Old School Potato Buns

I ate a lot of these growing up, usually filled with red bean paste, or shredded coconut. They are bland, soft, fluffy and are intended to go with any fillings, sweet or savoury. I never knew that actual potatoes were used in the making and is a key ingredient. When I read the recipe, I just had to try.

At this point, I haven’t baked any bread for years, my bread machine has long broken down, and been thrown away. Half wondering if I should really do all the kneading by hand, and almost wanting to give up at this thought, my son reminded me of the hook attachments that came with my Phillip stand mixer.

My Phillip mixer is no top of the line product, costing only sgd 69 ( or was sgd 59?!) about 10 years ago. I just wanted something cheap to start with then, and although I had wanted to indulge in a KitchenAid many, many, many times over the years, the Phillip has never given me any reason to do so.

So I decided to give the old faithful mixer a try with the dough hooks and it was a pleasant surprise. Here are some of the pictures of it turning a flour and liquid mess into a smooth shiny dough, I am so happy.

Coming back to this recipe, it’s simple and tasty and really soft and continues to be soft the next day. I was rather impatient when proofing and didn’t follow the full recommended timings, but it was still successful. The recipe is not too exact, because there are so many factors to consider, just try to add small amounts of flour as you knead and shape, when the dough is too wet to handle. Try!

Recipe

About 120g of potato (when not cooked)
40g milk and 40g water mixed
250g bread flour
50g sugar
1 tbsp yeast
1 egg
20g milk powder or coffee mate
30g butter

Method

Poke a few holes in the potatoes and boil them for about 15 mins till soft. Peel.
In the meantime, gather all other ingredients.

Mash the potato with a fork and add the milk/ water. It will help if potato is boiled really soft, but don’t worry about the small bits which will be broken down during the kneading.

Transfer to bread machine/ mixer/ mixing bowl ( if kneading by hand) and add in flour, milk powder, sugar, yeast and egg. Mix till a dough just forms.

Add in the butter and mix some more, until a smooth dough forms where you can stretch it a bit without it breaking. Takes about 7 – 10 min on my mixer.

Cover with cling wrap and allow to proof till more than double in size. 45 min to an hour or so.

On a floured (and very clean) table top, place the dough and knead with floured hands. Dough will be very sticky, so have a few table spoons of flour nearby for flouring your hands.
Divide into 9 portions of about 60g. Knead smaller dough, stretch into a long shape, roll it up, pinch the sides down to form a small round dough.

Place into a greased and floured, 8″ square pan. Allow to proof for 15 – 30 min till more than double in size. I do this inside the oven, not switched on.