Tasty Tuesday {Potato Pan Rolls}

We had a great time of fellowship this past weekend with some of our Juniors staff. We attended two staff dinners both evenings and had a great time of food and fun. I brought one of my favorite bread recipes to one of the dinners, and I was asked for the recipe, so I thought I would share it here today. Sometimes I feel lazy, and when asked to bring rolls, I will buy the Kings Hawaiian rolls because they are good. But they can be expensive for a large group of people, so I always go to this recipe because it makes lots of rolls with minimal effort, and for very little cost. I am working very hard to be budget mindful, in light of my growing boys and growing food bill. I can't believe how much I spend on food, and how quickly it disappears! Anyways, one batch of this recipe turns out 36 deliciously soft potato rolls. It is an excellent recipe to use for Thanksgiving or Christmas meals where you need to feed a crowd. They also freeze really well, so you can make them ahead of time. Just make sure you cut the baking time back a couple of minutes and just undercook them slightly, so that when you reheat them, they don't dry out.


Potato Pan Rolls

2 medium potatoes, peeled, quartered, cooked in 1 1/2 cups water, then mashed to equal 1 cup of potatoes, and also reserving 1 cup cooking liquid
4 1/2 tsp yeast
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup honey
2 eggs
1/4 cup oil
2 tsp salt
6 cups bread flour (or half white, half whole wheat flour)

Cool cooking liquid (should be 1 cup) from potatoes to 110-115 degrees. Set aside. Cool the 1 cup of mashed potatoes to same temp. In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar with cooking liquid. Let stand for 5 minutes (should foam up). Add mashed potatoes, butter, honey, oil, eggs, salt, and 1 1/2 cups of the flour. Beat until smooth. Add remaining 4 1/2 cups flour and mix until it forms a soft dough. Knead in mixer with dough hook for about 6-8 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl, and turn once to coat. Cover, and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size. Punch down dough and turn onto floured surface. Divide the dough into three equal portions. Divide each portion into 10-12 pieces, forming each piece into a ball with your hands. Place each group of 10-12 into a greased round cake pan. Cover and let rise 30 minutes or until doubled. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Cool on wire racks.