Soft Thanksgiving Dinner Rolls| Garlic Parmesan Pull Apart Rolls

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I am proud to partner with the Idaho® Potato Commission to bring you this recipe for Thanksgiving dinner rolls, also known as Garlic Parmesan Pull Apart Rolls.

You Want The Softest Rolls? Add Idaho® Potatoes

Because of the potato’s high starch content, yeast loves it.

I can practically hear the yeasties salivating as I tip them into their dinner bowl full of complex carbohydrates they can happily break down into sugar and alcohol, all the while merrily burbling out carbon dioxide.

And with so many yeasties eating so much delicious food and, um outgassing, so much carbon dioxide, dough made with potatoes or even just the water from cooking potatoes rises relatively quickly to dazzling heights.

Potatoes also have the most desirable ability to keep breads soft and fresh for several days.

How do they work this magic?

When you cook a starchy Idaho potato such as a russet, all the starch granules swell up with moisture like little sponges. That’s called gelatinization.

In this instance, gelatinization has nothing to do with actual gelatin and everything to do with the way starches behave when heated. And the cool thing about gelatinization is that, unlike sponges that dry back out, starch granules hold onto their moisture for days. And it is this ability to hold onto moisture that keeps breads baked with potatoes so soft and fresh for a relatively long period of time.

It seems like magic, but it’s just delicious science.

Are These Hard to Make?

Can you boil a potato?

Do you have a kitchen scale and a stand mixer?

Then you can make these rolls. Seriously, friends. The recipe is a matter of boiling potatoes and drying them out on the stove for just a bit, and then mixing them together with the other ingredients.

The recipe even tells you what order to add everything. I do recommend using a stand mixer for these rolls.

The soft dough needs a good 10 minutes of machine kneading, and that translates into maybe 20 minutes–at least–of hand kneading.

Also, for consistency’s sake as well as ease of measuring, I list all my ingredients by weight (except for teaspoons or tablespoons), so to succeed with my recipes and to standardize your own recipes, a kitchen scale is pretty necessary.

Is There Any Way I Can Mess Up This Dinner Roll Recipe?

The biggest thing that can happen is that you use a pan that is too small for the amount of dough you have. And then what happens is that the rolls will mushroom over the top of the pan a bit and just sort of look crowded and funny.

They will still taste great, and when pulled apart, you’ll have skinny, tall, soft, fragrant rolls.

If you don’t mind some odd-shaped rolls and are good with calling them “rustic,” you can bake them in a 10″ round pan.

If you prefer squared off, more regularly shaped rolls like the ones in these photos, bake in a straight-sided 9 x 13-inch baking pan.

You can also run the risk of underbaking your rolls. Since they’re full of potatoes and oil, they’re not going to give you a “hollow thumping sound” so you’ll know they’re done. Do what I do and rely on an instant read thermometer. You’re looking for a temperature of 195-200F.

How Long Does It Take To Make Them?

Let’s see.

• About 15 minutes to boil the potatoes and 5 minutes to dry them out.
• During that time, you can get out and weigh the rest of your ingredients. Then it’ll take a minute to put everything together, 11-12 minutes of mixing/kneading, about an hour or so of rising.
• Then you’ll scale and shape the rolls, let them rise again for 30-40 minutes and bake.

What is that total? Maybe 2 hours, start to finish.

NOTE: You can refrigerate the dough overnight for the first rise or shape the rolls and refrigerate them overnight for the second rise.

The schedule is up to you. Be the boss of yeast and, if the timing isn’t working out for you, put it to sleep by refrigerating it. It’ll work way more slowly in the fridge and then perk back up once it warms back up. Nice!

I buy my yeast in bulk, and it just lives in the fridge until I need it.

Freezing

Yes! One of the wonderful properties of homemade rolls–or any bread, really–is that it freezes and thaws beautifully.

What I like to do is allow my rolls to cool completely and then place them in zip top freezer bags, pressing out most of the air without squishing my rolls.

When I want to thaw them, I take out what I need and either thaw in the microwave for a few seconds or allow them to come to room temperature slowly on the counter.

You can then wrap them in foil and heat for about 10 minutes at 350F for just-baked flavor.

I know you have a burning question: Are these really the best rolls for Thanksgiving? Yes. Yes, they are.

The Beloved and I have been plowing through them like it’s our job, and I can’t wait to make these again and again. And yes, to serve them at our Thanksgiving dinner. Enjoy!

A Note About Measurements

NOTE: Most of my recipes are written by weight and not volume, even the liquids.

Even though I try to provide you with volume measurements as well, I encourage you to buy a kitchen scale for ease of measuring, accuracy, and consistency.

This is the scale I use, love, and recommend.

Thanks again to the Idaho® Potato Commission for sponsoring this post. And thank you guys for supporting the brands with whom I work.

Thank you for spending some time with me today. Take care, and have a lovely day.

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