pour in the milk mixture; mix for about 2 minutes, until no dry flour is left. Increase the speed to medium-low and knead for about 8 minutes, until the dough turns smooth and stretchy: it should come away from the sides of the bowl but still cling to the bottom.
  3. Knead the dough briefly by hand into a smooth ball and put it, seam side down, in a lightly greased bowl. Cover tightly and let it rise until doubled, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
  4. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment. Press the dough down, cut it in half and stretch each half into a log about 30 cm (12 inches) long. Cut each log into 12 pieces of about 43 g. Working one at a time, pinch each piece underneath to make the top smooth, then roll it under your cupped hand on an unfloured counter into a tight ball. Cover the balls loosely and let them rest for 15 minutes.
  5. Press each ball into a round about 6 mm (1/4 inch) thick. Press the handle of a wooden spoon firmly across the middle of each round to make a deep crease. Brush the tops with about half of the butter for shaping, fold each round in half along the crease and press the edges gently so they stick.
  6. Arrange the rolls on the sheets about 5 cm (2 inches) apart, cover them loosely with greased plastic wrap and let them rise until nearly doubled, 1 to 1 1/2 hours: a gentle poke should spring back only slowly.
  7. Place the racks in the upper-middle and lower-middle positions and preheat the oven to 175 °C (350 °F). Brush the rolls gently with the rest of the butter and mist them with water. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, swapping and turning the sheets halfway through, until deep golden. Let them cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes and serve warm. Finally, remember to download our App with exclusive content and fewer ads!

Variations and Alternatives

Sprinkle the buttered rolls with flaky sea salt as soon as they come out of the oven. For pull-apart rolls, set them close together in a buttered 33 x 23 cm (13 x 9 inch) pan, where they bake into one soft slab. Some bakers add a little potato flour or potato flakes to the dough for an even softer crumb.

Tips

Shaping each piece into a tight ball before flattening it gives smoother, more even rolls. Press the crease firmly, but keep the edges of each round thicker than the center, so the two halves stick together as they rise instead of springing open in the oven. Bake the rolls on baking sheets with space around them rather than crowded in a dish, so the centers cook through and the sides brown.

Storage

The rolls are best the day they are baked. Keep them in a bag at room temperature for up to 2 days and warm them in a 150 °C (300 °F) oven for 5 to 10 minutes. Baked and cooled, they freeze for up to 1 month. Shaped, unrisen rolls can be covered and refrigerated for 8 to 16 hours: let them stand at room temperature for 1 hour before baking.

Comments