Two Mistakes to a Perfect Roll!

So often we're afraid to experiment in the kitchen to learn what might work best. I guess it is a good thing Edison didn't feel that way...

Last week I made some potato rolls based on a recipe I found on the Food Network website. They weren't too bad - I mean, you could eat them. But they were too small, too sweet, and frankly, they gave me indigestion. (Other than that, they were fine...!).

Today, I tried again with another batch. Rather than using Idaho potatoes, I used Yukon Gold. I also used a potato ricer to mush up the potatoes (from OXO - and it works great). The only change I had intended to make was to scale them 50% larger. Rather than using 2 oz dough balls, I decided to use 3 oz.

The ingredients called for were:

• Flour
• Some kind of milk (cow, soy, rice, or almond)
• Some kind of fat (butter, vegetable oil, or Earth Balance)
• Cooked and riced potatoes
• Eggs or Egg replacer as a binder
• Salt
• Sugar

So I whipped up a batch of dough and as I was scaling it into 3 oz balls, I suddenly remembered I left out the sugar. Oops. Too late now. So, into the oven they went.

When I took them out, I remembered that I also forgot the egg/replacer. Phooey.

But they came out great!

So! Yes, I could have added a little sugar, but really, they were fine without it. I can't imagine what the egg would have done to make them any better.

In two identical pans, I baked 9 in one, and 16 in another. The 16 rolls went in first, and the 9 - with additional time to proof - came out even larger and much lighter. But, they're both good.

Lesson learned: Venture forth! Try it out! See what happens!

Kaiser Rolls

If I were going to teach someone to bake bread by giving them some "how not to" lessons, today would have been a good day to begin.

I made the dough yesterday by using what I learned from reading three different recipes, and then used none of them. I substituted egg-replacer for eggs, and almond milk for cow's milk. Then I miscalculated the measurements of the sugar and salt by an order of magnitude and compensated for the inadequate amount by guessing.

Next, while preparing the evening pizza, I forgot that I left the dough sitting on the kitchen counter top covered with an "unbreakable" Corelle porcelain plate.

I woke around 3 AM wondering what I had done with the dough. If I left it on the counter top, it probably leavened to the point where it would lift the plate right off the bowl.

Sure enough, I turned on the kitchen light to see tiny shards of broken porcelain all over the floor, and the dough looked like The Blob That Ate Kansas City. I was more upset about the dough than the plate.

Anyway, I cleaned up the mess and punched down the dough so it would re-hydrate, turned on the oven and eventually shaped the dough into small loaves placed on an oiled 13 inch pizza pan. After an hour or so of final rise, I put them into a 425 convection oven for 20 minutes and this was the result.

They're cooling now. Mary and I sampled one and declared it was quite suitable! Next, Kummelweck rolls!