Only a butter girl like me could love something like this. No bells, no whistles, no chocolate......just lots and lots of butter inside, folded through and just so you know this IS a butter roll, brushed on top, TWICE.

The mashed potato makes the rolls wonderfully soft and moist so it's really a worthwhile addition. Whenever I make mashed potato, I'll set aside some for making these rolls the next day, before I add any butter and salt. You don't have to do likewise; just stir up the required amount of instant mash. Better you use instant then give my recipe the brush off because you don't happen to have 'real' mash lurking around your kitchen; I  don't expect you to make it, just to try this recipe.





I love how the finished rolls look like adorable mini loaves - holding them between my fingers makes me feel like a giant; always a plus, when you're a towering 5' 2".  If you think a large tray full of buttery rolls is too much for one batch, let me tell you, my boys once almost came to blows over these.

Maybe we are a bread obsessed family, but I've never seen a batch last past the night. My eldest though does have one complaint about them - they're "too soft and fluffy". Hmmm.... I suppose he could say worse? You would probably think of these as dinner rolls, but we love them with cold milk or hot chocolate for breakfast or as an afternoon snack. I know it's been Butterville around here lately, but I promise, the next post will be healthi-er, low vice, high virtue, totally kosher ;)

Prep 3 hrs 30 mins        Cook 25 mins        Makes 16 rolls



500 g (5 teacups) bread (high protein or high gluten) flour
1 1/2 level  tsp salt
1 1/2 level Tbsp sugar
2 1/2  level tsp instant yeast
100 g (2/3 packed teacup) plain finely mashed potato
350 ml (1 3/4 teacups) tepid milk
5 slightly rounded tbsp soft butter
A little milk or cream to glaze
Extra 50 ml (1/4 cup cooled melted butter)

Combine flour, salt and sugar in mixing bowl and whisk together. Mix in the yeast until well distributed. 

Whisk together the mashed potato, milk and egg and pour into the flour mixture. Mix everything on speed 2 (low) for about 3 minutes.

Scrape dough off hook and down inside bowl. Cover bowl securely and leave to rest for 15 - 20 minutes.

Turn mixer on speed 2 (low) and knead for 8 - 10 minutes, adding the butter in a tablespoon at a time, in quick succession.

Stop kneading and scrape dough down. Turn dough out of bowl and with lightly greased hands, shape into a tight, neat ball. Grease ball of dough and inside of bowl. Return dough to bowl, seam side down and cover bowl. Leave to rise for 1 1/2 hours.

Gently deflate dough and divide equally into four. Keep remaining pieces covered while you work on each. Flatten a piece out to a more or less even rectangle measuring 15 cm (6 in) by 30 cm (12 in). Brush with some of the melted butter. Starting from the longer edge close to you, fold in thirds like a business letter so you have 3 layers of dough overlapping with 2 layers of melted butter separating each layer. Pinch seam to seal and neaten edges. Cut across into 4.

Place pieces seam side down and close together in a neat row on a parchment lined baking tray. Repeat with the remaining 3 pieces of dough. When you're done, you should have 16 rectangles. They won't be equal in size and there will be gaps here and there between the pieces because the dough will tend to shrink back a little after cutting. Once the dough has proofed, the spaces will disappear.

Cover lighlty with cling wrap or a lightly damp napkin and leave to rise for about 45 minutes or until pieces touch each other. Twenty minutes before you want to put tray in oven, preheat at 190 C (375 F). When sufficiently risen, gently brush tops of rolls with cream or milk and bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until golden. Immediately transfer rolls to a cooling rack. Brush tops of rolls generously with melted butter and leave to cool before pulling off and eating. If you like, give them a second brushing of butter, once the first brushing has been absorbed.