Who doesn’t love a good soft pillowy dinner roll? If you answered me, you probably are lost because this is more or less bread and carb central. Maybe I can convert you, and in that case.. please take a seat haha. But yes, we all do. Potato buns and rolls often have a softness you don’t find in other rolls. I never really knew why until I started baking bread and it’s because the potato adds moisture and almost a gelatinous quality to the dough which allows it to retain moisture longer.
Now, I’m going to say something controversial. I don’t like potatoes. Yikes. I know you’re thinking who is this lady who doesn’t like cake or potatoes? Why would I listen to her? I think I lost some of you already but I have to be honest. I’m not a psychopath who doesn’t even like potato chips or anything, but generally chips and like fries are where I draw the line. I don’t mind sweet potatoes in some forms. So I decided to make sweet potato rolls. I thought the softness it would bring to the bread and the hint of sweet would be good and man I was right. Plus they are a perfect soft orange, sherbet color that I love.
If you don’t have baker’s dry milk it’s okay. These still have a lot of moisture in them from the sweet potato. But this is one of my favorite bread ingredients to help get really soft fluffy bread, and you don’t need a ton for most recipes so it lasts quite a while.
Ingredients
- 1 Medium Sweet potato ~250 g
- 360 g Bread flour ~3 cups
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tbsp Dark brown sugar
- 1 tbsp Sugar
- 1 tbsp Baker's Dry Milk
- 2¼ tsp Instant Yeast
- 1 Large Egg Room temperature
- ½ cup 2% or Whole milk warm (~90°F)
- 2 tbsp Unsalted butter softened
Topping
- 1 tbsp Salted butter melted
- 1 tbsp Dark brown sugar
Instructions
- Peel and dice your sweet potato. Weigh and place about 250g into a small pot with cold water. If you have +/- 10g this recipe will still work fine.
- Boil your potato until it is fork tender (10-15 minutes). Remove from heat, mash until very smooth. Let cool until lukewarm/room temperature.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer with dough hook attached, combine all your dough ingredients except for the 2 tbsp of softened butter. Mix until dough comes together. Dough can still have dry spots but it will have formed a rough ball.
- Add butter 1 tbsp at a time, waiting until the first is fully incorporated before second is added.
- Knead dough for 5-8 minutes until dough is smooth and stretchy. It will still be a little sticky.
- Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover and let rise in a warm area for 1-2 hours. Dough will have at least doubled in size.
- Line a 13×9 baking pan with parchment paper.
- Remove dough onto a lightly floured or greased counter and divide into 12 equal portions.
- Taking each dough piece one at a time, shape into a ball and cup hand over dough on counter and make circular motions to create a uniform ball with tension. Place into pan and repeat with the rest of the remaining dough.
- Cover the dough and allow to rise for another 45 minutes to an hour. Dough will be puffy and about twice the size.
- About 30 minutes into proofing, preheat oven to 350°F.
- Bake rolls for about 25 minutes on center rack. Rolls are done with the tops are beginning to be golden brown.
- While rolls are warm, whisk together brown sugar and 1 tbsp melted butter. Use a pastry brush and brush the tops of the rolls.
- Rolls can be eaten right away, or stored in an airtight container for about 3 days.
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