Hawaiian Dinner Rolls

This recipe for Hawaiian Dinner Rolls uses a tangzhong starter for the fluffiest Hawaiian rolls while keeping the sweet flavor from pineapple juice and brown sugar. Make large dinner rolls for sliders, or make smaller Hawaiian rolls to serve as a side for your favorite soup.

So read on for some baking lessons and all the detailed tips and tricks for making enriched breads like this Hawaiian dinner roll recipe – but only if you want to. Otherwise grab your flour, hit that purple Jump to Recipe button, and let’s make dinner rolls!

What are Hawaiian rolls?

What we know as Hawaiian rolls were popularized in the 1950’s by Robert Taira in his bakery; originally in Hilo, it became King’s Bakery when it moved to King Street in Honolulu in 1963. The rolls were inspired by Portuguese sweet bread, a sweet enriched bread that often includes citrus and vanilla.

Ingredients

Like the Portuguese bread that inspired them, these Hawaiian dinner rolls are also made with an enriched dough – a bread dough that includes the basic bread ingredients (flour, water, salt, and yeast) plus eggs and fat. Some other examples of enriched dough recipes include my raisin challah, chocolate chip brioche, honey buns, and cinnamon rolls.

But what makes my bread rolls special and especially soft is the use of a tangzhong starter. Tangzhong is a technique used in making Japanese milk bread (like my rainbow bread) where a small amount of flour and liquid are cooked together into a thick paste that makes the resulting bread super soft and keeps it from going stale. I love this method so much that I’ve used it again in my sweet potato dinner rolls and, of course, my Japanese milk bread rolls.

The other key ingredients in this Hawaiian dinner roll recipe are the pineapple juice, brown sugar, and just a hint of vanilla. In my first four recipe tests, my family kept asking for the rolls to be sweeter and the flavor of pineapple more prominent. I’m really happy with how these turned out, and I hope you are too!

How to riff on this Hawaiian roll recipe

• To make Hawaiian roll sliders, remove the whole batch of rolls at once and slice the slab horizontally. Fill with pulled pork, pulled chicken, or your favorite sandwich fillings.
• Top with flaky sea salt or brush with a compound butter instead of the egg wash.

Recipe tips and tricks

First step in this Hawaiian roll recipe is to make the tangzhong starter. Combine the milk, water, and flour in a small pot and stir over low heat until the mixture thickens into a pudding-like paste. Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool until it’s barely warm to touch. You can refrigerate the tangzhong if you do not want to use it immediately – just put a piece of plastic wrap on the surface of the tangzhong so it does not form a skin.

When the tangzhong has cooled, mix the rest of the dough. Like brioche and other enriched doughs, it is easiest to make these Hawaiian rolls with a stand mixer, but it is not essential if you want to mix and knead by hand!

First combine all of the dry ingredients in your mixing bowl, then add the starter, pineapple juice, egg, and vanilla. Don’t add the butter yet – it works best to add the butter cubes once the dough has come together. Mix with the paddle attachment until you have a shaggy dough and then switch to your dough hook.

With the motor running, now add the softened butter cubes a few at a time, waiting to add more until those have been incorporated into the dough. Continue kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic, resisting the urge to add more flour unless you absolutely have to in order to get the dough to clear the sides of the mixing bowl – this should take about 7 to 10 minutes of kneading.

Shape the dough into a rough ball, cover the bowl, and let it rise in a cozy warm place until it has doubled in size, about 1.5 to 2 hours. The ideal temperature for bread is in the mid to high 70s Fahrenheit. If you have a chilly kitchen like I do, you can create a cozy place for your bread by heating a mug of water in your microwave or by turning on your oven as low as it will go.

Put a sticky on your oven so you don’t forget it’s in there!

Punch down the dough, turn it out onto your countertop, and divide it into 15 relatively equal sized pieces. These Hawaiian rolls are definitely large dinner rolls or slider sized at about 85 grams. If you want smaller rolls, you can divide your dough into 20 or even 24 equal pieces.

Working with one piece at a time, flatten it slightly. Grab a small section of the outer edge, stretch it slightly, and fold it into the center. Work your way around the dough, grabbing small sections one at a time and folding them into the center.

When you’ve gone all the way around and can’t easily grab the next section, pinch the center to seal, turn the dough over, and use a cupped palm to roll the dough around the counter to create a smooth ball. Place the dinner roll into a greased 9 by 13 inch baking dish and repeat with the rest of the dough, arranging your dough balls in equally spaced rows.

Cover the pan with plastic wrap and again let your Hawaiian rolls rise in your nice, cozy place for about an hour. You want them to rise until they’re nice and puffy and, if you gently press your fingertip into one, the indentation should not immediately spring back.

Beat the second egg in a small bowl and brush egg over the top and sides of your Hawaiian rolls. Be careful not to let it drip too much onto the baking dish, or your rolls may stick.

Bake your Hawaiian rolls for 20 to 25 minutes until the tops are nicely browned and they reach an internal temperature of 190 to 195 degrees Fahrenheit. If your rolls are browning too quickly, loosely cover them with aluminum foil.

Let cool for a few minutes in the pan, then remove to a cooling rack. If possible, I want you to serve these warm!

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