Whole Wheat Freezer Rolls

5 from 5 votes

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Homemade Whole Wheat Freezer Rolls means fresh and delicious rolls any day of the week! Simply defrost, rise and bake. Perfect make-ahead plan for any dinner!

Whole Wheat Freezer Rolls with butter

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Fresh rolls are a large reason why I would fail at a low-carb diet. I make them a lot.

Since moving to New York City, its been hard trying to find freezer rolls! I used to buy them all the time out west, but they are mysteriously missing from my grocery store shelves in the city. I’ve gone empty handed for 7 months!! I loved the convenience of them and every Sunday before church I’d pull them out so they’d be ready for the oven before dinner and then save any extras for little turkey sandwiches for my kids lunches the upcoming week. I had my system DOWN.

But here it’s been a little harder, so I took matters into my own hands and created my own freezer roll recipe. Yeasted doughs freeze really nicely, so this was a relatively easy recipe to throw together. The only hard part about it is managing a larger dough ball while kneading. I also used a kitchen scale to portion out my 2-ounce dough balls into rolls (this is the one I have). Same sized dough balls make for even-steven rolls that rise and bake the exact same way *and* look just like the store bought ones, hence the scale. If you don’t have a scale, as long as your dough balls are slightly larger than golf balls, you should be fine.

Below are a few photos I snapped during the process of rising and baking. As you can tell from the top photo, this recipe yields tender and soft whole wheat rolls that go with just about anything. AND! I’m back to making little sandwiches for my kids’ school lunch.

Give these a try this weekend! Printable recipe below. Have a great day, friends!!

Whole Wheat Freezer Roll Dough Whole Wheat Freezer Rolls Whole Wheat Freezer Rolls

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Whole Wheat Freezer Rolls with butter
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5 from 5 votes

Whole Wheat Freezer Rolls

You will love the convenience of these homemade whole wheat freezer rolls. Keep a supply in your freezer so you can have homemade rolls in a snap.
servings 40 rolls
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 4 hours 50 minutes

Ingredients

  • 3 cups warm milk
  • 2 tablespoons active dry yeast + 3/4 teaspoon
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar divided
  • 3/4 cup melted butter cooled
  • 5 cups all purpose flour
  • 2-3 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 tablespoon salt

Instructions

  • In a large bowl, stir warm milk together with yeast and 1/4 cup of the sugar. Stand 5-10 minutes to proof yeast. 
  • Using a wooden spoon, stir in melted butter, remaining 1/2 cup sugar and all of the all purpose flour until well combined. Continue stirring as you incorporate the salt and whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup at a time. Through this process, you'll have to switch to kneading with your hands.
  • Once dough is tacky, but not tacky enough to leave remnants of dough stuck to your hands, you can finish kneading. About 5 minutes. Dough should be smooth. Place dough into a large, greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap or clean dish towel and rise 1 hour or until doubled in size.
  • Punch down dough and divide into 2 ounce pieces.(Slightly larger than a golf ball.) You should get about 40 total. Roll each dough ball to create roll and place on a parchment paper or aluminum foil lined baking sheet. Cover gently with more foil and place flat into freezer. 
  • After 24 hours, transfer dough balls into large ziploc freezer bags, and place back into freezer.
  • To bake, place 16-20 rolls into a greased 9x13 baking dish. Defrost and let rise until 2-2 1/2 times larger, 4-6 hours**)
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and cooked completely.

Notes

If you would like to skip the freezer method completely, you can place the rolled rolls from step 4 right into the greased baking dish in step 6 and rise and bake.
If you want these to be regular freezer rolls (non-whole wheat), just replace the whole wheat flour for all purpose.
**My apartment is on the chilly side, so it took me 6 hours to get the rise I was looking for before baking. Watch your rolls and bake accordingly!

Nutrition

Calories: 134kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 11mg | Sodium: 213mg | Potassium: 66mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 136IU | Calcium: 26mg | Iron: 1mg
Course: Breads, Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Keyword: freezer rolls, make ahead, whole wheat
5 from 5 votes (1 rating without comment)

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20 Responses
  1. Easy BBQ Pulled Pork | Lauren's Latest

    […] Really doesn’t matter. After the meat has been cooked, we serve our pulled pork on homemade rolls (or store bought Hawaiian rolls) with coleslaw. […]

  2. Diana Taylor

    5 stars
    Ok I have made these a handful of times now. We love them. They are simple to put together. Rise up beautifully after frozen.
    Love these makes me feel like super-mom making these on a busy day.

  3. Katie Burdge

    5 stars
    I made these rolls today, and proceeded to eat 3 of them as soon as they came out of the oven. I didn’t want to stop! This recipe was easy, and produced the best bread I have ever made.. soft and perfectly fluffy and slightly sweet. This is going to be my go to recipe for bread!

  4. Pam

    5 stars
    I made these and they turned out wonderful! I have some in my freezer right now. I posted pictures of my rolls on FB and friends asked for the recipe. I shared the link to this page with them. It was fun to make and great to have them in the freezer.

  5. Vicki Ferguson

    5 stars
    I’ve printed off this recipe and will be giving it a try. Love whole wheat rolls and being able to freeze them is a real bonus.

  6. Carolyn Duncan

    Wow, these rolls look delicious and very easy to make. I have a lot of whole wheat flour in my pantry and I’m making a special pasta dish tonight for dinner and these rolls will go perfectly with it. I’ve been watching my carb intake but it’s Fat Tuesday. I use multi grain pasta and I’ll be going to a spin class just before dinner so why not try these rolls tonight.

  7. Jodi

    I am going to try and make the dough in my bread machine. I think I will have to cut the recipe in half but would love to not have to do the work on kneading the dough.

  8. Jody

    Made these this evening for a busy week ahead. I baked them right away (after a rise). Delish! Wonderfully soft, yummy goodness. Thanks for sharing!!

  9. Joann Hill

    Hi Lauren, I make rolls at least once a week and never thought of freezing them unbaked. I’ll definitely try this next time I make dough.

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