These yeast rolls get a cube of butter pressed into the center of each one before baking, so it melts straight into the dough as they bake. Fresh dill and gruyere cheese give them more flavor than a plain dinner roll. Start to finish is about two and a half hours, most of it hands-off rise time.

Dill and gruyere dinner rolls on a baking sheet — *Every roll gets brushed with butter twice, once before baking and again right after, then finished with a scatter of flaky sea salt.*

The Secret to These Yeast Rolls Is in the Center

If your idea of a dinner roll is the kind you pull out of a bag and warm up, or a basic homemade version you brush with butter and call it done, this one asks a little more of you but rewards you for it. The dough here is genuinely forgiving: you can let it rise a little long, refrigerate it overnight after shaping, or bake it fresh the same day, and it still turns out soft.

That makes it a good one to have ready alongside something like a standing rib roast or a slow cooker pot roast for a holiday table, since you can get the rolls shaped and out of the way before the rest of the meal needs your attention. If you’ve been hesitant to work with yeast because you’re afraid you’ll kill it or the rolls won’t rise, this dough has enough give that a small mistake won’t ruin it. These are the kind of rolls that get passed around the table twice.

A Roll That’s Never Missing From Sunday Dinner

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I’ve been making yeast rolls for years, and in my house they were never optional. Growing up, Sunday dinner was the big meal of the day, the one you came home to after church, and there was always a basket of these on the table, whether it was a regular Sunday, a holiday, or a potluck. This particular batch started because I wanted a roll savory enough to hold its own next to that kind of spread, not just something that disappeared into the rest of the plate.

The first time I made a full batch, I served them with a standing rib roast, and they held their own. That’s still how I think of them: the roll that makes an everyday dinner feel like it’s worth gathering around.

These Started Out as Plain Butter Rolls

These rolls didn’t start with dill or gruyere at all. I made the dough plain first, with just that cube of butter, and they held up fine on their own. But I kept thinking it would make a solid base for something more, so I started working in gruyere cheese and fresh dill until the flavor came through without covering up that basic buttery roll underneath.

It took a few tries to get the balance right, enough cheese and herb to notice, but not so much that it stopped tasting like a dinner roll. It took a few tries to get the balance right, enough cheese and herb to notice, but not so much that it stopped tasting like a dinner roll. These days, this is the version I reach for when Sunday dinner needs to feel a little more special

A dinner roll with dill on parchment paper

A Few Things I’d Tell You Before You Start

Don’t skip the butter cube. Press it firmly into the center of each portion of dough so it stays put as the roll rises.
No fresh dill on hand? Leave it out and let the gruyere carry the flavor on its own.
If you’ve refrigerated the shaped rolls overnight, let them come fully to room temperature before baking. Going into the oven cold leaves the centers underbaked even if the tops look done.
Go by color, not just the clock, when checking doneness. Depending on how closely the rolls are packed on the pan, they may take a bit more time to turn golden brown.

How do you make sure your yeast rolls will rise

Add lukewarm milk to the yeast. My mom always said to let it be the temperature of a baby bottle or you can measure with a thermometer, you want it to be around 100º.
When the yeast has dissolved in the milk it should be foamy and bubbly, if you’re not sure, add a pinch of sugar to the mixture, if it’s alive, it will get foamy. If it’s not foamy, throw it out and start again.

What Goes Into This Batch

The exact amounts are in the recipe card below.

Gruyere cheese: finely grated so it melts evenly through the dough instead of sitting in clumps. It’s a mild, nutty cheese, not sharp or overpowering, so it works with the dill instead of competing with it.
Fresh dill: use fresh, not dried. Dried dill is more concentrated and will make the rolls taste too strong.
Active dry yeast: you can use instant yeast instead if that’s what you have. Instant will shave a little time off the rise, but active dry gives a slightly deeper flavor.
Whole milk: don’t substitute a lower fat milk here. The extra fat is part of what keeps these rolls soft instead of dry.

How to Make These Dill and Gruyere Yeast Rolls

Step 1 Make the dough

Warm the milk and add part of it to the yeast to let it dissolve. Then add a little flour to this mixture. Add eggs, melted butter, the rest of the warmed milk, the yeast mixture, cheese and dill. Once combined, add the rest of the flour and beat in a mixer with a dough hook.

Step 2 Let it rise

Let the dough rise until doubled, about 1 ½ hours.

Step 3 Divide and shape

Divide the dough into 25 pieces. Cut butter into 25 little cubes and form a ball of dough around each cube. Place the rolls right next to each other on a rimmed baking sheet, cover and let rise for about 30 minutes.

A cube of butter in the center of a dinner roll

Step 4 Bake

Brush with a little butter and bake for about 30 minutes.

A baking pan of dill rolls before they have been cooked

Remove from oven and brush with a bit more butter and sprinkle with salt.

Pro Tip: You can bake these in advance and them reheat or keep them warm in the slow cooker.

Helpful equipment

A mixer with a dough hook is helpful for any type of yeast dough. I’ve had my KitchenAid for over 25 years and it still works perfectly. If you don’t have one, you can knead this by hand, it will just take a little elbow grease, which can be relaxing. If you’d rather shape the dough into spirals instead of balls, my old-fashioned yeast rolls made with a bread flour paste uses that technique.
A rimmed baking sheet. If you don’t have a baking sheet with rimmed sides, you can use a 9 x 13 inch pan, all 25 rolls won’t fit so you’ll need a smaller pan also.

This is the kind of yeast roll that’s worth the extra step, nothing shortcut, nothing store bought, just a simple dough made a little more interesting.

If you loved this recipe, give it a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating! Also, snap a picture of your finished dish and share it with me on Instagram using the hashtag #butterandbaggage and tagging me @butterandbaggage.

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