Fresh Milled Yeast Rolls (whole grain, light, & fluffy!)

These freshly milled yeast rolls are made with whole grain, home ground flour. They are impossibly flavorful, with a nutty sweet taste. Plus they are extremely soft and fluffy, perfect for slathering butter on top! Make these, and you’ll be the star of your next family gathering.

Fresh Milled Yeast Rolls = My Top Recipe of the Year

Of all the recipes I’ve made my family this year, these yeast rolls got the most rave reviews.

Side note: I love watching my kids’ and husband’s faces when they take the first bite of something delicious I made. It’s my favorite part of the cooking process. Am I the only one??

In fact, they’re so good, I’ve stopped making loaves of homemade bread and almost always make these instead. My family also loves these whole grain rolls for breakfast, alongside a special meal, or for mini sandwiches!

Since these rolls are made with freshly milled wheat berries, all the nutrition God intended is still intact. Fresh milled whole grains are the richest food source of vitamin E, contain lots of B vitamins and over 40 vitamins/minerals as well. The same definitely can’t be said of store bought flour, and the taste doesn’t compare. Read all the amazing benefits of freshly milled wheat and how to start making your own flour here.

When soft, fluffy dinner rolls become a health food — that’s a major win in my book.

Ingredients for Fresh Milled Yeast Rolls

• Wheat Berries. Of course, the best fresh milled yeast rolls begin with quality wheat berries. There are so many combinations you can use, including hard white, hard red, einkorn, spelt, etc. I like to use half hard white or hard red (for best gluten development) and half of an ancient grain, like spelt or einkorn. You can find wheat berries at Amazon and Azure Standard, and I like getting my ancient grains like einkorn from Grand Teton Ancient Grains.
• Instant Dry Yeast. These are yeast rolls, so you definitely need a good quality yeast! I do have a sourdough bread recipe, but I find yeast works better to give a good rise and softness when working with fresh milled flour. I use instant yeast instead of active dry yeast for this recipe.
• Sunflower Lecithin. This ingredient is optional, but it helps give the rolls a super-soft texture like rolls you buy in a grocery store! This softness can sometimes be harder to achieve with fresh milled flour, so I find the sunflower lecithin really helps.
• Coconut Oil. This is my oil of choice for these rolls, but you could absolutely sub butter.
• Honey. Adds a hint of sweetness to the rolls that’s perfect!
• Quality salt. Celtic salt is my absolute favorite for mineral content, but any good salt will do.

How do you bake with freshly milled flour?

You can basically sub fresh milled flour for all purpose flour in most recipes. But there are a few differences. First of all, it takes fresh milled flour longer to absorb water in a recipe. Also, it will be a little more dense due to the wheat bran and germ (we counteract this by using instant yeast and sunflower lecithin.) For all the details on baking with home ground flour, read my detailed post.

Why are my yeast rolls not light and fluffy?

Probably because your yeast was bad (not active), or you killed the yeast by using hot water. (I always use lukewarm — made that mistake before!) Also, you need to wait for the yeast to work its’ magic by allowing it to rise adequately. The sunflower lecithin also really helps make the fresh milled flour soft and fluffy.

How long will homemade yeast rolls stay fresh?

These dinner rolls stay fresh for 3-4 days at room temperature (but they never last long in our house!). If you want to store them for longer periods, they can be frozen and reheated. Just take them out of the fridge several hours before you want to eat them, and warm in the oven at 350° F for around 10 minutes, covered, until warm.

How to Make Fresh Milled Yeast Rolls

This recipe has several steps but once you make it a couple times, it’s very simple!

1. Start by milling 6 cups of wheat berries in your grain mill. This will result in around 9 cups of flour. I use 3 cups hard white or hard red wheat, and 3 cups ancient grain like einkorn or spelt. You can use any combination or ratio here – be creative and use what you have on hand.

2. While the flour is milling, proof the yeast. In a large bowl, add 3 cups of lukewarm water and 2 1/4 Tablespoons of instant yeast. Stir in 3 cups of the flour and mix. Allow to sit, covered for 15-20 minutes until bubbly. This will make the dough rise process more successful.

3. After the proofing process, add sunflower lecithin (this gives the rolls a super soft texture like store bought bread), melted coconut oil, honey, salt, and the remaining 6 cups of flour.

4. Once everything is combined, knead the dough. If you’re using a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment, set the timer and knead for 10 mintues. If kneading by hand, knead for 15-20 minutes until soft and stretchy and slightly sticky. (You can use the windowpane test — stretch a bit of the dough and you can see light through it without the dough breaking, it’s ready.)

5. Once kneading is complete, flour or oil a flat surface and shape dough into small balls, about the size of a tangerine. You can measure with a kitchen scale to ensure all the rolls are the same size, but I just eyeball it. You want to shape each roll and tuck the edges underneath, to create surface tension.

6. Place rolls seam side down onto an oiled tray or baking dish, where they are slightly touching. Cover lightly and allow rolls to rise in a warm place (on top of a preheating oven is perfect) for around 40 minutes, or until they are almost doubled in size.

7. Bake in a 350° F preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until just starting to brown on top.

8. For a beautiful shiny top, brush with butter before serving. Or just slather the insides with butter, which is my personal preference.

Whole Grain Dinner Rolls Baking Tips

• If you’re new to milling grains, check out my post all about home ground flour along with my recommendations for grain mills! (Mockmill is my tried-and-true.)
• The recipe calls for milling 6 cups of wheat berries, which will give you around 9 cups of fresh milled flour. The volume expands once the wheat berries are milled, hence the difference in quantity.
• This recipe makes around 2 dozen rolls. I bake these rolls in large quantities because they freeze extremely well, and if I’m already going through all the trouble to make rolls, why not make a bunch? But if you want a smaller quantity, you can definitely half the recipe.
• You can prep and shape the rolls, and transfer to the fridge overnight and bake the next day if you prefer. Let them come to room temperature and rise before baking.
• You can sub milk for water if you prefer.
• Fresh milled flour absorbs water more slowly, it takes around 10-15 mintues to fully absorb the water. Good tip to know, before deciding whether your dough needs a bit more water or a bit more flour.

More Fresh Milled Flour Recipes You’ll Love:

• Whole Grain Sourdough Bread with Fresh Milled Wheat
• Cream of Wheat Porridge
• Multigrain Sourdough Waffles