Parker House Rolls

This Parker House rolls recipe delivers buttery, golden-brown dinner rolls that are the perfect accompaniment to a holiday dinner. They’re so good, though, that once you try them, you may want to make big batches to keep around for every weekend breakfast to come. (They’re great with scrambled eggs, but you could also just serve them with a little jam and call it a day.)

These yeast rolls go way back—the original version was served in the 1870s at the Parker House Hotel in Boston and then published in the seminal tome Mrs. Lincoln’s Boston Cook Book in 1884. The signature of a good Parker House roll is its texture: the crust is golden brown, but the interior is extremely fluffy and light. The trick here is using the right flour and kneading the dough properly. These rolls require nothing more than a large bowl, a wooden spoon, and some elbow grease, but if you’d rather bring the dough together in a stand mixer, feel free.

As for shaping, some recipes will instruct you to roll out each individual ball of dough and fold it over itself before the second rise. We keep things simpler by just making a deep crease in the rolls after we set them in the baking dish. The other thing that makes these rolls so good is their rich flavor, which comes from adding butter twice. First, you mix a generous helping right into the dough (along with warm milk), then you brush even more melted butter onto the tops of the rolls just before they’re baked. What could be better?