On 12/05/2013 07:31 AM, Steve Freides wrote:
> With the understanding that I'm not much of a baker, what makes a
> snowflake roll different than plain old white bread? And, if you don't
> mind, is there any way to make them, or similar, without the usual
> rise/proof/etc of regular bread dough?
>
> I ask because I frequent the day-old shelf at my local Stop 'n' Shop,
> and yesterday they had store-baked snowflake rolls; a package of a dozen
> was regularly $5.00 and these were $2.50. They didn't even last a
> single evening in our house because my 17-year-old and I ate the entire
> package. I used 4 of them to make "sliders" out of leftovers - 2 pulled
> pork, 2 tuna salad and cheese - and had the last one with a big slab of
> butter in the middle as a 9 PM snack. Our son had similar - hamburger
> sliders and just eating them out of the package at 9 PM. (You know how
> 17-year-olds can be - he had two dinners yesterday.)
>
> So, I know I'm asking the impossible because I'm sure part of what makes
> them tastes good is that they're made with yeast and allowed to rise -
> at least that's my assumption.
>
> Thanks in advance for any education and for recipes. Ideally, I'll sub
> out whatever normal flour and make a gluten-free version my wife can
> eat, too.
>
> -S-
>
>
What draws my attention in the recipe that was posted is the significant
amount of potatoes. This puts it squarely in the Potato Dinner Roll
category, known for their softness. A quick Google search for potato
"dinner roll" shows recipes at Fleischmann's yeast and Red Star yeast
sites among many others. All very, very similar, with a few differences
-- water or buttermilk instead of milk, 1 or no eggs. All have potatoes
in them -- mashed, dried, flakes, buds, whatever.

The milk, butter and eggs give the bread richness. The potato gives it
softness.