Potato Dinner Rolls Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What are potato rolls made of? ›

Potato rolls contain plain mashed potato, water, all-purpose flour, eggs, butter, sugar, salt, and yeast. The mashed potato replaces some of the white wheat flour and the liquid that would normally go into rolls. It not only lends a softer, sweeter taste than flour, it also holds more moisture.

Too much flour, or not the right kind, could be to blame. Dough made only from flour with a high or even average amount of protein (like bread flour or all-purpose flour) can become tough from overmixing. Protein gives bread structure in the form of gluten—the more you mix and move the dough, the more gluten you get.

The potato flour in Martin's Famous Potato Rolls and Bread gives the product a sweet taste and pillowy texture. Chambersburg, Pennsylvania is a beautiful all-American town that is home to farmland and orchards. If you are able to visit, you can take a tour of Martin's Visitor Center; The Golden Roll.

Add Sugar

Adding sugar weakens the gluten structure, absorbs water, and eventually makes the bread lighter and softer. As a result, sugar improves the bread's taste, structure and texture. Yeast also eats up sugar to produce carbon dioxide, which raises the dough and makes bread fluffy.

Carbon dioxide is responsible for all the bubbles that make holes in bread, making it lighter and fluffier. Because gas is created as a result of yeast growth, the more the yeast grows, the more gas in the dough and the more light and airy your bread loaf will be.

What exactly is a “potato roll”? A potato roll is a Pennsylvania Dutch tradition that replaces a portion of wheat flour with potato flour, which gives it a soft and sweeter taste and texture than normal white rolls. Potato flour is made from potatoes that are dehydrated and milled into granules or flakes.

The starch molecules in potatoes contain negatively charged phosphates that deter them from recombining, and diluting flour with potato makes it harder for the wheat starches to crystallize as well. The net effect? Potato breads stay soft much longer.

Potato bread can be a healthier option compared to traditional white bread. Potato bread often contains a mix of wheat flour and potato flour or mashed potatoes, which can add some nutritional benefits such as additional fiber, vitamins, and minerals.

Too much flour results in a dry, crumbly dough that's unpleasant and difficult to work with. It doesn't stick to itself and tends to fall apart when kneaded.

Flat flavor in bread is almost always because of not enough salt. I agree with you that you don't have enough. About 2% of the flour weight. In your recipe with 5 cups of flour (600g) that would be just over 2tsp of table salt (12g).

Can I use bread flour instead of all-purpose flour for rolls? ›

(Though bread flour can still give you a fluffier, almost cotton-candy-like texture in most buns and rolls.) You could even technically substitute all-purpose flour for bread flour if you add less water, mix the dough more gently and for a shorter period of time, and don't expect the same results.

Another east coast potato bun, Arnold's, shares many of the same features as Martin's. This product has a wonderful squish and a deliciously buttery, golden exterior. Arnold's potato buns are soft, flavorful, and will certainly do the job.

Because potatoes contain potassium, the buns rise quicker than those breads with only wheat inside. The moist texture comes from the potato starch and its ability to absorb more water. The potato also gives it a longer shelf life, as the starch molecules protect it from going stale.

Either way, the potatoes boost the overall nutritional value, making it comparable to whole-wheat bread for fiber and nutrients such as zinc and iron. Potato bread has about the same calories and protein, but it provides significantly more potassium than either white or whole-wheat bread.

There may be several reasons for a dense, cake like texture in bread. It may indicate the kneading wasn't enough for the gluten to develop properly, or the dough was proved for too short a time or the dough may have been too dry. It is also worth checking the flour you used.

The usual reason why bread becomes too dense is due to using flour with low protein content. When your loaf is spongy and heavy, you might have also put too much flour into it or made the dough in a cooler or too warm setting.

If your dough feels dense and tough to handle when you stop the mixer, it is a sign that it is becoming over-kneaded. Over-kneaded dough can become very hard to work with and produce a more flat and chewy bread.