The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

We 3 gmas baked potato rolls

gmagmabaking2's picture
gmagmabaking2

We 3 gmas baked potato rolls

Just a bit of family history... we went with potato bread to honor our great grandmother Susan Isabel Congrove Smith... whom we were told was Irish and had flaming red hair... this would be my grandfather's mama on my mother's side.  So the potato rolls had a special meaning uniting the generations of gramma bakers in our family.  Being the one that tends to hurry through recipes... I divided my portions into 12... like I read... but did not then divide each into two or three.  So my rolls are gianormas... (ah, hmm) and Barb's and Helen's are more dinner rollish.  

 These are awesome tasting and big enough for your biggest monster burger... image one with cheddar all melted over it and grilled onions... (can you see the fat bunny??)

Helen made 28 of these beauties.  She said she is glad they will freeze well... I am betting she pairs these up with her homemade chicken soup.  They too taste awesome... we all used the same recipe for "Potato Rolls" from myrecipes.com. 

Funny thing, right at the top it says 24 servings... hmmm... This dough was very wet and had a great rise and bubbliness to it.  

Barb made 14 rolls weighing them at 3 oz. each... so given our uniqueness ;-) I am sure that size doesn't matter they all taste great.

 Barb added to her dinner plans a great homemade vegetable soup.              

                                         

Aww. What fun we had... we love baking together and chatting about recipes and catching up on each other's lives... there are no distances too far, thanks to being able to share here and by phone.  Cooking together has continued an unbreakable thread of family history and sisterly love. 

Thank you my sisters for another great bake.... next week Sunday... St. Pat's Irish Soda Bread. See you here. ;-)

Diane

Floydm's picture
Floydm

Very nice!

gmabaking's picture
gmabaking

First I didn't understand the recipe's sugar amounts and used double the amount, then I did scale them at 3oz for 14 rolls. After seeing the pictures of large and small rolls, I snatched them off the parchment paper and made the 14 into 28. They were very well received and shared with family, all reports were great. Fun having a baking day with four grandma's this week!

Thank you Floyd. I searched through all the pages of hot cross buns earlier this morning. And now, there is the picture of the ones I will bake! Making some candied orange peel for them (surprisingly ahead of time for me)

Next week we will bake a day early so we will all have Irish Soda Bread for St. Patrick's Day.

Happy Baking Everyone

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Potato, egg, sugar, butter, potato water .....Yep, they have to be soft and delicious.   A little cream would make them decadent.  Nice to get 4 GMA's into this week's bake too.  I say massive or smaller, lamb burgers, pulled pork or beef burgers would all be delicious with these buns.  You all did such a great job this week - as usual.  Nice baking all the way around.

Happy baking GMA's

gmabaking's picture
gmabaking

Thank you for your nice comments. Are you baking Soda Bread this week? After years of trying authentic recipes I tried one with sour cream a few years ago and never looked back. Decided that just maybe someone had used clabbered or sour milk and it wasn't too awfully nontraditional after all.

Grandma Susan is our one claim to Irish-ness so we get to be Irish once a year-

Happy St Patrick's Day

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Part of my family immigrated from Cork, Ireland and I worked for the Irish Dairy Board neigh on 20 years.    I love to visit Ireland and have been there many times.  Ballymaloe is a 14th century Norman castle, now a hotel of sorts, 20 miles from Cork and is the site not only of the  fine Guest House and Restaurant but the Balleymaloe Cookery School  that is also run and operated by Dianne Allen and the much more famous Rachel Allen of TV cooking fame.  As far as I am concerned, they make the very best Brown Soda Bread in Ireland or anywhere else - they are quite famous for it.  The castle keep has a secret entrance.    Just go to the bar at happy hour and ask the barman where it might be :-)  The Allens and everyone else at Ballymaloe are just the best - a great place to spend a few days - especially now.

In fact, right now  you can book a room and learn to cook their famous bread too - Check this out:

http://www.avvio.com/hotels/Ballymaloe_House/bookings/index.php?formname=searchspecials&mode=group&group=Special%20Offers#ipulsestart

The students at the cookery school also help in the kitchen and sous chefs and they also wait all the tables at the restaurant.  The food is very good and totally Irish - the brown soda bread is served with every meal for good reason.    Here is the recipe I will be making for SPD.    The butter  and seeds are not optional. - It's Saint Paddy's Day for Heaven;s Sake!.  There buttrermilk adn butter is much different in Ireland.  Use Kerrygold butter ( made by the the co-op of Irish dairy farmers that own the Irish Dairy Board - the marketing arm of Irish dairy products all over the world).  And you are right, add some sour cream and cut some of the Buttermilk to replicate Irish Buttermilk.  Actually, Mexican le Creama is much, much closer to add to the buttermilk than American sour cream. 

Ballymaloe Brown Soda Bread

Ingredients

225g (8oz) wholemeal flour
225g (8oz) plain flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
50g (2oz) mixed seeds, such as sesame, pumpkin or sunflower, or golden linseeds (optional)
25g (1oz) butter (optional)
1 egg
375-400ml (13-14fl oz) Buttermilk

You will need a 25 cm (10in) diameter tart tin, 3cm (1¼ in) deep

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C (425°F), Gas mark 7.

2. Sift together the flours, salt and bicarbonate of soda in a large bowl and mix with the seeds (if using). Add the butter (if using), and rub into the flour mixture with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre.

3. In another bowl, whisk the egg with the buttermilk and pour most of the liquid into the flour mixture. Using one hand with your fingers outstretched like a claw, bring the flour and liquid together, adding more buttermilk if necessary. The dough should be quite soft, but not too sticky.

4. Turn onto a floured work surface, and gently bring it together into a round about 4cm (1½in) deep. Cut a deep cross on top

5. Place on a baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, then turn down the heat to 200°C (400°F), Gas mark 6 and cook for 30 minutes more. When cooked, the loaf will sound slightly hollow when tapped on the base.

Allow to cool on a wire rack.