True focaccia is a lovely thing: salty, a bit oily, and perfect as a snack on its own or with a side of cheese, maybe some fruit and a picnic blanket. It is the ultimate portable snack. This recipe takes that same idea, and morphs into a soft-yet-crisp roll. Perfect alongside a bowl of soup or, maybe even better, as a handheld sandwich bun. You all know I love good bread; this is good bread and super easy to make, too!
I use a preferment in this recipe to get an extra boost of flavor. If you are in a rush, you can skip that and let the initial proof go for at least 3 hours.
I use potato flakes here to get a leg up on the mashed potato addition. If you feel like boiling and ricing a potato, please feel free. Or maybe you have some mashed potatoes as leftovers? That's perfect, too. You'll need 1 cup of mashed potato to start.
Soft Potato Focaccia Rolls
Yield: 20 - 24 rolls
Ingredients
Preferment
1 cup potato flakes
1 cup all purpose flour
1½ teaspoons active dry yeast
1 1/4 cup lukewarm water
Dough
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon honey
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoon salt
Flaky salt for baking, optional
Directions
In the bowl of a mixer or other large bowl, combine potato flakes, 1 cup flour, active yeast and water. Stir to combine. Cover and let sit at room temperature overnight or at least 4 hours.
When ready to make the dough, add the oil, honey and mix to blend. Add flour 1/2 cup at a time, mixing well. Add the salt. Mix with the dough hook (or by hand) to create a soft elastic dough. Once the dough is smooth and starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl, stop and pat into a ball. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm draft free area for approximately 2 hours or doubled in bulk.
Once ready to bake, prepare your muffin tins: pour a small amount of olive oil into each cup of two standard muffin tin pan. Set aside. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Using a bench scraper divide the dough into 20 - 24 even pieces. Taking each piece and turn the edges into the middle to create a round ball; drop into one of the wells of the tin, turning to coat the top of the dough ball. Repeat with remaining dough balls.
Cover each pan of dough balls with lightly greased plastic wrap and let rise 60 - 90 minutes or until puffed and starting to fill the muffin tin.
Pre-heat oven to 400F. When ready to bake, remove plastic wrap and lightly sprinkle flaky salt on each rolls. Bake for approximately 25 - 30 minutes until rolls are golden and crisp. Serve warm or allow to cool and enjoy.
You can freeze the rolls in a freezer bag for 1 month. Rewarm in a toaster oven to recrisp.