Rolls For Royalty

"Bread is the king of the table, and all else is merely the court that surrounds the king. The countries are the soup, the meat, the vegetables, the salad... but bread is king." -- Louis Bromfield

The hardest concept about roll making is that it does take a bit of time, and we are busy people. However, the older I have gotten and the more I have deprived myself of "bread at dinner," I have come to the conclusion that when I am going to eat bread, I want it to be really worth it. So, it is worth it to me to put the time and effort into this delicacy. I will do shortcuts & timesavers in other parts of my meal whenever I can. This recipe was shared with me many years ago from a cookfriend, and the particular "loveknot" shape is from another cookfriend whose own rolls were the prettiest I have ever seen in my life. Ingredient check: leftover mashed potatoes work very well. You can premeasure any leftover mashed potatoes in 1 cup mounds, placing them on a cookie sheet and freezing until solid. Then place potato mounds in gallon zip bag. Make that freezer work! There, one step done. Secondly, don't use cheap honey. I buy local honey at the Farmers' Market. The national stuff is really just colored corn syrup. Not going in my rolls. Procedure check: if you want to do fresh rolls for your event, refrigerate dough after the kneading step covered with plastic wrap and a towel. Can sit here several days. Several hours before your serving time, set out dough to rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about an hour or so. Then proceed with shaping rolls and allowing to rise again as stated below. 
I am ROLLING out the red carpet for my precious family who is my royalty. Plenty of rolls for Thanksgiving. Start planning now to try these for your Christmas dinner. 

Potato Rolls

2 med. potatoes, peeled & quartered   ½ cup butter, melted           2 eggs, beaten           

2 pkgs. dry yeast                              1/4 cup shortening, melted   2 tsp. salt                       

1 tsp. sugar                                      ½ cup GOOD honey           about 6 ½ cups flour

                                                             

1. Cook potatoes in boiling water to cover 15 minutes or until tender. Drain, reserving 1 cup water; set potatoes aside. Cool water to 105°-115°. Stir yeast & sugar into water; let stand 5 min.

2.Mash enough potatoes to measure 1  cup; place in large mixing bowl.  Add butter, shortening, honey, eggs, salt, yeast mixture, & 2 ½ cups flour. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer 2 minutes.Change beater to dough hook, then gradually add remaining flour.

3.With dough hook in place, allow mixer to knead batter 8-10 min. Place in well-greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover & let rise in warm place (85°), free from drafts, 1 hour until doubled in bulk.

4.Punch down dough. Divide into thirds. Shape each third into 15 balls. Place in 3 greased 9” round cakepans. Cover & let rise in warm place, free from drafts, 40-50 min. or until doubled. Bake 400° for 20-25 min. Yield: 45 rolls.

Note: Potato Rolls may be wrapped in alum. foil, then placed in freezer bag, & frozen for up to 2 months. To reheat, let thaw almost to room temperature, place in cakepans, cover with foil, & bake 400° for 10 min. or until thoroughly heated.

To make Libby's Loveknots:  divide dough in half, get 16 pieces (about pingpong ball size) out of each half. Roll out each piece like a skinny hot dog & tie into knot. One roll recipe will yield 32 nice-size rolls. Brush generously with melted butter when removing from oven. To freeze, place 4 cooled rolls on foil and wrap it well to cover. Freeze in gallon zip bags. All foil and bags can be reused.