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Soft potato rolls arranged on a striped tea towel.
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4.79 from 23 votes

Easy Potato Rolls

If you need a simple recipe for the best bread rolls, easy potato rolls are a dream. They’re soft, tender and the mashed potato means they keep well for several days.
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
proofing time1 hour 5 minutes
Total Time1 hour 45 minutes
Course: Breads
Cuisine: American, Western
Keyword: easy potato rolls, potato rolls
Servings: 15
Calories: 243kcal

Ingredients

  • 1 cup mashed potatoes warm or room temperature
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 4 oz butter softened
  • 2 eggs large
  • 2 tsp instant yeast or 2 x 7g sachets if using active dry yeast, and allow a little longer for the first rise
  • 3/4 cup water lukewarm, or use milk for richer rolls
  • 4 1/4 cups unbleached white bread flour
  • 3 tbs butter extra, melted (optional for glazing)

Instructions

Conventional Oven Method

  • Make the dough. Put all the ingredients except the extra melted butter into a large bowl and mix by hand or with a mixer until a soft, smooth and elastic dough forms. If you’re mixing by hand this could take up to 10 minutes, in a mixer it takes around 4-5 minutes.
  • Place the dough in a clean bowl, cover with a damp cloth and leave to rise in a warm place (somewhere that’s around 27°C/80°F is ideal) until doubled in size, about 90 minutes.
  • Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and gently press it down to remove any large air pockets (no need to flatten it into submission here!). Divide the dough into 15 pieces and form each into a smooth roll.
  • Place the rolls in a lightly greased or parchment-lined 22cm x 32cm (9in x 13in) pan. Cover the pan with a damp kitchen towel and let the rolls rise until they’re puffed and the dough springs back into shape when a finger is gently pressed onto the surface, about 60-90 minutes. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F.
  • Bake the rolls until they’re golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes, then remove from the oven and turn them onto a rack. If you’d like to give them a gloss, brush each roll with melted butter while hot.
  • Serve rolls warm or at room temperature. Store any leftovers in an airtight container for a couple of days at room temperature, or freeze for up to 2 months.

Combi Steam Oven Method

  • Make the dough. Put all the ingredients except the extra melted butter into a large bowl and mix by hand or with a mixer until a soft, smooth and elastic dough forms. If you’re mixing by hand this could take up to 10 minutes, in a mixer it takes around 4-5 minutes.
  • Place the dough in a clean bowl and use the dough proving setting in your steam oven until the dough has doubled in size, about 30-40 minutes. There’s no need to cover the bowl. If you don’t have a dough proving setting, steam setting at 35°C/95°F (100% humidity) will achieve similar results.
  • Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and gently press it down to remove any large air pockets (no need to flatten it into submission here!). Divide the dough into 16 pieces and form each into a smooth roll.
  • Place the rolls in a lightly greased or parchment-lined 22cm x 32cm (9in x 13in) pan. Place the pan in your steam oven on dough proving setting again and let the rolls rise until they’re puffed and the dough springs back into shape when a finger is gently pressed onto the surface, about 25-30 minutes.
  • With the pan still in the oven, change your oven temperature to 180°C/350°F, combination steam setting. If your oven has variable steam levels, select 30% humidity (if you don’t have variable steam settings, don’t worry! Just set the temperature and combination or convection steam, and the oven will work out the rest).
  • Bake the rolls until they’re golden brown, about 20 minutes, then remove from the oven and turn them onto a rack. If you’d like to give them a gloss, brush each roll with the extra melted butter while hot.
  • Serve rolls warm or at room temperature. Store any leftovers in an airtight container for a couple of days at room temperature, or freeze for up to 2 months.

Video

Notes

  1. Makes 15 medium rolls.
  2. I divide my dough into 15 medium sized rolls, but if you want small dinner rolls you could do 20 or even 24 portions.
  3. These rolls are quite forgiving when it comes to the quantity of potato you add. I’ve used as little as ¾ cup and as much as 1¼ cups, with great results either way. One large potato will give you approximately the correct quantity for the recipe. Mash the potato without any extras such as salt, butter or cream (if you do want to use leftover creamy/seasoned mash that’s fine, just hold back a little on your salt in the dough).
  4. You can use water or milk to make these rolls. Water is just fine and it’s what I use most often, but milk makes for a richer dough which bakes up a little more ‘cakey’ than the water version.

Nutrition

Calories: 243kcal | Carbohydrates: 33g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 44mg | Sodium: 399mg | Potassium: 103mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 291IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 12mg | Iron: 1mg