Folded yeasted roll, butter-brushed, soft and slightly sweet. The American Thanksgiving roll, born at Boston's Parker House Hotel.
Created in the mid-1870s at the Parker House Hotel (now Omni Parker House) on School Street, Boston, by a German baker reportedly named Ward. The hotel claims invention of the Boston cream pie and the Parker roll in the same kitchen. The fold-over shape is the signature.
The original 1856 recipe is still served at Omni Parker House's restaurant. King Arthur Flour publishes the version closest to the hotel's; Sister Schubert's frozen rolls (since 1989, Alabama) sell over 350M rolls/year and own the Thanksgiving freezer aisle. JFK and Ho Chi Minh both worked at the Parker House Hotel.
Pale gold dome, butter-glossy, pull-apart pillow-soft interior, faint sweet-milky tang. Hinged fold opens like a clamshell — designed for tucking a butter pat. Served warm at the start of a Thanksgiving meal alongside turkey gravy.
Enriched dough — milk, butter, egg, sugar, yeast — soft as a baby's cheek (~70% hydration). Each ball flattened, brushed with butter, folded in half before second proof. The seam creates the crackable hinge; butter brushing post-bake is the gloss step.
Variations
Original Parker House (folded, butter-brushed), pull-apart cloverleaf (3 small balls in a muffin tin), crescent (Pillsbury 1965), King's Hawaiian sweet (milk-bread style), brioche dinner roll (egg-rich), pretzel dinner roll (lye-dipped, 2010s revival).
On the Palate
Where Dinner Rolls (Parker House) sits in the American flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 12
How it's made
6 steps · 25 min active + 2 hours 16 min waiting
- 110 min
Make dough: 500 g flour, 100 g sugar, 7 g yeast, 5 g salt, 250 ml warm milk, 2 eggs, 80 g butter.
- 270 min
Knead until silky 10 min; first rise 1 hr.
Watch outKnead until the dough turns silky and springs back slowly — this enriched dough is soft as a cheek, and that smooth window is what gives the rolls their pull.
- 315 min
Divide into 50 g pieces; fold each in half (Parker House fold) and place close in pan.
Watch outFold each ball firmly at the seam and set them close together — the crease is the hinge that lets the baked roll pull open cleanly.
- 445 min
Second rise 45 min; brush tops with melted butter.
- 520 min
Bake 190 °C for 18–20 min until deep golden.
Watch outBake to deep golden, tops glossy from the butter wash — pale rolls are underbaked and collapse doughy in the middle.
- 61 min
Brush with more butter right out of oven; serve warm.
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