Ingredients
For the rolls:
- 1/2 cup canned pineapple juice (room temperature)
- 1/2 cup warm milk (100 – 110°F)
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 2 whole eggs, lightly beaten
- 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fine salt
- 2 1/4 teaspoons (1 packet) instant yeast
- 4 1/2 cups (20 ounces) bread flour, approximately
For baking:
- 1 large egg
Directions
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Combine the pineapple juice, milk, melted butter, eggs, sugar, and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add 2 cups of the flour and stir with a wooden spoon until the dough forms a rough, shaggy mass. Stir in the salt. Attach the dough hook to the mixer and turn to medium-low speed. Gradually add the remaining flour JUST until the dough comes together. You may not need all the flour, depending on your kitchen environment and brand of flour. Continue kneading on medium-high speed for 4 to 5 minutes, until a soft and smooth ball of dough forms.
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Place the dough in a clean bowl. Cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until puffy and doubled in size, about 1 hour.
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Spray a 13x9-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Gently deflate the dough. Use a bench scraper or knife to divide the dough into 15 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a ball and place in the prepared pan.
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In a small bowl combine the egg with 2 tablespoons of water. Brush all over the rolls. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise again until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
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Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375°F.
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Bake the rolls for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve warm.
Recipe Notes
Adapted from JW Food and Design and here
Hi can I use the bread machine?
Hi Mary! We haven’t tried using a bread machine, but other readers have with success and left how they use it in the comments 🙂 Let us know what you think when you give this recipe a try!
I made this recipe today and the rolls turn out amazing!
Definitely I will make them again, and again……..
My question is: in case I don’t have pineapple juice at home, what I can substitute the pineapple juice with?
Hi Dorota! I’m sorry, we have not tried these rolls with anything other than pineapple juice, so I cannot say for sure! I’m glad you enjoyed what you made today! 🙂
I have made this recipe twice now. The buns good, but there is a problem with the recipe. Salt should not be added until the yeast has proofed. Adding salt before will kill yeast and dough will not raise properly. Followed recipe first time. After 5 hours dough still had not raised. I don’t live in a high altitude area and I put dough in warm area of kitchen. This second time, I didn’t add salt until yeast had proofed and dough raised just fine. I will be making these again, just adding salt later.
Hi Jean! Thanks for the feedback! Tessa has actually discussed this matter with Red Star Yeast directly, and they let her know that the way their yeast is manufactured, it is able to withstand many more conditions than it once could. Basically, as long as the salt is added to the yeast alongside other ingredients (i.e. not just directly), the salt should not inhibit the yeast’s rising abilities. That being said, perhaps other yeast manufacturers’ yeasts do not have the same stability. We will be taking your feedback into account and editing the recipe with clearer instructions. Thank you again for your feedback here!
Hi!!
Made these hawaiian buns yesterday and it came out fantastic…..my daughter loves it!!
Just some points based on my execution of this recipe:
1) The pineapple taste is not apparent…just a mild sweet taste….was hoping for a bit of pineapple flavour
2) I did use bread flour and the texture was nice and fluffy….added a little more water to bring the dough together since i did knead by hand.
3) the dough was a bit tough and didnt poof as much as other bread recipes i have tried so i was a little concerned but it came out perfect…so be warned! It also took longer to poof in both instances but was well worth it!
4) i did replace half cup of the flour with some whole wheat and the buns were still soft and delicious
Give it a try!! You might be pleasantly surprised
Hi Ray! So happy you enjoyed these rolls!! Thanks for sharing your findings and tips, too! Bread is a strange beast sometimes – it can rise so differently for everyone, or even differently for the same person two days in a row. It all depends on the environment in your kitchen at the time, and how warm and humid it is. I’m glad they came out well and you found them delicious! 🙂
can I sub pineapple juice for milk to make them little sweeter or is 1/2 c of juice sweet enough.
I am going to make this weekend.
tia. bags
Hi there! No, the milk is essential to this recipe, I wouldn’t suggest substituting pineapple juice instead. How did your rolls turn out?
Delicious
I a, not sure what I am doing wrong…did this recipe 3 times///this time I had a great feeling I did it, but they are still coming out dense..not as bad as previous, but dense. Flavor is there, but not fluffy at all. HELP!
Sorry you’re having issues with your rolls! The most important steps in creating light and fluffy rolls are to use a digital scale to measure your ingredients (or check out this article here on How to Measure Flour) and to ensure that your dough doubles in size for each rise time. I recommend taking photos of your dough before rising and after to compare as it’s hard to tell sometimes Please note that the amount of flour listed in the ingredients is approximate as Tessa notes in the directions you may not need as much depending on your kitchen environment or brand of flour. I hope that helps! Please give this recipe another try, and let us know how it goes!
I made two batches of these and they were so amazing! I didn’t have bread flour so I used all purpose flour and they turned out perfect. I gave some to my neighbors and they already asked for the recipe. I will definitely be making these again!
Wow, that’s awesome! So happy to hear they were such a hit, thanks for taking the time to comment and let us know 🙂
Hi, first of all, thank you for this recipe….its got my mouth watering! My son is a fanatic for the Hawiian Rolls! That’s why I’m on here trying to find a good recipe I can trick him with lol! If we can fool him with this recipe you are a culinary genious!!!
However, just for now….for me…I’m wondering if I can substitute lemon juice for the pinaple, or I do have several fresh Oranges that have nice flavor, also, I only have cake flour and all purpose flour so could I use either of those, or maybe mix them I’m? I realize I’m asking if I could really change up the recipe, if it didn’t work I wouldn’t blame you, I still plan on getting the correct ingredients as soon as I can…
I’m just wondering if I can substitute a few ingredients just to get an idea of the recipe…I’m just wanting to make this recipe so bad like right now,…. I only have a jar of “instant active dry” yeast will I need to use liquid from the recipe to proof the yeast or can I add extra liquid for the yeast?
Also,, once I do get to the store whenever that will be…..I’ve only seen large cans of pineapple juice, so I’m like the previous lady, what is the actual measurement of the pineapple juice that is used?
Sorry for asking for ideas on how to change up the recipe, I never do this…..I just don’t have a choice at the moment….
If you or anyone have any suggestions other than telling me not to make it lol I would appreciate the invite. Once I do make this recipe as it’s printed and my son has tried it, I will post it here for sure!!!! I can’t wait to make these correctly!
Hi Bobbi! We always recommend making the recipe as written as that is what has been tested extensively. Changing or substituting anything will produce different results. You’re welcome to experiment with it, but we do recommend that you make it as written first, just so you have something to compare your experiments to. You are able to use active dry yeast instead, please read through the recipe notes above the recipe for more details, including your question of flour. And as the recipe ingredient’s list states, this recipe uses 1/2 cup of canned pineapple juice. I hope that helps!
How much pineapple juice is half a can?
Hi Kimber! It’s 1/2 cup of canned pineapple juice, not half a can of pineapple juice 🙂 Hope that helps!
This is my go to recipe in making rolls and Kolaches!! Thank you!!
Jemma is way off base.
This was the best recipe I’ve made for these rolls. I did allow the second raise to take place over night in the fridge.
Most of the time these recipes end up too dense and heavy. ( hence the overnight raise this time)
I too have been cooking for some time. ( 52 years) I’m 57 my first attempt at cooking was fried bacon and eggs at age 5. I do not like to see cooks get bashed especially when its unwarranted. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
So happy you loved this recipe, Charles! Thanks for sharing as well as the kind words 🙂
Even better than the name brand rolls! I have made these countless times since I found this recipe. The only thing I add is to run Kerrygold butter over the tops of the rolls once I take them out of them oven. I can’t recommend this recipe enough.
Nothing wrong with brushed butter on top, yum!! So happy to hear how much you love this recipe, thanks for sharing! 🙂
Okay, let me preface this with: I have 25 years of experience baking breads, with a considerable about of success. I love in very dry climate and that can sometimes make baking challenging. I know how to proof my yeast, what under and overdeveloped glutens look like, and proper temperature control of liquids and baking. I must say that this is probably the most off-base recipe I have come across in my 25 years of baking. Even by weight (this is how most true bakers measure), this liquid-to-dry ratio is so far off (to the wet side) that you will quickly realize that there is no way to salvage this mess once they have been combined (you simply cannot add enough flour to get the ratio you need, not is it advised). This looks like it would be a terrible, sticky mess (regardless of the humidity in your home :”D ). Do not waste the flour and try a different recipe.
Hi Jemma! Thanks for your feedback. As this is an older recipe post (from 2014), it has not yet been updated with metric measurements, which is what we currently use to create our recipes. You are correct in that measuring by weight is best; however, did you try this recipe? The dough is a bit wet and sticky, but these rolls result in the most delicious outcome, a perfect copycat Hawaiian Bread Roll recipe. I hope you give it a try!
What an incredibly rude comment. Clearly plenty of people have reviewed this recipe saying it worked out perfectly for them – and I assume the other reviewers who have had success don’t have 25 years of bread baking experience. I don’t quite see the point of leaving a comment like this if you didn’t even try the recipe out.
Have you even TRIED the recipe? I don’t care how much experience you have, each recipe is different even if it’s in one minute way! Try first then post your assessment!
That’s just me anyway, I won’t be discouraged!
I find Jemma’s comment rude, uncalled for and not substanciated by facts, if you want to comment on something at least have the decency to try the recipe, …what a horrible person this successful baker is. Go have success in a cave, you are not needed in society,….this recipe makes people happy, perfecting it is part of the fun, take the info and play with it….it was given with a kind heart and should be taken with a kind heart…
This is the perfect dinner roll recipe I’ve been searching for.. fluffy, slightly sweet and purely delicious. That turned out beautifully even after I forgot to add the melted butter. I had used buttermilk instead of regular milk and I’m certain that is what saved them. Easy to make and bake up beautifully
So glad you enjoyed this recipe, Shelia, and that your addition of buttermilk worked perfectly! 🙂
Can this recipe be made into a loaf bread instead of rolls?
Hi Angela! We haven’t tried that, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work! Please let us know how it goes 🙂
The dough took two hours to rise double for me, the second rise an hour. I suppose it is because the bread is a heavier bread with eggs and milk. White bread is what I normally make and never takes more than 45 minutes to one hour to triple in bulk. I never add salt directly with yeast, it can kill the yeast, always add it separately so your dough will rise properly. My only issue was the long rise time is why I gave them a four-star rating. They ended up coming out soft, fluffy and wonderful!
Hi Bonnie! I’m so glad the rolls turned out perfectly! The rise time shouldn’t have taken that long though, do you live in a cold climate? What kind of yeast did you use, active dry or instant yeast? Did you use room temperature pineapple juice?
Great recipe! I’ve never had a lot of luck making dinner rolls, but this recipe was easy, tasteful and looked amazing! I had to take half of them to the neighbors as I knew I would be eating all of them myself! These are dangerously delish!!
haha, hooray!! I’m so please you love them!
Awesome recipe! I used 1 c guava juice, no milk. I also added a touch of red food colouring for a nice pink colour.
Just dumped it all in a stand mixer, had to let rise a lot longer since my house is cold. Mine were cooked after 17 minutes.
Perfect texture but not sweet enough for me. I used AP flour.
These rolls were an Easter hit! They’re huge; next time I’ll make 20 rolls. I refrigerated the rolled dough after step #4 overnight. Gave them an hour on the counter to come to room temperature the next day and baked per directions. Very yummy. I’ll make them again.
Trying this for the first time. How in the world do you divide into 15 equal parts? I do pretty good on even numbers of dough. Can’t figure this out. Rolls are proofing for last time now. Help for next time would be great.
Thanks,
Mike
Hi Mike, there will be 5 rows of 3 rolls. It fits perfectly in a 9×13 pan 🙂 Good luck!
Can you use all purpose flour instead of bread flour ?
You may use all-purpose flour instead of bread flour, but the bread flour gives these rolls a perfectly round shape and chewy texture.
Easy and so yummy!
I don’t have bread flour can i use all purpose?
You may use all-purpose flour instead of bread flour, but the bread flour gives these rolls a perfectly round shape and chewy texture. I hope you give this recipe a try!
About how much is 1/2 can of pineapple juice? I have mini cans here.
I’ve made this twice now and love how easy it is to much together. I also love how soft the dough is when I take it out of the mixer.
The second time I used Lakanto Monk fruit sweetener rather than sugar. Slight after taste but still delicious.
Definitely a family favorite
I tried this recipe and it is a keeper ! It has great taste and beautiful soft texture
So glad you enjoyed these rolls!
Most recipes call for Buttermilk, what’s the baking difference between these milk vs Buttermilk
Hi Donald, check out my Buttermilk 101 article!
Hi, I tried to make the dough twice and for whatever reason it is super sticky. We live in Colorado so not sure if I need to do something different due to altitude. If so, I appreciate any guidance. Thanks.
Good flavor. i increased the sugar to 8 Tbsp because we like our rolls sweeter. I would say that the only downside to these rules is that they are very tall. About twice the height of store-bought Hawaiian rolls. So your ratio of bread to filling will be different. It could be that my rolls end up being taller because I use active dry yeast, and not instant yeast as the recipe calls for.
Absolutely delicious. I may have added a bit more than half a cup of pineapple juice to make sure the bread was sweet but no more than a cup. Thanks a bunch 😉 yummy
I’m so glad you enjoyed these bread rolls!
SOOOO happy to report these came out delicious and were so easy to make by hand. I don’t have a stand mixer. I used Tessa’s hand kneading dough method she discussed in another post. P.S Also my first time using bread flour. It was fun! 🙂
I’m so glad these rolls were a success for you! YAY!
Don’t know what happened, but these weren’t the slightest bit sweet for me. Don’t get me wrong, a good roll recipe, but they didn’t come sweet like hawaiian rolls for me. Thanks for the recipe, though!
Easy to make love it. Will make it again
So glad to hear that!
The rolls really ARE good. I substituted NOTHING, even buying bread flour for the first time ever. One can of pineapple in its own juice provided just the right amount for the recipe. My rolls did not look as pretty as the picture here. Someone asked about using a bread machine. The answer is YES, IT WORKS! I selected the ‘dough only’ cycle. After the dough rose in the machine I took it out. It were pretty sticky so I kneaded it a bit and shaped the rolls using extra flour. I will see what the dinner guests tomorrow think of the rolls.
I’m so happy you tried this recipe out! I hope it was enjoyed on Thanksgiving!
I’ve made these several times now and they never disappoint! I’m always asked to make the rolls for any gatherings now.
This makes me so happy, Cassie!
I love these rolls.
I’m making them the day before. So I’m wondering if I can just put the rolls in the fridge overnight for the second rise. Will they over-rise? Since it’s just overnight I hated to put them in the freezer – since you suggest and overnight thaw.
You can refrigerate the dough after it has risen for the first time for up to 24 hours! More detailed instructions included in my Make Ahead Baking Guide. Hope that helps!
Never mind I just read the notes at top. My bad and thank you!
Glad you found what you were looking for! I hope you love these rolls!
So I don’t have instant yeast but I do have regular yeast. So I should just let yeast rise in the warm milk and add to the other wet ingredients. It should still work the same way, right?
I just wanted to say that I’m making these for the third time today at the request of my son. He is nine years old and I love that the recipe is so easy that he can follow it pretty much on his own with just a little guidance so he doesn’t overwork the dough.
They are delicious. The only change I have made is that I oil the bowl I’m proving in slightly so that the dough comes out easily as it’s a rather wet dough.
So amazing you have a little helper with you in the kitchen! So glad you love these rolls.
I made these rolls and followed the recipe 100% These rolls were the worst. Hard as rocks and not very suite tasting. I used all fresh ingredients – including the yeast. And all temps for the liquids were at temps specified I would not make these again! There’s got to be a better way to make these!
I’m sorry to hear this! Usually hard rolls are due to too much flour being used, over-kneading the dough, or baking for too long. Be sure to check out my posts for how to measure flour and Oven 101. This is one of my most popular recipes, so I hope you give this recipe another try!
I made these with my teenage granddaughter and they smelled so good coming out of the oven she couldn’t wait for them to cool down. Absolutely will make again.
So glad to hear this, Mary!
These are just yummy! I have made them twice in the last 2 weeks. Thanks for a great recipe!
So thrilled to hear that, Mary!
Super easy recipe! My Hawaiian rolls turned out beautiful and delicious. My family loved it.
I did not have can pineapple juice. I replaced it with Tropicana orange pineapple juice. But first I microwaved it to kill the enzymes so it would not kill the yeast. The rolls rise beautifully.
Thanks Tessa for sharing this wonderful recipe.
Yay! So happy you tried these rolls out 🙂
Super easy recipe. The rolls turn out great and delicious! My family loved it!
i did not have can pineapple juice so I substituted Tropicana orange pineapple juice. But first I microwaved the juice for 2 minutes to kill the enzymes so it would not kill the yeast. It rise beautifully. Also I use only 4 tablespoon of sugar and it’s sweet enough to eat by itself.
Thank you Tessa for sharing this easy wonderful reciepe.
Thanks for the recipe. The dough came out very hard. I added half cup milk and 1/4 cup pineapple juice. Then the roll came out nicely.
Oh my! I made them-they were delish!
Perfect! First try and it came out perfect. We had no left overs; will be making another batch later today.
Officially a fan.
I accidentally used cake flour instead of bread flour so that was on me but I took a chance and added some regular flour to group it better and baked it and it actually tasted pretty good even though I messed up! I’ll have to use this recipe again but next time using the right type of flour.
I just used this recipe and it’s amazing, thanks so much! I made it with plain flour (in the UK, same as all purpose) and didn’t use a stand mixer but they still turned out really well. They’re a little rustic-looking, probably because of the flour, but they taste perfect! I’ve been craving Hawaiian rolls for ages and with no trip to visit my family in the States in sight, these fill the gap perfectly. Thanks!
Just made these and they were a hit at my loosely-themed luau Labor Day party.
I live in New Mexico (dry weather) in the Santa Fe area (high elevation), so I made a couple of changes I thought I would post in case anyone’s in a similar situation and would benefit. One of the biggest issues with elevation over 3k or so is that the dough will tend to rise way too quickly, so I used active dry yeast and all cold ingredients, except the melted butter, to slow things down a bit. The dough started out soft and a little sticky and it took about 2 hours to double in mass, which is exactly what I wanted. I weighed the flour, as I always do, and used all of it plus a heaping spoonful since it was going to proof a little longer. I ended up not changing the wet ingredients at all with the exception of a small splash of extra pineapple juice.
Once shaped, I let them proof again for about 45 minutes and until I thought they looked like they had regained their puffiness.
The experiment worked! They baked up very well and were delicious.
I have made this recipe twice now. It came out fantastic the second time around after I followed the instructions to the t (rooms temp pineapple juice, warm milk and melted butter to name a few). I also let the dough rise a little more than an hour for the first rise and 15 – 20 minutes more for the second rise. These came out perfect!
I also used only 4 cups of flour, so the dough was wet and had just stared to come together. Kneading for 4-7 minutes really got the dough together and it was not too sticky. Letting it rise for almost 30 mins longer the first time and 45-59 minutes after forming the balls really made the difference for me.