Ingredients
There are the most diverse potato bun recipes in baking books and on the net, in which the amount of potato and water, sometimes also yeast, varies greatly. Remember: the more potatoes you use, the less liquid the dough needs. The combination I present to you today is our favorite. It makes the crispy potato buns wonderfully fluffy, moist, and crunchy without tasting too much like yeast or potatoes. If you want to do it quickly, use dry yeast for the potato rolls. So you need a total of just 1.5 hours. Of course, the whole thing also works with fresh yeast.
We like the potato rolls with spelt flour best - a small part of whole spelt flour and the majority of light spelt flour. If you want, you can substitute wheat for the two flours just as easily. Baking with a lot of steam is very important for the success of the crispy potato rolls.
How to make the Potato Buns
First step: Peel the potatoes, weigh them, cut them into pieces, and boil them with 1 teaspoon of salt until very soft. This takes about 20 minutes, depending on the size. Drain and collect the cooking water. Allow potatoes to steam briefly. While still warm, mash with a potato masher or carefully briefly with a food processor and whisk to mash.
Now, put both types of flour in a large bowl. First, add 130ml of the lukewarm potato water with the yeast and the sugar, then the still lukewarm mashed potatoes, oil, and salt (the salt should not be directly on the yeast). Let the dough knead for at least 5 minutes, adding a little more water as needed, depending on the type of flour. Let the dough rise, covered, in a warm place for at least 30 minutes.
Then, transfer dough to a well-floured work surface and divide into 10-12 pieces with a dough card or large knife. Do not knead much more when doing this. One by one, pull the dough portions slightly apart, fold the sides inward, and work the balls round with the end down, i.e., keep pushing them back and forth a bit on the work surface in the hollow of your hand.
Place dough balls, spaced apart, on 1-2 baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Cover and let rise again for at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 460°F/230°C. Turn on the steam function or place an ovenproof water bowl on the oven's bottom just before baking. Turn the dough rolls over (i.e. turn the end back up), and spray some water into the oven with a flower sprayer if available.
In the end, bake rolls for 8 minutes at 460°F/230°C, then turn down to 380°F/190°C and finish baking for another 8-12 minutes. Buns must cool completely before eating. Otherwise, they will be too soft.
Top Tip
When baking bread, I always use our Dutch oven with a lid. Of course, this is unsuitable for 10-12 rolls of mashed potatoes. And so you create the moisture in the oven with a built-in steam function, a flower water spray, and a bowl or fat pan filled with hot water.
Recipe Card
Potato Buns
Ingredients
- 350 grams (1 ¾ cups) potatoes, cleaned weighed
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 150 grams (1 ⅓ cups) whole spelt flour, or whole all-purpose flour
- 350 grams (3 cups) spelt flour, or all-purpose flour
- 1 small bag dry yeast, or 20g of fresh yeast
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- 130 milliliters (9 tablespoons) water, lukewarm
- 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons salt
Instructions
- Peel the potatoes, weigh them, cut them into pieces, and boil them with 1 teaspoon of salt until very soft. This takes about 20 minutes, depending on the size. Drain and collect the cooking water. Allow potatoes to steam briefly. While still warm, mash with a potato masher or carefully briefly with a food processor and whisk to mash.
- Put both types of flour in a large bowl. First, add 130ml of the lukewarm potato water with the yeast and the sugar, then the still lukewarm mashed potatoes, oil, and salt (the salt should not be directly on the yeast).
- Let the dough knead for at least 5 minutes, adding a little more water as needed, depending on the type of flour. Let the dough rise, covered, in a warm place for at least 30 minutes.
- Transfer dough to a well-floured work surface and divide into 10-12 pieces with a dough card or large knife. Do not knead much more when doing this.
- One by one, pull the dough portions slightly apart, fold the sides inward, and work the balls round with the end down, i.e., keep pushing them back and forth a bit on the work surface in the hollow of your hand.
- Place dough balls, spaced apart, on 1-2 baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Cover and let rise again for at least 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 460°F/230°C. Turn on the steam function or place an ovenproof water bowl on the oven's bottom just before baking. Turn the dough rolls over (i.e. turn the end back up), and spray some water into the oven with a flower sprayer if available.
- Bake rolls for 8 minutes at 460°F/230°C, then turn down to 380°F/190°C and finish baking for another 8-12 minutes. Buns must cool completely before eating. Otherwise, they will be too soft.
Notes
- For the buns to succeed, it needs a lot of steam. The buns get slightly out of shape by rounding them with the end down and going, then turning them around just before baking so that the back is on top.
- You can also take a little more potatoes but then needs less liquid for the dough.
Ingredient substitutions
Variations
By the way, even food bloggers fail at baking every now and then. And so part of my potato rolls had a - let's say - exciting shape. Our kids christened them "brain rolls". Sounds a bit gross 😉 . But the excellent taste of the crispy potato rolls with spelt flour definitely did not detract from the appearance! The stick bread also looks a bit adventurous at times.
About Kathrin & Jan
It's like a little miracle to me every time. Seemingly simple ingredients are made into something that can brighten up your life. Butter, sugar, eggs, and flour melt into an airy biscuit, a fine tart, a juicy cake, or a crispy biscuit. Baking simply makes you happy. Welcome and enjoy our blog!
Kathrin & Jan
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