CHEESY POTATO BREAD ROLLS

Even if the idea of baking bread like a perfect little housewife fills
you with horror you must try these; they’re completely delicious
warm, cold or toasted. In fact, the lure of cheesy potato rolls filled
with crispy bacon is enough to get the laziest teenager out of bed
on a Saturday morning (all right then, Saturday afternoon) so
make this bread on Friday evening and leave it to prove in the
fridge overnight. That way you’ll only have to knock the dough
back once before shaping it into rolls and baking in the oven for
about 15 minutes the next day.
A word of warning though; you must prove this dough cool,
which is why leaving it in the fridge overnight is ideal. (If possible,
use a large plastic food bag: put a spoonful of oil inside and rub the
sides of the bag together. This leaves a thin film of oil on the inside
surface of the bag, making it easier to get the dough out later on.)
If you try and speed the process up by proving the dough in a
warm place you’ll be left with a gloopy mess that’ll stick to
everything and you won’t even be able to get it off your hands, let
alone into the oven. It doesn’t matter if the potatoes and potato
water are still warm when you’re actually making the dough,
though.
Finally, however good a recipe is, to my way of thinking the
best ones have to have the simplicity factor, meaning you get a great
result for the minimum amount of effort – and this is one of those
recipes.
11⁄2 lb + (800 g) strong bread flour
1 sachet dried yeast
4–6 medium-sized potatoes
1⁄2 pint (300 ml) potato water
1 tbsp natural yoghurt
1 tbsp salt
1–2 oz (25–50 g) stale hard cheese
Method
1. Peel and boil the potatoes in the usual way, then mash them
and set the water aside to cool slightly while you get the rest of
the ingredients ready.
2. Sift the flour into a very large bowl with the yeast and salt.
3. Make a well in the centre of the flour; add the mashed potatoes,
potato water and yoghurt and mix it all together with your
hand to form a soft, stickyish dough.
4. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead for a good
10 minutes, adding more flour as and when you need to.
5. Put the dough into a large food bag (or any suitably large
container if you don’t have food bags) and tie a knot in the bag
at the very top so there’s plenty of room for the dough to
expand.
6. Leave in the fridge, preferably overnight, and when the dough
has doubled in size preheat the oven to Gas Mark 6 (200ºC)
and grease two large baking trays.
7. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, knock it back and
knead for a good ten minutes again, same as the first time, then
tear the dough into satsuma-sized pieces, knead each piece
separately for a minute and shape into rolls. Sprinkle with
grated cheese, lightly pressing the cheese into the surface of the
rolls.
8. Place the rolls on trays and bake near the top of the oven on
Gas Mark 6 (200ºC) for 5–10 minutes then turn the oven
down to Gas Mark 4 (180ºC) for another 5 minutes. When
you tap the rolls underneath they should make a hollow sound,
which means they’re done.
Tip
Make skinny mash instead of peeling potatoes by washing
them in cold water then boiling and mashing them in
their skins. It saves time, you’re not losing any of the
vitamins and minerals in the water, and it’s a lot nicer than
it sounds.