This Parker House Rolls recipe has Maple Butter and Flakey Mediterranean Sea Salt sprinkled on top. These sweet-savory rolls are a solid yeast, bread roll recipe for any occasion or holiday.

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

Parker House Rolls

Parker House Rolls

Hi Friends, everyone needs a solid, bread roll recipe in their back pocket, right?

These Parker House Rolls with Maple Butter and flakey sea salt are savory-sweet and perfect for any occasion, plus they are fun to make!

They are so good that I would make them year-round not just for Thanksgiving, Christmas, potlucks, or any dinner/meal gathering.

My family (especially, my kiddos), loves this roll recipe – they are a real crowd-pleaser and they are gone fast!

This version of Parker House Rolls is my version of them where I have added Maple Butter (I’m from New England, so they have to have Maple Syrup in them!) and flakey, Mediterranean Cyprus sea salt.

What are “Parker House Rolls”?

According to Wikipedia, Parker House Rolls were originally created by the Parker House Hotel in Boston, MA, invented in the 1870s.

A Parker House roll is a bread roll made by flattening the center of a ball of dough with a rolling pin so that it becomes an oval shape and then folding the oval in half. They are made with milk and are generally quite buttery, soft, and slightly sweet with a crispy shell.
They were invented at the Parker House Hotel in Boston, during the 1870s. Fannie Farmer gives a recipe for them in her 1896 Boston Cooking-School Cook Book.
The story of their creation has several variations, but they all involve an angry pastry cook throwing unfinished rolls into the oven, which results in their dented appearance. The recipe for Parker House Rolls first started appearing in cookbooks in the 1880s.

The original Parker House Rolls are folded, mine are rolled like a cinnamon bun on its side.

It has that delicious Maple Butter rolled up inside!

Ingredients

3 1/4-3 1/2 all-purpose flour, and more, if needed
1 packet rapid rise yeast (I use Fleischmann’s® Rapid rise Yeast)
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 cup warm whole milk (or the same amount half and a half or heavy cream)
3 tablespoons 100% maple syrup
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (room temperature)
1 large egg (room temperature)
Flakey Mediterranean Cyrus Sea Salt

Maple Butter

5-6 tablespoons unsalted butter (melted)
3 tablespoons 100% pure maple syrup

Kitchen Tools

Here are some helpful kitchen tools to make these Parker House Rolls:

measuring spoons and cups
wet measure
ruler
metal mixing bowls
baking spatula
dough scraper
pastry mat
aluminum foil
9×12″ inch baking pan
pastry brush

I link (Amazon Affiliate links) to all the kitchen tools that I use in the recipe card at the end of the post.

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Recipe Attribution

This recipe is inspired by Salted Honey Butter Parker House Rolls from Half Baked Harvest.

If you make this Parker House Rolls bread recipe, and like it, please give the recipe a rating in the recipe card below and let us know in the comments at the end of the post; thank you for reading and following along!

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This recipe was originally published on 12/2/2020 and updated 4/15/2021, 8/18/2021.

Parker House Rolls

Name: Parker House Rolls
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 1 h 55 min
Yield: 12
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 5-6 tablespoons unsalted butter (melted); 3 tablespoons 100% pure maple syrup; 3 1/4-3 1/2 all-purpose flour, and more, if needed; 1 packet rapid rise yeast (I use Fleischmann’s® Rapid rise Yeast); 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt; 1 cup warm whole milk (or the same amount half and half or heavy cream); 3 tablespoons 100% maple syrup; 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (room temperature); 1 large egg (room temperature); Flake-y Mediterranean Cyrus Sea Salt (for topping before serving)

Yield: 12 rolls

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Additional Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 55 minutes

Ingredients

PARKER HOUSE ROLLS

MAPLE BUTTER

Instructions

To Make the Dough: In your stand mixer (with the paddle attachment), add all-purpose flour and salt - mix on low to combine. Switch to the dough hook.
The milk should be slightly warm (enough to take the chill off, you can microwave it for 30 seconds and stir), add to the milk: Yeast, maple syrup, egg, and butter, and stir. Pour the milk mixture into the stand mixer with the flour-salt mixture and mix for 4 minutes. Cover with wrap and allow to rest for 15 minutes (you can leave it covered on the counter at room temperature for up to 2 hours or until doubled in size). I use the proofing setting on my oven for 15 minutes.
To Make the Maple Butter: In a small-medium bowl, add the maple syrup and melted butter, stir to combine.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and grease a 9 x 13 inch baking pan, set aside. Prepare a floured surface.
When the dough is done rising, turn the dough out on your prepared surface, punch your dough down, using a dough scraper, divide in half.
Working with 1 half at a time, roll out the dough into a 12-inch square (1/4-inch thick). Brush the square(s) with the Maple Butter and then cut them into 6 equal long pieces. Roll the strips into rolls and place evenly into the prepared baking pan.
Allow the rolls to rise for 30 minutes. When they are done rising they should be puffed up (you can also put them in the fridge for 8 hours or overnight).
When they are done with their 2nd rise, bake the rolls for 18-25 minutes (in my electric convection oven I baked them until 28 minutes for nice golden color), check closely when they are near the end of the baking time, they should be golden brown on top when they are done.
When they are done baking, brush the tops with the rest of the maple butter and sprinkle with sea salt. Enjoy!

Notes

Make the Day before Baking: Prepare through step 6, cover in an airtight container, and put in the refrigerator overnight (or 8 hours), the rolls need to be brought up to room temperature (half-hour) before baking.
Prep & Freeze: These rolls can be prepared (through step 7) and frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 months (perfect for doing before a holiday dinner). They should be thawed completely before baking.

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Nutrition Information:

Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 264Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 43mgSodium: 155mgCarbohydrates: 36gFiber: 1gSugar: 7gProtein: 5g

Please note that the Calculated Nutrition is an estimate at best.

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Sara Maniez

Owner at Life's Little Sweets

Sara is an architectural designer turned work-at-home Mom. She lives in New Jersey by way of New England and New York, with her husband and 3 kids under 8. She loves design, being creative, and spending time with family and friends. She loves checking out local businesses and eats and being apart of the local farm to table community.

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Parker House Rolls

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