These easy cheese rolls are made light and flavorful with the addition of 1/2 cup of Idahoan® Mashed Potatoes. I used the Loaded Baked Potato flavor, but you can use any flavor you'd like. Cheese buns are very easy to make, rise relatively quickly (so they aren't a huge time commitment), and your family will absolutely love them. And thanks to the potatoes, they stay fresh for several days. Nice!
2.5ozabout ½ cup Idahoan® Loaded Baked Mashed Potatoes (or your favorite flavor)
1large egg
1teaspoonsalt
4ozsharp cheddar cheeseshredded (for best results, shred your own cheese)
20ozabout 4-4 ½ cups all purpose flour (I used King Arthur)
2teaspoonsinstant yeast
To Finish
1.5oz3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Instructions
Put the milk and butter in a microwave safe measuring cup and heat until the butter has melted and the milk is hot but not boiling, about 1 minute. Stir well to make sure all the butter melts.
Pour the dry Idahoan® Mashed Potatoes into the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook.
Add the milk/butter mixture, the egg, and the salt.
Whisk or stir well to combine. Mixture will be very soupy.
Add the shredded cheese to the bowl and top with all the flour.
Spoon the yeast on top.
Mix on low speed until a shaggy dough forms.
Kneading, Rising, and Shaping
Increase speed to medium and knead for 7-8 minutes, until the dough is smooth and shiny and very extensible.
Shape the dough into a ball and place it back into the mixer bowl.
Spray the exposed surface of the dough with pan spray or brush with neutral oil.
Cover the dough with a lint-free kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place for 1 to 1 ½ hours until doubled in bulk.
Press the gases out of the dough and then turn it out onto a clean work surface.
Portion the dough into 18 equal balls. If you have a scale, they should each weigh between 2.4-2.5 oz apiece.
Press each scaled piece of dough into a disc and then gather up all the edges into the center, making a small ball. Place the ball, smooth side up, on the work surface and cup your hands around it, pushing it around in small circles on the counter and using that friction to tighten up the outside and make them nice and smooth. This will help the crumb to be more uniform and help them to rise more evenly.
Place the shaped rolls into a sprayed 9”x 13” pan in 3 rows of 6. The rolls in each row will touch but each “column” of rolls may not. That’s okay.
Spray the rolls with pan spray, cover with a lint-free kitchen towel, and let rise in a warm place until almost doubled in bulk again, about 45 minutes to an hour. After about 30 minutes, preheat the oven to 350F.
Bake the rolls for 25-35 minutes, until the rolls are lightly golden brown on the tops and the internal temperature reaches 195-200F. Since there is no added sugar in this recipe, the rolls will not brown as deeply as rolls with additional sugars in the dough.
To Finish:
Remove the pan of rolls from the oven and immediately brush the tops with the melted butter.
Allow the rolls to cool for 10 minutes in the pan and then use a spatula to help you slide them out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
Reheat to serve, either wrapped in foil in the oven for 10-15 minutes at 350F or for a few seconds in the microwave.
Store rolls at room temperature, covered, for 3 days.
For longer storage, place in zip top freezer bags and press out as much air as you can before sealing and freezing.
Notes
To Spread the Work Over Two Days
You can break up the work over 2 days if you like. After you knead the dough and then shape it into a smooth ball, you can put it in the fridge overnight.The next day, scale out the dough into 18 rolls, pan them up and let them rise until almost doubled. It will most likely take a bit longer since they'll be cold from the fridge, so plan on maybe 2 hours before baking.You could also let the dough rise the first time, press out the gases, shape and pan the rolls and then refrigerate them, taking them out of the fridge about an hour before baking.To Store the RollsThanks to the potatoes, the rolls will stay nice and soft at room temperature for 3 days or so. I keep them in a plastic