My mother’s side of the family has always been a little obsessed with the traditional holiday rolls, which look like small popovers and are baked in muffin tins. These rolls are made from a challah recipe that my grandmother found sometime before the late-seventies and are so good that my cousins and I fight over who gets to take the leftovers home after the meal. My grammy, my aunts, and my mother swear that there no other rolls can touch these tiny masterpieces.  Until now. Because I’ve bested them.

The recipe starts out in an unusual place – the microwave oven. This may be the first time I’ve put raw food in there, but it does the trick nicely and today I am glad that our new apartment has one. You get the potato soft enough to push out of its skin. The recipe recommends using a potato ricer, but I found a fork to be a sufficient tool for getting the lumps out.

Once the potato is in, this recipe isn’t that much different than others I’ve done that call for eggs and milk in the starter. The rising time for me was about an hour, but that may have had something to do with the starter’s proximity to the heating unit. Either way, wait for it to double in size.

After the starter has risen, it will be extremely sticky and elastic. My mother recently gave me her stand stand mixer and I am no longer forced to wrestle with these types of sticky situations, but I know that doing the job with a lot of elbow grease and a big wooden spoon is not outside the realm of possibility. Every time I use my mixer I remember the character-building days when I made do without it. It was like walking to school everyday. In two feet of snow. Uphill. Both ways.

Once again, the second rising time was shorter for me than the recipe stated. I recommend checking on it after an hour has passed. 

Don’t be like me and dump an excessive amount of flour – just lightly dust the surface and your hands. This dough easily turns out and is easy to knead. 

Another word to the wise – when cutting the bread into strips, make sure they are even as possible. when the recipe recommends 32, they meant them to be smaller than mine came out. I ran out of strips before filling my second pan as a result. Making the balls is a cinch, just tuck all of the edges underneath, like tucking a sheet under a mattress.

The baking time for me was much faster than the forty minutes quoted. I recommend checking at 20 then again at 30. It would be a shame to over-bake these. When they come out, they should be brushed with butter and go straight to the table for maximum effect. These rolls are as beautiful as they are squishy and delicious. Now I’m off to exercise away the carbs.

Potato Rolls

Adapted from The Food Network

1 medium baking potato (about 6 ounces) 

1/2 cup hot water (115 degrees F) 

2 large eggs, at room temperature 

2/3 cup sugar (4 1/4 ounces) 

2 1/4 teaspoons rapid rise yeast (1/4 ounce package) 

1 teaspoon fine salt 

4 1/4 to 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (13 1/8 ounces) 

1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), at room temperature, plus more for brushing

Equipment: 2 (9-inch) round or square cake pans

Cook the potato in a microwave on HIGH until soft and it squeezes easily, using the designated baked potato setting, or up to 15 minutes. Peel and pass the warm potato through a potato ricer or food mill into a large bowl. (You should have 1 cup pureed potato.)

Stir the hot water, eggs, half the sugar and yeast into the potato. Add 2 cups of the flour and the salt and mix with a wooden spoon to make a sticky, shaggy dough. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place until the dough doubles in volume, about 1 1/2 hours.

Beat the butter with the remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Switch to the dough hook and add the risen dough to the creamed butter. Continue to mix on low until the butter and dough come together, about 1 minute. (Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl if needed; the dough will be very sticky.) Gradually add the remaining 2 1/4 cups of flour, about 1/4 cup at a time, to make a shaggy dough that pulls away from the side of the bowl. Continue kneading on medium speed until dough is smooth but still tacky, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead by hand until dough is smooth and no longer tacky, 1 to 2 minutes more. (If the dough is still sticky, gradually add 1/4 cup flour.) Shape dough into a ball.

Brush a large bowl with butter and turn dough around in bowl to coat lightly. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap, trace a circle the size of the dough on the plastic, and note the time. Let rise at room temperature until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.

Generously butter two 9-inch round or square cake pans. Turn the dough out of the bowl and pat into a rectangle about 16- by 8-inches, gently pressing out excess air. Divide the dough into 32 equal portions, about an ounce each, with a pizza wheel or bench scraper.
(If you don’t have a scale, divide the dough in half lengthwise, then in half crosswise. Cut each of those four sections into 8 equal-sized rolls.)

Tuck the edges of the dough under to make round rolls and place them seam-side down in the prepared pan, leaving a little space in between each roll. (See Cook’s Note) Cover the pan with buttered plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place until the rolls rise almost to the rim of the pan and have more than doubled in size, about 45 minutes.

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F.

Bake rolls until golden brown and puffy, and an instant read thermometer inserted into the center of the rolls registers 190 degrees F, about 40 minutes. Remove rolls from the oven and quickly brush the tops with soft butter.

Cool the rolls in the pan for about 10 minutes before turning them out onto a rack in one piece. Cool slightly. Serve warm or at room temperature in one piece or pulled apart as individual rolls.

Cook’s Note: At the point the rolls are formed, placed in the pan and covered, they can also be refrigerated overnight. If rolls have been refrigerated overnight, the final proofing time will be closer to 1 1/2 hours.

Storing Tips: Storing and serving rolls in one piece keeps them moist and soft. Store baked and completely cooled rolls in one piece in an air-tight plastic bag, or wrapped loosely in plastic wrap, then foil.