Homemade Crescent Rolls
Light, flaky, and soft homemade crescent rolls! Made with just a few simple ingredients. These will take your dinner to the next level!
Who doesn’t love crescent rolls?? Am I right?
There is just something so irresistible about those light, fluffy, flaky dinner rolls. They have a little hint of yeasty sweetness, and they’re so buttery and delicious.
Having any kind of homemade bread to pass around the dinner table truly makes any meal so much more special. My family always enjoys my homemade wheat bread, challah, and these beautiful stenciled bread rolls. But they really go crazy for homemade crescents!
I don’t blame them for a second! But have you ever thought about making them homemade?
I’m here to tell you that it’s so worth it! Everything tastes better when it’s made from scratch, and dinner rolls are no exception!
This recipe bakes up soft, puffy, and so incredibly delicious! And it’s actually pretty easy to make, with just a few simple basics.
There’s a little bit of downtime for chilling the dough, but other than that you’re looking at only around 45 minutes of active time ’til crescent roll heaven!
HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE CRESCENT ROLLS FROM SCRATCH
This dough is really easy to make. You don’t even need a mixer! And it only has a few basic ingredients.
Start by placing the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt into a large mixing bowl. Whisk all those dry ingredients together, just to get them combined.
Next, add your cold butter. Cut the cold butter in until only pea-sized pieces of butter remain. I like to do this with a pastry blender, but if you don’t have one, you can do it the old-fashioned way with 2 knives. Or you could use a food processor.
Whichever method you use, just be sure that the butter stays nice and cold! This is really a really important detail. Cold butter will allow your crescent roll dough to form all those flaky layers!
Once the butter is all worked in, add the liquid ingredients. Milk, water, and egg get whisked together and added to the dry mix.
Stir everything until the dough comes together into a ball, then wrap it in plastic and let it chill in the fridge.
WHAT IS THE SECRET TO FLAKY CRESCENT ROLLS?
This is the best part of this whole recipe. I absolutely love the results you get with this special technique!
It’s a little extra, but I promise you it is SO worth the effort!
Once your dough is made and nicely chilled, just roll it into a long rectangle shape, and fold it into thirds, like a letter. Turn it 90 degrees, and repeat a few more times. You can do this step maybe 3 to 5 times.
Every time you do, you’re creating hundreds of layers of dough and butter. When this gets baked, you’ll have the flakiest homemade dinner rolls ever!
This step is called lamination, and it’s a pastry chef’s secret weapon for recipes like this one. I do this with my pie crust, Danish, and homemade puff pastry, and the results are amazing. Take a look at the video below (within the recipe card) to see just what this looks like.
You don’t have to do it, if you’re short on time. You can just make the dough, roll it, cut it, and shape it into crescent rolls and they will still come out fantastic. But if you can spare a few minutes for that extra step, you will be rewarded with the most incredible flaky layers.
HOW TO SHAPE CRESCENT ROLLS
Once your crescent roll dough is made, laminated, and chilled, it’s time for the fun part: shaping the bread rolls!
Start by dividing the dough into 3 equal portions. This will just make things a little easier to manage.
Roll out a portion of dough into a long rectangle shape. You want to get it pretty thin! The thinner you roll your dough, the more flaky layers your crescent rolls will have.
Once your rectangle of dough is about 1/8-inch thick, trim away the rough edges, and cut it into long, kinda skinny triangles. (Ideally, you want the triangles to be about 2 inches at the wide end, and about 4 inches long. But please don’t get too hung up on these dimensions!)
To shape the crescents, start at the wide end of a triangle and roll your way along, all the way to the point. Make sure the point is tucked under the roll, and then just bend the roll into a curved crescent shape. I have a little video within the recipe card, so you can see just what I mean!
Pop these onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, let them proof, and bake!
CAN HOMEMADE CRESCENT ROLLS BE MADE AHEAD?
One of the reasons I love this recipe so much is because it can easily be made ahead.
Follow all the steps of the recipe, right through to the one where the dough is cut and shaped into crescents. When you’ve got all your little crescents shaped and laid out on the baking sheet, cover them loosely with plastic wrap and pop the whole tray into the fridge.
The unbaked crescent rolls can be kept in the fridge like this overnight, or up to 24 hours.
A few hours before you’re ready to serve them, take the trays out of the fridge and let them come to room temperature. Then just continue on with the proofing and baking steps of the recipe.
HOW LONG WILL HOMEMADE CRESCENT ROLLS KEEP?
Once baked and cooled, just slip any leftover crescent rolls into a zip-top bag to keep them fresh. They will keep at room temperature for a few days, or in the fridge for around a week.
You could also freeze them. They’ll last in the freezer for several weeks to a month. When you’re ready to have some, just warm them gently in the oven (on the lowest setting) for about 10 or 15 minutes.
Your friends and family are going to love these homemade crescent rolls! They truly make the whole meal- so soft and light! And everyone will be so impressed that you made them from scratch.
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Homemade Crescent Rolls
Ingredients
- 2 3/4 cups (343.75 g) all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons (2 teaspoons ) dry active yeast*
- 1 1/4 teaspoons (1.25 teaspoons ) kosher salt
- 1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter,, cold
- 1/2 cup (122 ml) milk
- 1/4 cup (62.5 ml) water
- 1 egg, (large)
Instructions
- Place the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt in a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
- Cut in the butter with a pastry blender (or two knives), until only pea-sized pieces remain.
- Whisk the milk, water, and egg together in a small bowl, and add to the flour/butter mixture.
- Stir together until the dough gathers itself into a ball.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.
- Dust the work surface with flour, and roll the dough out to a rough rectangle shape, about 1/2-inch thick.
- Fold the dough into thirds, like a letter.
- Turn 90 degrees, roll, and fold again.
- Repeat about 3 to 5 times, wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 30 minutes.
- Divide the dough into 3 equal portions.
- Roll each portion out into a long rectangle, about 1/8-inch thick, 16-inches long, and 5 inches wide.
- Cut the dough into skinny triangles, and roll each triangle, starting at the wide end and tucking the pointy end under the roll.
- Place the crescents on parchment lined baking sheets, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and allow to rise for 1 hour or until puffy and nearly doubled in size.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F, then bake the crescent rolls for 10 minutes or until puffed and golden.
Notes
If I wanted to use this recipe for making a chicken braids, would you proof after you filled it or would you do like your pigs in a blanket recipe and put it in the freezer for 20 minutes before baking?
I would proof after filling. The pigs in a blanket don’t have any yeast but these do, so they’ll want to rise at room temp. Good luck!
Hello! Using this recipe to make pigs in a blanket as a snack to pull from the freezer and wondering if I would be better off freezing these after they have been baked or if I should freeze before I bake them?
Thank you!
I think either way would work just fine!
Not bad. Can dough appears to be the latest victim of supply chain shortages, and I needed some crescent roll dough for pigs in a blanket. So I used this recipe—worked out pretty well. Needed only about half the recipe for a standard 12 oz bag of cocktail franks.
Very happy this worked for you!
Easy to make and very tasty!
Though I often intend (but usually forget) to comment on a recipe I have liked, THIS is the exception. Over the years I have tried dozens of disappointing crescent roll recipes but this has ended my quest. It is the easiest, best textured, best flavoured of any, bar none. No tweaks needed, this is perfect. Your way of rolling and cutting was also a delightful – why didn’t I think of that – surprise! Wow, no more circles cut into pie shaped wedges. I have been baking over 60 years and I love learning something new. Everything is lined up for another batch today and I just had to stop and comment. Love your site and will be sure to check here first when I search again for a recipe.
Can you freeze some of the dough?
Yes absolutely! There are instructions for this right here in the comments section.
Thank you for sharing! I ended up cutting a third of the final dough to bake initially. It made 8 soft, light, golden crescents! THEN immediately regretted not making half of the dough! I used a cheat though. I trapped my dough in between folded parchment and forced the dough into the exact rectangle instead of measuring and trimming. It works for lazy me!
Hiii, I wanted to try this recipe, but the yield is too much for me, can I freeze them after I roll them up? Thanks in advance ❤️
Yes they’re good in the freezer for up to 2 weeks. Enjoy!
These were delicious
I made it as instructed and baked 6 which the two of us devoured
The rest of the unbaked rolls I flash froze on a baking sheet then put into a ziploc bag to be taken out as needed
This morning I took out 6 to raise slowly ( it’s 6C here )
Baked as directed and delicious at 6 PM
I think the very slow second raising today made the rolls even better if that is even possible
Try this recipe soon it’s delicious
I’ve got the dough chilling right now in my fridge, and I’ve been wanting to attempt croissants, which is what these seem more like, so this is perfect! Also, a little tip: if you have a stand mixer, try using the flat beater attachment to cut in the cold butter. It works great! I can’t wait to see how these come out.
Great tip thanks for sharing! These are more like a flaky dinner roll than a croissant, but I love them! If you want to make croissants here’s my best recipe: https://bakingamoment.com/easy-homemade-croissant-recipe/.
Great recipe.
Rolled up few with bologna.
How could I use this recipe to make pigs in a
Blanket? Would the final proof happen after rolling them around the hotdog?
Yes I think that would work well. Good luck!
AMAZIIIIING! The instructions & the video were so clear my 14-year-old son was able to make these. Two good secrets; we didn’t touch it with our hands hardly at all in order to not melt the butter, and he did the laminating five times. He did not cut them perfectly just as she says it’s not important and they still baked up beautifully. Even the little scraps we baked because it was all too delicious to throw anything away 🙂
Delicious and I appreciate the helpful video since I had never done this before. In case it helps anyone – I made the rolls on 12/23 and put in fridge. Proofed and baked half on 12/24 and the other half 12/25 (husband likes them fresh). They were terrific both days. I did the laminating and my kids were impressed. Also they only wanted to eat rolls during the meal, haha.
I live in a country where premade crescent rolls aren’t available. My husband and I really needed them for a recipe we wanted to make, so I tried this recipe out. They exceeded my expectations! They were soo flakey and tender!!! Highly recommend!!!
Let me just say these crescent rolls are amazing.
I used this recipe to make the crescent rolls and I used it to make cinnamon rolls! So, so, good. Flakey cinnamon rolls
These were just so lovely and yummy! The extra step
of laminating the dough was well worth it! Definitely going to be making these for Christmas (perfect for brunch or dinner!) Thank you for a great recipe!
I wanted to make a day ahead of time. Can I go ahead and laminate then put in fridge overnight?
Absolutely!
there are definitely no fail dinner rolls with soft, buttery layers. Thank you Allie! i cant get over how great these turned out. remember the fridge is your best friend. 😉 everything needs to stay chilled during the process
Hi there! I’ve recently gotten in to making our own bread stuffs, thanks pandemic, and I’m curious how you would recommend working this recipe for a stuffed crescent, i.e pigs in a blanket. Should I do the rise without rolling them up, then fill, roll and bake?
Thanks!
Hey there! You can just follow my pigs in a blanket recipe: https://bakingamoment.com/pigs-in-a-blanket/. Good luck!