The Lowly, Worthy Potato- Absolute Best Potato Rolls...and an art project

This unassuming, rather ugly looking food has a very important place in the culinary history of mankind. While it has sustained many people during long cold winters, it's absence due to disease and rot has also led many people to leave their homelands and immigrate to faraway places. Most cultures of the European continent have their longstanding  traditional ways of preparing  potatoes A warm potato dish with a savory meat makes one long for the simple things of home and family. It doesn't take much to dress up a potato-basically some salt and any kind of gravy or sauce or topping. Butter is a perfect compliment to the potato. This lowly dirt grower has gotten a bum rap as being way too high in carbohydrates and as a guilty insulin spiker.  Of course, to add chemicals and fake fats and processed cheese and other impostors to this poor root is  a shame and it  destroys the worth if this valuable and inexpensive food. It sure has served itself well for the hard working farmers and laborers who could build up their energy with a hearty potato dish. Nowadays, to say that  a man is a "meat and potatoes" guy is to  imply that he detests vegetables  and is signing up for heart disease! Yes, there is plenty of room to encourage more leafy greens and lots of hard work in a persons daily life ,but still, I think this great, yet simple and cheap food serves mankind well.

This recipe has been a prize winner at our home on Thanksgiving for many years. We can go without other traditions and newer ideas but Mama cannot forgo the potato rolls. I always begin to make them the morning of Thanksgiving so they have plenty of time to rise and still  have them hot and ready out of the oven by dinner time. Of course, we aren't an early afternoon dinner time people-so I'm talking 6 o'clock dinner time-at the earliest! In my house, crazy as it may sound to many Americans, we have only one oven and and, yes, I cook nearly everyday for at least 8-10 people. I'm thankful for my one oven while many people have two, and yet others and many places have none. I know that I am blessed with a very convenient kitchen. Still, when it comes to holidays and events and my  girls having their ideas for  baking and cooking, we have to literally create an oven schedule so that everything gets done in time. It makes for good planning skills! Sometimes, a cake or dish has to finish up in  mormor's oven-thankfully, she lives only a mile away.
Of course, this recipe can be made any time of the year. It is also good to bake in a loaf pan. All you need is a medium to large sized potato, flour and yeast and salt, and a fat and then you are ready to make the best rolls ever -and your family and friends will beg for more.

                                            Potato Rolls

One medium to large size potato peeled and cubed
2 packages of dry yeast- one package equals 2 1/4 teaspoons of dry yeast
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 tablespoon of coarse sea salt
2 tablespoons of shortening or butter
6 1/3 - 7 cups of flour-depends of the size of the potato and the moisture added with it.

In a small pan cook the potato in 1 1/2 cups of water until tender. Cool until lukewarm. Set aside a 1/2 cup of the liquid.

hand mash the cooked potato

reserved liquid-this is a doubled portion

Mash the potato in the remaining liquid and add water as need to make 2 cups of potato water mixture.

Soften the yeast in the reserved 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid.

yeast dissolving in potato /water

Combine the potato mixture,sugar, shortening or butter, and one tablespoon of sea salt in the mixer bowl. Mix well, then stir in 2 cups of the flour. Beat this well , then cover and lt rise till about double. It will be very wet and sticky.

 I let my dough rise in the large bowl of the Ankersum Assistant -it rose so well that it pushed the lid off!

rising up!!

After about 45 minutes of  rising time, stir it down and add the remaining flour a 1/2 cup at a time and keep adding until you have a moderately stiff dough. The size and moisture from your potato mixture will determine how much flour is needed. I mix in the mixer until it is time for the last half cup of flour and then finish up kneading by hand so I can get the right feel to the dough. It is also rewarding to have my hands in the dough. It's good work.

this is what makes bread making so rewarding

the quiet, hard working mixer!

Shape the dough into a ball and cover with a towel and let rise till double-about 45 minutes.

this is exciting when it peeps out from under the towel

Now, to form the rolls. Prepare cookie sheets with a piece of parchment paper-or lightly grease the baking pan. Punch down the dough, and on a lightly floured surface pull off an amount that fits loosely inside the palm of your hand . Roll it around on the work surface  under your hand into a small round ball.

rising on the baking sheet

Place them on the pan about 3 inches apart. Cover and let rise another 30 minutes. Set oven to 375 and then brush lightly with milk an sprinkle a dusting of flour on top. Bake about 15 minutes  and  they are light golden brown on top. Cool on  the counter-or better yet-open one up and spread some real butter on it and eat. Oh my!

These  are also great for small sandwiches a day later-if there are any leftover!

ready by dinner time

Potato Stamp Art Project

Here's an idea for a  simple homemade card or art project: the potato stamp. My kids have made so many of these while I was working away in the kitchen, it's also good lesson in printmaking, It costs next to nothing, and it is fun and gives the kids a chance to carve a bit. This is suitable for kids who can handle a somewhat sharp knife. An older person can always help.

First select a potato that has a wide mid section. Think Mr Potato Head! Then wash it up and dry off. Cut it in half. Then draw your design with a sharp pencil. Think about what will be left over to make the image. This is a good lesson in printmaking because it makes you think about what is taken away that will be the white and what remains that will pick up the ink or paint. I like this because my kids and I began to see illustrations in books in a whole new way. We also would do pen and ink drawings and really have to think about what the ink would show-and what the absence of ink would create.
Then, dry off the stamp and use  either an ink pad or brush on paints lightly to your image -make sure you don't fill in the cracks. Then stamp down on the paper. After a few tries you will see that improvements will be needed in order to make the stamp flat and to make dramatic enough spaces to create the image you desire. My boys especially loved the carving part of this activity.

A basic design we started with was a heart shape for Valentine's Day. I also had the kids do their letters when learning to read. Another idea is to make their own stationary. This can progress to other printmaking and layer in the the primary colors. One fun thing to do is to first stamp with blue and wipe off the stamp and then stamp with yellow. Voila! Then we have green. I still remember how exciting it was for me to make my own green. I painted leaves and trees for days.

draw a simple outline

Stefan loved to use his carving tools

paint on color or use an ink pad

One of the big lessons learned with simple print projects is that the image will reverse when stamped. So....backwards letters and animals facing the opposite way teach this very well!



















































































































































































































































































Ofc ourse, this recipe can be amed any time of the eyar. It is alsi good ot ake in a loaf pan. All you need is a medium to alrge sized potote, flour and yeast and salt and a fat and youa re ready to make an amazing bread taht will warm the eharts of your people.