Ingredients
- 1 cup whole milk, scalded
- 0.66 cup sugar
- 0.66 cup vegetable shortening
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 cup mashed potatoes (mash them with some of their cooking water—they should be kind of soupy)
- 1 (¼-ounce) envelope active dry yeast
- ½ cup lukewarm water (about 110°)
- 2 large eggs (if you’d like a lighter roll, separate the eggs and use only the whites), well beaten
- 5½ cups all-purpose flour Butter
How to Make It
- In a large bowl, combine the scalded milk, sugar, shortening, salt, and mashed potatoes until well mixed. In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water.
- When the milk has cooled to lukewarm, add the eggs, dissolved yeast, and enough of the flour to make a soft dough.
- Put the dough in a bowl greased with butter. Grease the top of the dough. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight or up to 2 days.
- Using your hands, form the rolls to be about 2 inches in diameter and about 1 inch high, then place them about 1 inch apart on a Lodge 14-inch cast iron round baking pan. Let them rise, uncovered, until doubled in size, about 1 hour. (You can also freeze the rolls once formed. If you do, let them thaw at room temperature for 3 hours before baking.)
- Preheat the oven to 400°. Bake the rolls until golden brown on top, about 20 minutes.