My Mother's Potato Rolls

Thanksgiving would not be Thanksgiving without my mother's potato rolls.  I remember as a kid not liking Thanksgiving food much at all.  Truth be told, it's still not my favorite.  But, I loved these rolls and suspect the rolls were mostly what I ate for the dinner each year.  These and pumpkin pie filling; I hated the crust.  I was a really picky eater back then. So, in my foodie memory, these rolls are Thanksgiving.

 This year, I decided to mix it up a bit and make a roll recipe I saw on pinterest claiming to be 'the ultimate roll' recipe.

They lied.  The rolls paled in comparison to my mom's.

I have however, made a few changes to her recipe.  I never liked how heavy the rolls turn out and dense rolls and Thanksgiving dinner are never a good mix.  To lighten them up and make them very puffy, I added more yeast.

I also use boxed mashed potatoes.  I know, the horror of it all!  But they are so much lighter than homemade ones and they don't weigh the rolls down.  I also add 1/3 C. butter and 1/3 C. crisco rather than the all crisco the original recipe called for.  I probably should use all butter but traditions die hard.

The final result is light, rich, wonderfully puffy potato roll.

The Recipe:

Potato Rolls

1 1/2cups warm water
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3 tsp. rapid rise yeast
1/3 C. shortening
1/3 C. butter, softened
1 c. mashed potatoes ( I make instant ones for this recipe because homemade is too heavy)
7-7 1/2 cups flour
Mix this until you have a smooth silky dough, let it rise until doubled.  Form into any shape you chose.  I usually make crescents.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 17 minutes, depending on their size.

A while back I bought a Brod & Taylor proofer.

I vacillated on this purchase not knowing how much I would actually use it.  As it ends up, I use it a lot.  It maintains a perfect temperature and folds up into a thin laptop shape for storage.  If you bake a lot of bread, you should check it out.