Easy Kaiser Rolls for Beginners

Behold — a same-day recipe for homemade kaiser rolls that has been obsessively tested and perfected by me! Friends, the result is soft, fresh, and lightly browned kaiser buns that are so perfect for sandwiches or burgers. My recipe is great for beginner and seasoned bread bakers with three different roll shaping methods included below for making knotted, scored or stamped rolls. Yields 6 rolls.

Kaiser rolls originated in Austria likely at some point in the late 1700s, but I know them mostly for being some of the best-ever rolls for breakfast sandwiches (a bacon egg and cheese on a Kaiser roll is an elite sandwich combo) and for making all sorts of deli sandwiches from my favorite deli-style tuna salad to a classic hot pastrami with melty Swiss cheese.

Some people swear by Kaiser rolls as being the best bun for hamburgers, but if I'm being honest, I'm partial to my soft brioche buns for burgers instead.

So what makes a Kaiser roll unique? The shape, for one. There are many different ways to shape Kaiser rolls — you can knot, score, or stamp them, and some people even use a folding technique to create the signature curved shape on top. I haven't been able to make the folding technique work for me so I didn't include it here, but I've got detailed instructions for the other three shaping methods below so you can choose what works for you.

Kaiser rolls are also generally an oversized roll with a soft, dense, uniform crumb inside and a slightly flaky, slightly crusty outside thanks to a milk wash before baking. I prefer mine with minced onion on top, but you can also make yours plain or with sesame or poppy seeds instead.

I like a softer, paler golden brown crust on my Kaiser rolls, but if you like yours darker or with a crisper, harder crust you can add 3-5 minutes to the bake time.

Ingredient Notes

Here are the ingredients that you'll need to make this recipe! See recipe card (at the end of the blog post) for ingredient quantities.

• All-Purpose Flour - You don't need any fancy specialty flours to make this Kaiser roll recipe. I use King Arthur Baking's all-purpose flour which has a slightly higher protein/gluten content of 11.9%, which is closer to a bread flour. If you're using other brands of flour, you may see better results with their bread flour.
• Salt - I use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt which is half as salty as other brands of salt. If measuring by weight (which you should be!) it doesn't matter what brand of salt you use. But if you're measuring by volume and using a different brand of salt, even a different brand of kosher salt (cough, Morton's, cough), cut the amount of salt in half.
• Sugar - A little bit of white sugar adds a bit of sweetness and helps feed the yeast so these Kaiser buns rise nicely.
• Instant Yeast - I use instant yeast because it's designed to be added directly to your dry ingredients without having to be proofed in water first. Instant yeast is sometimes also called "rapid rise" or "quick" yeast. If you're using active dry yeast, increase the amount by 25%, mix it with the warm water the recipe calls for, and let it sit for 5 minutes to become foamy before adding it to the dough.
• Water - The water should be warm to the touch but not hot. Around 90°F. Anything hotter than 110°F might kill your yeast, so I do recommend using a thermometer to check the temp if you have one.
• Oil - A generous pour of olive oil (extra virgin or regular) helps give this Kaiser roll dough enough elasticity to make rolling ropes of dough for shaping knots a breeze. It also tenderizes the dough and gives the rolls their soft-yet-dense texture!
• Milk - I use whole milk to give these Kaiser rolls a super soft, lightly browned crust and to help the onion topping stick. Any milk you have should work fine, but low-fat or skim milk will result in a paler crust. If you want a darker, shinier crust, use an egg wash instead.
• Dried Minced Onion - Dried minced onion is a classic Kaiser roll topping, but you can also use poppy seeds, my simple everything bagel seasoning, or sesame seeds if you prefer!

How to Make Kaiser Rolls

To make this Kaiser roll recipe, start by whisking together all of the dry ingredients (minus the dried minced onion) in the bowl of your stand mixer. Make a well in the center, then pour in the warm water and olive oil. Attach the dough hook to your stand mixer.

Making the Kaiser roll dough involves two steps: mixing and kneading.

Mixing vs. Kneading:

• Mixing the dough is the step where you want all the ingredients to just come together. There shouldn't be any dry bits of flour in the bottom of the bowl and it should mostly be one messy looking lump on the dough hook. It can take a few minutes before the dough is completely mixed, and you can use this time to add more water or more flour if the dough needs it.
• Kneading is the step after mixing, where you're developing gluten in the dough. Gluten provides strength and structure and you'll see your messy, lumpy dough become smooth and fully hydrated by the end of the kneading process.

This is a pretty soft, elastic dough and I find it tends to crawl up my dough hook. Pausing to scrape it down and flip it over helps ensure everything is kneaded together evenly.

It might be a little bit sticky to the touch but should pull away cleanly from the bowl and your hands.

No mixer? You can knead this Kaiser roll dough by hand, but I find it's a little stickier than I like to handle. If you do knead it by hand, add about 3-5 mins to the kneading time try not to add too much flour — this can make your Kaiser rolls dense!

Once the dough has been kneaded, tuck the dough into a ball and place it in a lightly greased bowl, covered, and set it aside to rise until it doubles in size. This will take about 1 hour at room temperature.

If your kitchen is cold, place it somewhere warm to rise, otherwise it may need an extra 30 mins or so. If your kitchen is very warm, it may be ready 5-10 mins early!

NOTE: You can place the dough back in your mixer bowl to rise to avoid making extra dishes, I used a wider metal bowl because it photographed better.

Shaping Knotted Kaiser Rolls

Start by dividing the dough into six equal pieces using a kitchen scale for accuracy. Each piece should weigh about 168 grams.

No fancy pre-shaping required here. This Kaiser roll dough is super elastic and easy to work with. Start by working on an unfloured surface — this will help the dough stick slightly to itself so that you can roll it easily.

Finish by wrapping the tail end of the dough that's sticking out from underneath the loop around to the front and joining it together with the tail end that's sticking out through the middle of the loop.

If this sounds confusing, I do recommend watching the video at the end of this blog post to see how it's done! It was tricky to photograph and hard to describe but it's a pretty simple process once you get the hang of it, I swear.

Once the rolls are shaped, arrange them on a parchment-lined sheet pan and spray the tops lightly with non-stick spray. Then cover them with plastic wrap (the non-stick spray will keep the plastic from clinging to the dough). Place a sheet pan on top of the plastic to weigh the rolls down as they rise.

Let the Kaiser rolls rise at room temperature until quite puffy and almost doubled in size, about 1 hour. Again, if its very warm in your kitchen they may be ready a bit sooner! If it's very cold, they may need a little bit longer.

Toward the end of the rise time, preheat your oven to 400°F. Immediately before baking, brush the rolls with milk and sprinkle generously with the dried minced onion. Bake for 18-20 mins until pale golden brown on top. Let cool on the sheet pan for 5-10 mins before removing to a wire rack to cool completely so the starches have time to set before you cut them.

BONUS: Scored or Stamped Kaiser Rolls

If you don't want to fuss with knotting your Kaiser rolls, that's totally fine. You can shape the dough into balls instead (check out my english muffin recipe for step-by-step photos on how to do this) and score them before baking. Wait to score them until right before they go into the oven!

To create the traditional Kaiser roll design, you'll want to score 5-6 arc-shaped lines from the center out. Cut at least ¼" to ½" deep — these deep cuts will allow the rolls to expand properly in the oven.

If you don't have a lame (French for "blade," pronounced LAHM) or just don't want to score your Kaiser buns, you can also use a Kaiser roll stamp, which is exactly what it sounds like. It's a plastic stamp that creates the signature curved design on the top of the rolls.

To use a Kaiser roll stamp, first brush the rolls with the milk wash, then press it down firmly into the top of the dough. You don't want to cut all the way through, but you do want the stamp to make a significant impression. Finally, sprinkle them with the dried minced onion and pop them in the oven.

Storage Notes

Once fully cooled, these Kaiser rolls can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 6-7 days. They may be a little dry by the end of that window, but will bounce back when toasted.

I usually store them at room temperature in a beeswax-lined linen bread bag that the lovely folks at Keeki gifted me (use code TPK10 for 10% off your order at keeki.com!) or I use these plastic bread storage bags from King Arthur Baking which are nice and roomy.

To freeze these Kaiser rolls, split them in half almost all the way through, wrap each one tightly with plastic wrap, then place in a large bag in the freezer with as much air pressed out as possible. Defrost for several hours on the counter at room temperature, then pop in the oven at 350°F for 5-7 mins to perk them right back up.

Practical Tips and Recipe Notes

• If you made round Kaiser rolls instead of knotted ones and they puffed up into round, domed tops in the oven, place a sheet pan on top of them immediately after removing them from the oven to deflate them into a flatter burger bun shape. Don't press down on the sheet pan, the weight of the pan alone is enough.
• If you're using the Kaiser roll stamp and find the plastic is sticking to the dough or not pulling away cleanly, spray the stamp lightly with non-stick spray before each use.
• These are designed to be fairly large rolls. If you prefer smaller Kaiser rolls, divide the dough into seven or even eight portions instead of six.

Why is this recipe in grams? I want to use cups!

A kitchen scale is more accurate than cup measurements and will give you the right ratio of dry and liquid ingredients so that the cookie dough behaves the way we want it to. I tested and developed this recipe using weight measurements. If I were to convert it to volume measurements, I would be using Google — just like you would. And there's no set standard for how much "1 cup" of flour weighs (I use 120 grams, like King Arthur Baking does, but other recipe developers use as much as 150 grams as "1 cup"), which means I wouldn't be able to promise you'd get the same delicious results!

📖 Recipe