Mexican Dinner Rolls or Bolillos are the number 1 sold bread in Mexico City. They are probably the second favorite carbohydrate after tortillas for any Mexican. Delicious, freshly baked bolillos are an absolute must-try!
Bolillos tend to be bought at least twice a day in Mexico City. They taste so good right out of the oven and every bakery keeps baking them all day long.
Only a couple hours later they become stale because they don’t contain any emulsifiers or other ingredients to make bread last. This is a quick to prepare clean ingredient bread. Airy with a crunchy crust and a soft center.
I called them Mexican Dinner Rolls in the hope people will find the recipe in an easier way that way. I doubt non-Mexicans will ever search for “Bolillos” on google. The rolls are not really just “dinner” rolls though. As I said, they are typically bought at least twice a day. For breakfast and again for dinner. Sometimes even for lunch.
They are the best rolls to eat with your eggs and beans for breakfast and to make “tortas” with for dinner (sandwiches filled with a million ingredients).
Making bolillos is really, really easy and first I thought I should photograph every step. However, who wants to scroll though a 1 mile long post due to 100 photos?
Then, I had the brilliant idea to film the whole process. Yay! I do have brilliant moments every once in a while, you know? So I did film the process, only now I’m struggling editing out my head of the frame. I will take a little longer than I was hoping. Please bear with me. I will insert the video shortly. Promise.
I’m already in the process of editing, just need to crop a little here and there to make it look as brilliant as the idea I initially had ;)
The lighting is a bit weird in this video but that’s because the process is longer than a photo shoot session and the light changes soooo fast in my kitchen….
Bolillos are easier to prepare in a stand mixer of course unless you want to knead by hand to cancel you gym subscription. That is always an option of course. I absolutely love my KitchenAid Stand Mixer and no, KitchenAid is not sponsoring this post.
Mexican Dinner Rolls (Bolillos)
Mexican Dinner Rolls or Bolillos are the number 1 sold bread in Mexico City. They are probably every Mexican's second favorite carbohydrate after tortillas.
Ingredients
- 500 g unbleached all-purpose white flour (3 cups + 2 Tbsp)
- 10 g dry active yeast (1.5 tsp)
- 10 g Salt (1 tsp)
- 10 g sugar (1 tsp)
- 300 ml 110F hot water (43C, 1 1/4 cup)
Instructions
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Add dry ingredients to the bowl of your stand mixer and whisk on low until well combined.
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Add hot water (I use the hottest water out of my faucet, as soon as it starts getting too hot for me to keep my hand under the hot running water, that tends to be just right).
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Attach the dough hook to the stand mixer and knead the dough for about 15 minutes on low.
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Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and let the dough rise to double its size. Depending on the room temperature this will take anywhere between 25-50 minutes.
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Once the dough doubled in size, remove it from the bowl and place on a clean floured working surface to roll out, fold, roll out, fold, roll out etc. until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.
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Form a big ball and let rest for about 10 minutes.
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In the meantime, line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
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Now cut the dough into 8 equal pieces and roll into "bolillo form". Then place on lined baking sheet.
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Once all bolillos are formed, slice about 1/2" deep in the middle with a sharp knife and spray or brush with water.
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Cover the bolillos with a clean kitchen towel and let the dough rise a second time for about 45 minutes.
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Preheat oven to 450 F (230C) at least 20 minutes before the rolls have to go in the oven.
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Spray the bolillos a again with a little bit of water and put in the oven for 15 minutes.
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Let cool for a couple of minutes only and enjoy warm.
Cassandra says
I made them on Sunday and will make them again tonight but will lower the oven temp to 375 and prime the yeast as this should make for a fluffier bolillos.
Lorena says
I’m happy you liked them and will now be able to adjust to your liking. Please post a picture and tag me on Instagram if you have it. I’d loooove to see your bolillos :)
Dave says
I am going to try them, they sound delicious. But with only two of us in the house, we would never eat them all before they dry out. Can they be frozen, then warmed up before dinner or what ever?
Lorena says
Yes!!! They freeze perfectly! To defrost just brush them with a little water and stick in the oven for a couple minutes.
Lynn Gardner says
I made these last night and the dough was very stiff and the rolls were very dense. I think that next time I will add less flour.
Lorena says
Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that. Usually density is related to not enough rising time. Did you let the dough rest often enough and long enough at room temperature? If the room temperature is very low you have to extend rising time, too.
Willow says
Calories?
Lorena says
http://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html
Vanessa says
Hi! Can I leave the dough sitting out to rise longer than 45 minutes. I’m thinking about prepping it for lunch and baked at dinner time.
Lorena says
Hi Vanessa, you can leave them out for maybe an hour but I don’t recommend letting them rise much longer. What you can always do is prepare the dough and then put in the fridge so it does NOT rise and then you take it out in time for 2 rises.
Tonie says
Can I make it by hand
Lorena says
Hi Tonie, yes you can. You’ll build up quite some muscle ;)
Patrícia Barbosa says
Thanks for recipe. Made easy and great taste.
Lorena says
Thank you Patrícia :)
Sheri says
I just made these. I followed the directions & the only problem I had was baking time. I had to leave them in for almost an hour to get brown. They were a little more dense, I had hoped for more airy. Do you think that I needed to allow more time for the dough to rise. Otherwise, taste & shape were great. They were a mini bolillo in size (8 of them). Thanks for sharing. I will keep trying to get them better.
Lorena says
Hi Sheri, hmm, did you wait for the dough to double in size at the first rise? And then again almost double in size when already formed? The only other thing I can think of is that maybe your flour is different and thus needs a little less water? I’m glad they tasted great at least. 1 hour in the oven doesn’t sound right at all though. Do you have an oven thermometer to verify if your oven heats up well? They need to be baked at 450F. In 1 hour at that temperature they would burn completely.
Tianna Workman says
These are so good! They take me back to Mexico, when we bought sandwiches to go out on the fishing boat. I remember eating them thinking “this is the best bread, I wonder how they make it”. When I came across this recipe I had to try it, and it is exactly the same. I can’t get enough! I am making them again for the 5th time to take out on our fishing boat. Thank you!!!!!
Lorena says
Tianna, thank you so much for coming back and commenting. It’s comments like this that keep me going and creating more and more recipes. I love to make people happy with food. You are the best!
Virginia Loeza Castro says
As a Mexican very busy mom that loves to cook and bake! I’ve always wanted to make my own bolillos, I miss tortas so much! 😋 and I will try your recipe on the weekend, just one question, I notice that you let rise the dough only once and I’m used to see two rises when it come to bread making why is that? Does it make any difference on the crumb and crust? And besides that thumbs up for photos, great video and the beautiful way you wrote your article. I will still the phrase Mexican tummy when I refer to my kids Mexican cravings. ;)
Virginia Loeza Castro says
Steal* :p
Lorena says
Hi Virgina, I’m glad you like my blog post and recipe :) Can’t wait to hear how your bolillos turned out. I did let the dough rise twice. Once as a whole and once in bolillo form. The second rise is when you’ formed your bolillos and placed on a baking sheet. You spray them with water to avoid from drying out, cover with a kitchen towel and let rise. Allowing dough to rise twice results in a finer gluten structure. The reason I let it rise the second time in the ready to be baked form is because otherwise you push all the air out when you form rolls and if you don’t let rerise they become very dense instead of “airy”
Flavia says
Hola! I made them last night. They taste very good. Only thing that I didn’t like was the form of my bolillos jaja… I have to practice a lot!! Thanks so much for sharing with us the recipe and the video. ;-)
From a mexican bolillos lover… they are named birotes and torcidos as well.
Lorena says
Hola Flavia! I’m glad you liked them :) It took me a bit of practice, too until I got the form right. Keep practicing :)
Flavia says
I made them again last night and they look much better… thanks again and have a good one ?
Lorena says
Wheeeeeee!!!! :D
Patrick @ Mexican Please says
Wow great post, luv the video! Pinned!
Lorena says
Thank you Patrick! :D
Justin @ SaltPepperSkillet says
Your photography is so stunning! Great work!
Lorena says
Thank you so much Justin :D You made my day!
Karen @ Seasonal Cravings says
These look so delicious and easy to put together. I am looking forward to seeing the video. Good for you for learning to make videos! It’s on my to-do list but will have to tackle it when the kids are back to school in the fall.
Lorena says
Thank you Karen. I’m lucky I learned how to edit way back when my son was born because I started making like little video collages of this cuteness to show family. Actually kids screaming in the background while making video isn’t that much of a problem because you can simply mute out all the noise and put in some lovely music instead :P