Introduction: Homeade Potato Dinner Rolls

About: I do extensive LED lighting as a hobby and side business, and love Burning Man. I'm also a chemical manufacturing entrepreneur, in the nanotech space.

This recipe for Homeade Potato Rolls is, if memory serves, originally from the Betty Crocker's Cookbook, 1978. However, our family has been making them for so long that I think of them as our secret recipe. They're amazing either as casserole-rolls or as crescent rolls, they're amazingly tender and soft, and the flavor of the potato is great!

The photo is after cooking. Unfortunately, between taking them out of the oven and taking a photo, quite a few had already been "sampled". An unavoidable consequence, it seems, and when planning how many to make, attrition should be taken into account.

Step 1: Step 1 - Make Mashed Potatoes

This recipe calls for about 1/2-1 cup of unseasoned mashed potatoes. To do this, take one or two smallish potatoes, peel and slice, and boil until soft enough to easily break with a spoon. Drain the water, and mash.

Step 2: Step 2 - Add Ingredients

I'm lazy, so I'm using a breadmaker, but it's just as easy to do this in a bowl by hand.

In a breadmaker, the main difference is that you need to add the yeast last, and the liquids/liquid-like ingredients first. Make sure that if you do it in a breakmaker you use the "pasta" cycle. You won't be letting this dough rise right now, it rises slowly in the refrigerator overnight instead, producing a very soft texture.

The ingredients to add are:
1. 1/2-1 package of active dry yeast (1.5tsp)
2. 3/4 cup of warm water
3. 1/2-1 cup of mashed potatoes
4. 1/3 cup sugar
5. 1/3 cup butter or crisco
6. 1-2 eggs
7. 3/4 - 1 1/2 teaspoon of salt
8. 3-4 cups of flour

Mix together in a bread mixer, or if by hand, let the yeast rise in the water briefly and then knead the ingredients together.

Step 3: Step 3 - Raise and Bake

Put the dough into an oiled bowl and cover tightly. Put in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours, and as long as 5 days. When done, take the dough, punch down, and split into 1" balls. Place the balls in a dish so that they were touching. Let the dough rise for at least an hour, probably as long as four. Next, bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes. Brush with softened butter before baking for a stronger flavor.

To make crescent rolls, roll out about half the dough into a circular round. Slice into pieces as if cutting a pizza, and roll from the wide end to the tip. Cook the same way as with casserole rolls.