Potato Rolls - baking potato

Method

• Equipment: 2 (9-inch) round or square cake pans
• Cook the potato in a microwave on HIGH until soft and it squeezes easily, using the designated baked potato setting, or up to 15 minutes.
• Peel and pass the warm potato through a potato ricer or food mill into a large bowl.
• (You should have 1 cup pureed potato.)
• Stir the hot water, eggs, half the sugar and yeast into the potato.
• Add 2 cups of the flour and the salt and mix with a wooden spoon to make a sticky, shaggy dough.
• Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place until the dough doubles in volume, about 1 1/2 hours.
• Beat the butter with the remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy.
• Switch to the dough hook and add the risen dough to the creamed butter.
• Continue to mix on low until the butter and dough come together, about 1 minute.
• (Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl if needed; the dough will be very sticky.)
• Gradually add the remaining 2 1/4 cups of flour, about 1/4 cup at a time, to make a shaggy dough that pulls away from the side of the bowl.
• Continue kneading on medium speed until dough is smooth but still tacky, about 3 to 4 minutes.
• Turn dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead by hand until dough is smooth and no longer tacky, 1 to 2 minutes more.
• (If the dough is still sticky, gradually add 1/4 cup flour.)
• Shape dough into a ball.
• Brush a large bowl with butter and turn dough around in bowl to coat lightly.
• Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap, trace a circle the size of the dough on the plastic, and note the time.
• Let rise at room temperature until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
• Generously butter two 9-inch round or square cake pans.
• Turn the dough out of the bowl and pat into a rectangle about 16- by 8-inches, gently pressing out excess air.
• Divide the dough into 32 equal portions, about an ounce each, with a pizza wheel or bench scraper.
• (If you don't have a scale, divide the dough in half lengthwise, then in half crosswise.
• Cut each of those four sections into 8 equal-sized rolls.)
• Tuck the edges of the dough under to make round rolls and place them seam-side down in the prepared pan, leaving a little space in between each roll.
• (See Cook's Note) Cover the pan with buttered plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place until the rolls rise almost to the rim of the pan and have more than doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
• Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F.
• Bake rolls until golden brown and puffy, and an instant read thermometer inserted into the center of the rolls registers 190 degrees F, about 40 minutes.
• Remove rolls from the oven and quickly brush the tops with soft butter.
• Cool the rolls in the pan for about 10 minutes before turning them out onto a rack in one piece.
• Cool slightly.
• Serve warm or at room temperature in one piece or pulled apart as individual rolls.
• Cook's Note: At the point the rolls are formed, placed in the pan and covered, they can also be refrigerated overnight.
• If rolls have been refrigerated overnight, the final proofing time will be closer to 1 1/2 hours.
• Storing Tips: Storing and serving rolls in one piece keeps them moist and soft.
• Store baked and completely cooled rolls in one piece in an air-tight plastic bag, or wrapped loosely in plastic wrap, then foil.