Get out the deli-roast beef, Swiss cheese and horseradish sauce. An onion roll turns any plain-Jane roast-beef sandwich into an extraordinary roast-beef sandwich. I love potato bread and any type of slightly-sweet and pillowy-soft potato rolls in general. Unless I am specifically looking for a crusty, semi-firm roll, 'tater-type rolls are my all-purpose sandwich rolls of choice -- that includes hamburger and hot dog rolls too. The only thing better than a soft, slightly-sweet potato-sandwich roll is a soft, slightly-sweet potato-sandwich roll laced with small bits of onion and herbs.
I tout these for roast-beef sandwiches -- they're great 'burger rolls too.
Imagine my glee when I successfully turned my brioche in the bread machine recipe into glorious, golden potato rolls.
1/2 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons salted butter, cut into pieces, preferably at room temperature
1/2 cup mashed Yukon gold potato, from 1 medium-large potato that has been microwave-baked (I use a slightly-generous half cup)
1 extra-large egg, lightly-beaten
3 tablespoons sugar
2 1/4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon each: dried herbes de Provence, sea salt and coarse-grind black pepper
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 tablespoons dehydrated minced onion
1 packet Fleischmann's granulated yeast, not rapid-rise yeast granules
no-stick cooking spray
~Step 1. In a 1-cup measuring container, in the microwave, heat the buttermilk to steaming, 30-45 seconds. Add the butter cubes. Using a fork, stir until the butter is melted into the buttermilk. Add the mashed gold potato. Stir until nicely incorporated. Using the fork, in a small bowl, whisk the egg, then stir it into the mixture. Add and stir in the sugar.
~Step 2. Add the liquid buttermilk/potato mixture to bread pan of bread machine. In a medium bowl, measure and place the flour, herbes de Provence, salt, pepper, onion powder and dehydrated minced onion, then, using the fork give the dry ingredients a gentle stir. Scoop dry ingredients atop wet ingredients. DO NOT STIR. Using your index finger, make a shallow well in the top of the flour mixture and pour the yeast granules into the well.
~Step 3. Insert the bread pan into the bread machine. Select the "dough" cycle for a 1-pound loaf, then press "start". In less than 1 1/2 hours you will have a light, manageable dough that has proofed twice.
~Step 4. Line a 17 1/2" x 12 1/2" baking pan with parchment. When bread machine signals the dough has proofed, lightly-spray a light-weight plate with no-stick and lightly-oil your fingertips with a bit of the no-stick spray from the plate. Using your oiled fingertips, transfer dough to prepared plate, which has been place on a kitchen scale. You will have 1 1/2 pounds dough. Using the scale as a measure, divide dough into 8, 3-ounce pieces. Between the palms of your hands, roll each piece into a ball and arrange the balls of dough, well-apart, on prepared pan. Cover the pan with a lint-free cotton flour-sack-type towel and allow to rise a third time, by about 1/2 half (not doubled), about 45 minutes.
~Step 5. Bake rolls on center rack of preheated 350º oven, until golden brown, and, when tapped with the knuckle of your index finger, they sound hollow, about 18-20 minutes. Do not over bake. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, 1-2 hours. Best served same-day-baked, but they're fine the next day too.
~Step 6. My favorite sandwich served on these onion rolls: a copious slather of horseradish sauce, a generous layer of shaved red onion, a heaping handful of very-thinly-sliced rare-roasted deli-beef, and two thin slices of lacy Swiss cheese.
Cool rolls completely, 1-2 hours, then slice & serve:
Top w/horseradish sauce, red onion, a heap of beef & Swiss:
Glorious Golden Potato and Onion Sandwich Rolls: Recipe yields 8, 3 1/2"-4"-round sandwich rolls.
Special Equipment List: bread machine; 1-cup measuring container; fork; bread machine; kitchen scale; 17 1/2" x 12 1/2" baking pan; parchment paper; lint-free flour-sack-type towel; wire cooling rack; serrated bread knife
Cook's Note: I adore sweet potatoes. As long as I can find them in the grocery store, which is about nine months out of the year, I keep them on hand always, as, for me, a humble, baked sweet potato slathered with butter is a meal. That said, for a variation on the potato-roll theme, one that I make each year for Thanksgiving, try my recipe for ~ Sweet & Savory Herbed Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls ~.
"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti
(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2018)
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