Amish Potato Rolls are the quintessential soft dinner roll. Because they stay fresh-tasting for several days, they’re the perfect make-ahead roll for your special holiday or anytime feast. Even better, they make the ultimate slider buns to wrap around your leftover turkey or ham.
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Ingredients: Here’s What You’ll Need
I adapted the recipe for these rolls from the King Arthur site using ingredients that you probably already have on hand.
- The Flour: A lot of bread and roll recipes use bread flour. This recipe, however, uses unbleached all-purpose flour.
- The Potatoes: I used unflavored mashed potatoes made from peeled potatoes boiled in unsalted water. Once the potatoes were done, I drained them well, reserving the water. To ensure that the potatoes were lump-free, I put them through a potato ricer.
- The Liquid: For the liquid, I used room-temperature water reserved from boiling the potatoes and eggs.
- The Flavorings: I used granulated sugar to not only flavor the rolls, but also help feed the yeast. To enhance the richness of the rolls, I used unsalted butter. Finally for additional flavorings, I used Kosher salt.
- The Yeast: I always use either instant or bread machine yeast in my yeasted recipes. The reason is that instant and bread machine yeast can be added directly to the ingredients without the need for blooming.
Preparing the Dough
- I started by putting all of the ingredients into the pan of my bread machine in the order listed. Then, I selected the dough cycle.
- Because the dough was quite soft, I decided to make it the night before, and let it go through the first rise the refrigerator. Therefore, as soon as the kneading stopped, I transferred the dough to an oiled 8-cup measuring cup. Then, I covered the measuring cup with plastic wrap, and put it in the refrigerator.
Therefore, as soon as the kneading stopped, I transferred the dough to an oiled 8-cup measuring cup. Then, I covered the measuring cup with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator.
- The next day, the dough had more than doubled in size and was therefore ready to be made into rolls.
Making the Amish Potato Rolls
- I’ve learned through the years that weighing both the ingredients and the finished dough is the key to making perfect bread and rolls. Therefore, before separating the dough into pieces, I weighed it – I had a little over 40 ounces of dough.
I wanted to make 32 rolls – 24 to take to the family Thanksgiving gathering, and 8 to keep. This meant that I needed to scale the dough into 1.25-ounce rolls. Yes, I’m a total foodie nerd!
- I rolled each piece of dough into a ball and placed 24 of the balls on a parchment lined 13 x 18-inch rimmed baking sheet, leaving about an inch between the rolls. I placed the remaining 8 on another parchment lined baking sheet.
- Another thing that I’ve learned through the years is that Julia had it right when she recommended using the electric oven for the second rise. Specifically, I always turn my electric oven for exactly 1 minute and 45 seconds.
I placed the rolls into the warmed oven and shut the door. Because the dough was straight from the refrigerator, it took around 3 hours for the perfect rise. It would have been closer to 2 hours if I had made the rolls straight from the bread machine.
- I preheated the oven to 350°F. When the oven reached temperature, I popped one of the pans of rolls into the oven for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes the rolls were perfectly cooked and golden brown. I removed the roll from the oven and brushed them with some melted butter. I repeated this with the other pan of rolls.
The Amish Potato Rolls were still a bit warm when it was ready to head to the family gathering. Therefore, I put the whole pan of rolls in a pillowcase and off we went!
The potato rolls were pillowy soft and amazing. Yum!
Frequently Asked Questions
The reason that I let the dough rise in the refrigerator was that I wanted to actually make the rolls the next day. However, I could have let the bread machine finish the dough cycle and made the rolls at that point. It’s just a personal preference.
Potatoes like wheat flour contain starch. However, the potato starches attract and hold more water than wheat flour. This not only increases the moisture in the rolls, but also makes the yeast dough easier to handle and shape.
I like to use a russet potato because of its starch content and texture.
If desired, you can use filtered water in place of the room-temperature water from boiling the potatoes. However the potato water will contribute to the moistness of the rolls.
Other Amazing Roll Recipes Using the Bread Machine
If you’ve never tried making rolls with a bread machine, think again. The rolls are super easy to make and amazing to eat.
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Amish Potato Rolls (Bread Machine)
Equipment
- Bread Machine
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup (6-ounces, 170 grams) water or enough water for a total of 9.5-ounces with the eggs (See Tips 1 and 2)
- ⅓ cup (2.38-ounces, 67 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
- 6 Tablespoons (3-ounces, 85 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup (7.5-ounces, 213 grams) unsalted mashed potatoes, lightly packed (See Tip 3)
- 4 ¼ cups (18-ounces, 510 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour (See Tip 4)
- 2 ½ teaspoons instant or active dry yeast
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (optional for brushing)
Instructions
- Place all ingredients except for the optional melted butter in the order listed into pan of bread machine. Select dough cycle.
- If making the dough the night before, transfer dough to oiled bowl or 8-cup measuring cup when kneading stops. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Otherwise, allow dough cycle to finish.
- Transfer dough to well-floured surface and gently deflate. Divide the dough into 32 small balls (1.25-ounces each); round each ball into a smooth roll.
- Place rolls on parchment lined baking sheet, allowing 1-inch between rolls.
- Cover the pan with lightly greased plastic wrap and let rolls rise for around 2 hours (3 hours if cold from refrigerator) or until they are quite puffy. (See Tip 3)
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Bake rolls in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from the oven; brush with melted butter, if desired.
- Serve rolls warm or at room temperature. Store rolls, well wrapped in plastic, for several days at room temperature; freeze for longer storage.
- Yield: 32 rolls. (See Tip 5)
Tips/Notes
- To ensure that my bread and roll recipes turn out perfectly every time, I always weigh the ingredients. For the liquid, there is a lot of variability in eggs. Therefore, I put the bread pan on a zeroed scale and add the eggs and enough water to total 9.5 ounces. If you just rely on the eggs and a measured amount of water, the rolls may or may not turn out perfectly. If possible, use the water the potatoes were boiled in.
- You don’t need a fancy or expensive scale to achieve perfect results. In fact, my scale costs less than $10 and is perfectly calibrated. One thing I like about this scale is that it measures in hundredths of ounces, e.g., 1.25 ounces, as opposed to eighths of ounces, e.g., 1 2/8 ounces. For me, the former is more precise.
- To make the mashed potatoes, boil peeled and sliced potatoes in unsalted water for about 20 minutes or until fork tender and breaking apart. Drain, reserving the water. Process in a potato ricer or food mill.
- It is equally important to weigh the flour. The reason is that is a lot of variability in the actual quantity of flour depending on how it is measured. Therefore, for perfect rolls, every time weigh the flour.
- This recipe makes a lot of rolls but can be easily cut in half.
Matt Davis says
Only one real question. I know Kosher salt varies from brand to brand for weight/amount. Morton and Diamond Crystal will give very different results from each other. Which Kosher salt are you using for your recipes?
Chula King says
Matt,
You are so right about the differences between Morton and Diamond Crystal Kosher salt. I should have included that I use Morton Kosher salt.
Chula
Margot Beebe says
We’ve been missing Publix’s potato rolls so I tried this today. I made 1/2 batch – ended up with 17 rolls. They are different in texture from the Publix ones, but delicious! I measured instead of weighing the ingredients. I plan to dig out the scale when I try this again.
My only complaint is that peeling, cooking and mashing the potatoes too a big chunk of time – that should be step 1 of the instructions! (Of course, my pot boiled over and made a mess of my stove, adding more time to this project!)
Loi says
Can I use squash or pumpkin instead of potatoes?
Chula King says
I’ve only used potatoes in this recipe. However, I’m not sure that either squash or pumpkin would produce the same results. Sorry.
Brenda Dunsmore says
I have a question. As a child, my mother bought potato bread and I loved it. However, all the potato bread I buy now and all the potato bread recipes I have tried use so much sugar, that all I can taste is sweet. Could I reduce the sugar in this recipe so that the full flavor of the potato comes through. Would reducing the sugar adversely effect the texture or the crumb of the bread?
Chula King says
Brenda,
I’ve not tried this recipe with reduced sugar.
However, I suspect that you could reduce the amount of sugar and still produce delicious rolls. With reduced sugar, the rising time will likely be longer and the crumb a little less soft. If you do reduce the sugar, I’d love to hear how the rolls turned out.
Chula
Amy E says
Well, I used the bread machine yeast and let these bake in the bread machine. …made an absolutely perfect loaf and sooo delicious! So glad I found this recipe! Can’t wait to make french toast with it!
Chula King says
Thank you so much for letting me know Amy!
Chula
Amy E says
I made them into rolls and baked them in the oven. WONDERFUL!
I’m going to try in bread machine. But out of active yeast. Think it’ll work with bread machine yeast?
Chula King says
Outstanding Amy! I always use bread machine yeast, so absolutely, use bread machine yeast!
Chula
Amy E says
Could this be baked in the bread machine to get a loaf?
Chula King says
Hi Amy,
I’ve not made these rolls into a loaf. However, I don’t see any reason that it wouldn’t work. If you try this, let me know how it turns out.
Chula
Holly says
I made these yesterday….added a tsp. each of minced onion and onion powder too. Dough was almost too much for my bread machine (next time I’ll do them in two batches), but ultimately rolls were delicious. I made bigger ones so wound up with 16. So far we’ve used them for burgers, pulled pork sammies, ham & cheese melts, and toasted with cream cheese for breakfast!
Chula King says
Yum!
Sue says
I made these today and they’re delish! I even managed to get 32. Thanks for this recipe.
PudgeFactor says
I’m glad that they turned out well for you!