Place the sugar and yeast in a medium bowl with water. Stir and leave for 5 minutes until yeast activates and bubbles.
Place both flours and salt in a bowl. Stir to combine. Make a well in the middle and add milk, eggs, butter, honey (or molasses) and pour in the yeast mixture. Using a mixing spatula or wooden spoon, stir to combine, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. You should have a thick, tacky batter. If the dough is too sticky, add more flour, a tablespoon at a time, as needed. The dough should be tacky when you pull it away from the sides of the bowl, not loose and sticky.
Leave dough in the bowl, cover with a light towel and place in a warm place to rise for around 1 1/2 hours or until almost tripled in size. Meanwhile line a 9”x13” pan with parchment paper with overhang on sides.
Remove towel and punch dough down to deflate. Scrape dough onto floured work surface. Sprinkle flour on top of dough as well and shape into a log. Cut into 4 pieces, then cut each piece into 3 pieces for a total of 12 pieces.
Flatten each dough piece with the palm of your hand. Pull the edges to the center and shape each piece into the shape of a circle. (You'll be pulling the dough into a small knot at the center, think of a balloon when you tie it off in a knot). Turn the dough ball over and roll the dough ball under the palm of your hand in a circular motion until they’re smooth.
Place the ball with the smooth side up in the pan. Repeat with remaining dough, making 3 rows of 4 rolls. Spray tops of rolls with oil then gently place plastic wrap over the tray.
Return tray to warm place and leave for 30 minutes, until the dough rolls have almost doubled in size.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Bake for 18-20 minutes, watching tops so they don’t get too brown (these are wheat!). Remove pan from oven and brush with melted butter and let soak in. Drizzle tops with honey and sprinkle with sea salt flakes (optional). Lift rolls onto a cooling rack using parchment overhang. Allow to cool slightly before serving.
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Notes
I use active dry yeast in this recipe. There is a difference - Activedryyeast needs to be dissolved (bloomed) in water before using, while instant yeast can be mixed right into dry ingredients.
You can use all purpose flour instead of bread flour and recipe will work fine. The bran in whole wheat flour weakens gluten, so using a flour with more gluten will increase the amount of rise. For this reason, I recommend using half whole wheat flour and half bread flour. If dough is super sticky add enough flour to work with and make rolls.
For richer flavor, substitute molasses for 1/4 cup honey, and just brush honey on top of the baked rolls for a richer flavor.
Storage: Yeast rolls are best served on the day made. No knead rolls don't keep as well as the kneaded version and tend to dry out quicker. Once cool, the rolls may be frozen for storage up to 3 months.
To reheat: Sprinkle tops lightly with water and reheat for 10-15 seconds in the microwave to soften.