Easy Breakfast Bread Rolls

4.45 from 9 votes

These are our favorite breakfast bread rolls! Soft, fluffy and crusty rolls that you could make together with your kids.

Prep Time20

Cook Time20

Total Time40

Course: Bread

Cuisine: German

Servings: rolls

Calories: 239kcal

Author: Adina

Mix the flour, instant yeast, and salt. Place the flour in a large bowl, add the lukewarm water, salt, honey, or syrup, and mix with a spoon for as long as it gets.
500 g all-purpose flour/ 4 ¼ cups + 2¼ teaspoons instant dry yeast + 1 ½ teaspoon fine sea salt + 300 ml lukewarm water/ 1 ¼ cups + ½ tablespoon honey
Knead: Start kneading the dough. When the dough comes together, turn the mixture onto a floured working surface and continue kneading until the dough becomes elastic and doesn't stick to your hands anymore.
If using the stand mixer, knead using the kneading attachments until the dough is elastic and comes away from the walls of the mixer.
Let rise: Place the dough back in the clean bowl, cover the bowl with a kitchen cloth and leave the dough to rise in a warm place until doubled in size; this will take about an hour.

Form rolls: Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, divide it into 8 equal pieces and form the rolls. Knead one piece of dough shortly to make it smooth, form round or elongated rolls.
Let rise: Place the rolls on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Let rest again in a warm place until nicely risen, about half an hour.
In the meantime, preheat the oven to 400°F/ 200°C.
Score the rolls in the middle using a sharp knife.

Place in a small pan. Bring to a boil.
75 ml water / ⅓ cup
In the meantime, mix cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of cold water.
3 teaspoons cornstarch
Whisk the cornstarch slurry into the simmering water and let it bubble briefly until it becomes syrupy and shiny; about 10-20 seconds.
Brush the rolls with the slurry. Sprinkle with the seeds of choice, if desired.
sesame seeds

Bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. Check if they are done by tapping the bottom of one roll with your knuckles; it should sound hollow.
Glaze: Once you`ve removed the baked rolls from the oven, brush them again very lightly with the cornstarch mixture, not too much, so that the rolls will be shiny but remain crusty.
Let cool on wire racks.

Measurements: Use a digital kitchen scale for the best results. (the Amazon affiliate link opens in a new tab)
You can use any type of yeast: fresh, active dry yeast, or instant yeast.
1 sachet of dry yeast weighs 7 g/ 0.24 oz/ 2 ¼ teaspoons in Germany.
If using fresh yeast, crumble it and dissolve it in the lukewarm water.
If using active dry yeast, proof it in lukewarm water.
If using instant yeast, mix it with the dry ingredients before adding the wet ingredients.
Egg wash: You can also brush the breakfast rolls with egg wash. Mix 1 egg yolk + 2 tablespoons water + 1 teaspoon olive oil. Use to brush the rolls before you sprinkle them with the seeds.