Parmesan Garlic Pull Apart Rolls with Idaho® Potatoes

Ingredients:

For the Dough:

• 1 medium Idaho® Russet potato
• 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
• Cold water to cover
• 2 oz (barely scant ¼ cup) fruity oil such as avocado or olive
• 1 ½ tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons prepared garlic paste
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 10-20 grinds fresh black pepper (depending on how much pepper you like)
• 8 oz (1 cup) whole milk (you may use 2%)
• 1 large egg
• 3 oz (about 1 ½ cups) finely grated Parmesan cheese, divided
• 1 pound (about 3 ¾ cups) bread flour
• 1 tablespoon active dry yeast

To Finish and Bake:

• 1 stick salted butter (or use unsalted butter and ¼ teaspoon salt)
• 2 teaspoons prepared garlic paste
• Finely grated fresh Parmesan

Directions:

1. Wash, peel, and cut the potato into 1" pieces.
2. Place in a saucepan in lightly salted water, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes or until potato pieces are easily pierced with a knife. Drain, cover, and return to low heat for 5 minutes to dry a bit.
3. Measure out 6 oz of cooked potato and place in the bowl of your stand mixer.
4. Add the oil, sugar, garlic paste, salt, and pepper.
5. Fit your mixer with the paddle attachment and mix on medium low speed until the potato mixture is smooth.
6. Add the milk, egg, half the Parmesan cheese, flour and yeast, in that order.
7. Fit your mixer with the dough hook, and mix on low speed until the flour is evenly moistened and the dough is starting to come together, about 2 minutes..
8. Knead on medium speed for about 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth, shiny, stretchy and clears the sides of the mixer bowl. The dough is soft, so some will stick in the bottom of the bowl. That’s just fine.
9. Scrape the dough into a rough ball in the mixer bowl, spray with a bit of oil or pan spray, and set aside in a warm place to rise until double. Since yeast loves potatoes so much, this will only take about an hour or so.
10. Scrape the risen dough out onto a lightly oiled surface and press out the gases.
11. Sprinkle the other half of the Parmesan over the dough and then knead it in. You do not have to be very thorough because we want some pockets and ribbons of cheese running through the dough. Just knead until the cheese is incorporated.
12. Divide the dough into 12 or 24 even pieces. If you have a scale, weigh the entire amount of dough and then divide that weight by the number of rolls you want. Now you have a weight for portioning. I scaled 12 large rolls at just over 3 oz each.
13. Stretch each portion of dough to find a smooth side and then tuck the rest of the dough under to form a smooth ball. Tighten up the ball by rolling it between your palms on your work surface.
14. In a 9” x 13” nonstick pan, evenly space the rolls in 3 rows of 4 for large rolls or 4 rows of 6 for small ones.

To Finish and Bake:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Melt the butter, garlic, and salt (if using) in the microwave. Spread the tops of the rolls liberally with half the mixture.
3. Cover the rolls with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until almost double, about 30-40 minutes.
4. Pour or brush the rest of the butter mixture evenly over the rolls and then place in the oven.
5. Bake for about 25 minutes for large rolls and 20 minutes for small rolls. Rotate the pan if browning unevenly. The rolls are done when the internal temperature reaches 195-200F. They will be deeply golden brown on top and golden brown on the sides. If the rolls seem to brown too quickly, tent loosely with foil.
6. As soon as you take the rolls out of the oven, grate on a bit more Parmesan cheese.
7. Allow the rolls to cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Then carefully ease them out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
8. Wrap loosely in foil and reheat to serve. They’re great cold, too, but you will really love them warm. Enjoy!

Notes:

Use Parmesan Reggiano or an American hard cheese such as Grana for this. Parmesan in a can will not give you the same flavor, texture or aroma as fresh.