Potato Rolls

I know I’ve mentioned before what a bread-loving family we are.  I’ve had some success with bread-making and some failures – or partial failures like the Lion House roll incident.  I still haven’t attempted making those again.  At the same time I found the recipe for the Lion House rolls, I also found one for Potato rolls that sounded delicious.   I know how potatoes added to bread can make for a wonderful combination since every time we find ourselves near a fresh bagel place, Mama wants her potato bagel.

I made these again this past weekend and felt it was time to share (plus my Aunt Margaret requested it!).  The dough itself comes together quickly and easily.  The only “trick” I’ve found is you have to make sure you properly mash the potatoes.  If you have any lumps at all, they will not be blended in the dough.

That’s what happened to me the first time.  They’ll still taste fine, but you’ll have these odd little pieces of potato sticking out.

The steps are rather simple once the potato is prepped.  You melt the butter, leftover potato water and milk and then let it sit until it’s cooled down to a temperature that won’t kill the yeast.  If you forgot to reserve water when boiling potatoes (like I did) you can use plain water, or this weekend I used some leftover whey.

If you compare the original recipe with mine, you’ll see I left out the salt.  Since we don’t have a cow (yet), we never have unsalted butter in the house.  So I used regular salted butter and just left out the extra salt.  It seemed to work just fine.

Once the butter mixture is cooled, you add the rest of the ingredients in steps until it’s combined and only slightly sticky.  Then it goes into a bowl to rise.

Usually this takes an hour.  If you want to speed it up, see my tip about using a heating pad in the Lion House Rolls recipe.  Or if it’s August and the house is very warm and humid, this may only take 20 minutes without any help!

Then it’s time to roll them out.

The goal is to get a nice even rectangle – something I’m not very good at, but I can usually compensate by making the edges a bit larger and the center ones smaller.

After they’ve risen for an additional 30 minutes, I think they look rather balanced, don’t you?

When they’re done baking, I usually brush them with a little bit of butter to make them shine.

When I made these on Saturday I did some experimenting.  Since they were rising so incredibly fast (did I mention I was using the oven in an already heated house?!), I cut them into smaller sections instead of the usual 18.  I’m glad I did, because by the time I got the “standard” rolls into the oven, they turned out HUGE.  I also made a dozen cloverleaf rolls.

I still had some dough left over.  While I was making these Little Chick kept requesting “pizza rolls”.  I’m not sure where she got that idea.  She’s never had a store-bought pizza roll in her life, and I’ve never made these before.   I was willing to try for her though – especially since we weren’t going to have the rolls until dinner and I thought mini-pizzas might be a good lunchtime idea.   I just rolled the dough a bit wider, put a tablespoon of pizza sauce in the middle, a couple pieces of pepperoni and a small chunk of mozzerella cheese.  I turned the oven down to 375°F since I didn’t want them as dark as the cloverleaf rolls and then I baked them for the full 20 minutes.  These I brushed with a little bit of olive oil after then came out of the oven.

The verdict? Little Chick didn’t like them: “Yucky!”   But what does she know?  She’s 3 and just likes to voice her opinion.  Papa and I thought they actually turned out the best of all three types of rolls I made that day, so I’ll most likely be making them again someday.

Print Recipe

Potato Rolls

Servings: 18 dinner rolls

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup salted butter – 113 grams
• 1/2 cup reserved potato water or water – (118 ml)
• 1 cup whole milk – 237 ml
• 1 cup mashed potatoes – 213 grams
• 1/2 cup sugar – 100 grams
• 2 large eggs
• 4 1/2 tsp 2 pkgs active dry yeast – (14 grams)
• 5 to 6 1/2 cups bread flour – 600-780 grams

Instructions

• In a small saucepan, combine the butter, potato water, and milk over medium low heat. Heat until butter is melted and mixture is steaming. Remove from heat and let sit 5 minutes, or until mixture reaches 110-115 degrees F.
• In a large bowl, combine the potato water mixture with the mashed potatoes. Add the sugar and eggs and mix with a wooden spoon until combined. Sprinkle the yeast over the mixture and stir until incorporated. Add the flour 1 cup at a time, stirring with the wooden spoon, until the dough is smooth and only slightly sticky.
• With floured fingers, gather the dough into a ball and place in a greased bowl. Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise in a warm in place until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Punch down dough, then pat it out into a rectangle on a floured surface. Flour your fingers as necessary. Cut the dough into 2-3 inch squares. Shape each piece into a ball by pinching all four sides underneath to seal. Place buns almost touching in a greased pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.
• Brush rolls with melted butter. Bake at 400 degrees F for 15-20 minutes until golden. Serve warm or at room temperature. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for several days.

Notes

Note: To make mashed potatoes, simmer peeled, cubed potatoes until fork tender. Drain and mash with a vegetable masher or pass through a ricer. Let cool completely.
Recipe from Red Star Yeast.