Homemade Crescent Rolls

These homemade crescent rolls not only look beautiful on a dinner table, but they are a delicious addition to a family meal! They're slightly sweet, soft and fluffy, rich and buttery, and they stay fresh for days! Crescent Dinner Rolls are always a family favorite!

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Prep Time: 3

Cook Time: 20

Total Time: 3 20

Servings: crescent rolls

Ingredients

US Customary - Metric

1 ½ cups warm water around 95°F
½ cup warm milk around 95°F
1 Tablespoon instant yeast*
½ cup granulated sugar
1 ½ teaspoons salt
½ cup boxed potato flakes
2 large eggs room temperature
½ cup butter flavored shortening
¼ cup unsalted butter softened
6 cups bread flour divided

For rolling up:

¼ cup unsalted butter melted

Instructions

Prepare the crescent roll dough

To the bowl of a stand mixer, add the ingredients for the cinnamon roll dough: the water, milk, instant yeast, sugar, salt, dry potato flakes, eggs, shortening, butter, and half the flour. Mix with the dough hook attachment, on low speed until combined and smooth, about 1 minute.
While on low speed, gradually add the remaining flour, about 1/2 cup at a time. You may or may not need the entire amount of flour. You can stop the mixer and check the dough by lightly tapping on it with your fingertip - it should feel soft, slightly tacky, but not wet. *When in doubt, it’s always best to go lighter on the flour. You can always add more flour later, but you can’t take flour away. Too much flour in your dough will give you dry, dense rolls.
Knead the dough on low speed for 10-15 minutes, or until it's smooth and cohesive. It should be mostly cleaning the sides of the bowl. If you take a piece of dough, you should be able to stretch it a few inches apart without it tearing.

Bulk Fermentation

Spray a large bowl with nonstick baking spray. Remove the dough from the mixer and place it the bowl. Cover it with a clean kitchen towel and let it rise until doubled in size, about 60-90 minutes.

Rolling out crescent rolls

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Melt the 1/4 cup of butter and set aside.
Flour your work surface and divide the dough into two equal pieces. If you are weighing it, each piece should weigh about 28 ounces/790 grams. Round each piece into a ball shape by pulling the sides under and pinching the dough together underneath. This will make it easier to roll out into a circle.
Flour your work surface. Working with one ball of dough, use a rolling pin to roll it to a 16-inch circle, about ¼ inch thick. Brush the top with 2 Tablespoons of the melted butter.
With a pizza cutter, cut the dough into 12 equal wedges, just as you would a pizza. Stretch one of the wedges to lengthen a bit. Starting with the wider end, roll it up, pulling slightly to tighten it up as go. Tuck the end under and place the crescent roll on the prepared baking sheet with the tip side underneath. Roll up the remaining rolls.

Final Proof

Allow the crescent rolls to rise in a warm place until puffy and doubled in size, about 45-60 minutes.

Bake

Bake on the middle rack, in preheated 350°F oven for 16-20 minutes or until golden brown.
Allow to cool on the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Or serve warm. Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 6 days.

Video

Notes

This recipe has been updated from its original version. The original version called for 2 cups of warm water and 1/4 cup of powdered milk. I updated the recipe because I found that using regular milk was more available for bakers, and it yields the same results.
*You can replace the instant yeast with active dry yeast – be sure to proof it first. Proof it by adding the active dry yeast to the water with 1 Tablespoon of the sugar. Let it sit for up to 15 minutes to foam up. If it doesn’t foam, replace yeast with a fresh package.
Freeze unbaked crescent rolls: You can freeze the rolls to bake later. After rolling up and placing the them on parchment lined cookie sheet, put the entire pan in the freezer and allow the rolls to freeze for 24 hours. Once frozen, remove the sheet pan and you can pop them off, place them in a ziplock bag, and store in the freezer for later use. When baking frozen rolls, remove them from the freezer bag and place on a baking sheet. Allow them to rise at room temperature and bake as usual. This could take 3-5 hours, depending on how warm your kitchen is.
Overnight rolls: Make overnight crescent rolls by rolling them out, place on a baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator overnight. They tend to rise quickly, even in the refrigerator, so I suggest only refrigerating for 8 hours.
Make the dough the night before: You can make the dough the night before and refrigerate - roll them up in the morning and let rise to double in size, about 45 minutes before baking.
This is the same dough for my Homemade Cinnamon Rolls. You can double this recipe and make both dinner rolls and cinnamon rolls with the same dough.
Substitutions: You can swap out butter for the butter flavored shortening. You can also swap out 1/3 cup cooked potato for every 1/2 cup of the potato flakes. You can use all-purpose flour instead of bread flour - you may need a little bit extra to make it less sticky.

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