Life is short and it is up to you to make it sweet. -Sarah Louise Delaney
A short blog post for these incredibly easy, delicious, and wholesome sweet rolls. If you’ve been wanting to venture into bread-making but have been afraid to do so, this is a perfect recipe to start with. Life is too short to put off such adventures!
Sweet Saffron Rolls
(yields 12)
- 100 g butter, unsalted, plus a bit extra for greasing bowl
- 230 g milk
- 75 g maple syrup
- 1/8 tsp saffron, crushed
- 420 white whole wheat flour, plus a bit extra if required
- 2 1/2 tsp dry yeast
- 1 tsp salt
- 100 g yogurt
- optional for brushing over rolls: cream, milk or egg mixture (1 egg white plus 1 tbsp water)
- In a small pan on low heat, melt butter.
- Add milk, maple syrup and saffron.
- Heat mixture on low heat until warm (not hot or cold to the touch). If it gets too hot, let cool.
- Meanwhile, mix in yeast and then salt with flour.
- Next add yogurt to the flour mixture and blend in with hand or spoon.
- Add the warm liquid mixture to the flour and form the dough, knead with your hands. It should be soft but not sticky. If it feels sticky, knead in a bit of extra flour.
- Place dough in a greased bowl, cover with damp cloth and let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free spot for 2 hours.
- Once the dough has risen, divide into 12 portions, form small balls and place on a greased baking dish, 1.5 inches apart. Cover with damp cloth and let rise again for an hour.
- Preheat oven to 400 deg F.
- Brush rolls with cream, milk or egg mixture. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
- Serve warm with butter.
conifères & feuillus 
We were just talking about saffron in our house! We’ll have to try this one.
Welcome and thank you for the reply 😊
Wow! Delicious!
Can we use honey instead of maple syrup?
Thank you dear and so sorry for such a late response. Yes, you may replace with equal amount of honey. xx
Delicious looking rolls never used saffron, I’ll have to go on a hunt for it and try this recipe. Thanks for sharing
These are made with whole wheat flour so they don’t have the fluff you would get with white all purpose flour but what they lack is made up in taste and nutrition. Hope you like them as much as we do!
wow this looks divine 😍 can you substitute the butter with olive oil or coconut oil?
Thank you, I’ve never tried it but I don’t see why not. If you try it, do let me know. xx
thanks I will try 🙂
These are just beautiful! They really are sweet! I’d love to make these unsweet for Thanksgiving. Sometimes I’ve made pumpkin rolls, but then I tend to overdo all of the pumpkin-type dishes!
To make the un-sweet version, just omit the maple syrup and use a bit more milk to compensate… but these sweet ones actually go very well with savory dishes. Thank you Mimi.
Wonderful idea to use saffron in here for the beautiful color & pleasant aroma. Thanks for the inspiration!
thank you, hope you give it a go!
what can I use instead of maple syrup? it’s bloody expensive here in Portugal!!
I hear that a lot! You can use honey or simply make a sugar syrup.
These look perfect for me Annika as I’ve always been tempted by bread making! Would the recipe work without the syrup?
Yes, you may omit the syrup for the non-sweet version, just use a bit more milk to compensate. Hope you give it a try!
Looks so yummy and the colour is very nice!
thank you!
Such tasty looking rolls, and the saffron adds such nice color and aroma. Will keep this in mind for my next yeast dough baking session! 🙂
Thsnk you Ronit!