It really bugged me that I am not very good making bread stuff. I mean I can follow a recipe and everything so what do I have such bad luck? With my failure on the sticky buns on Monday, I decided to give it another shot tonight. I really wanted to see if bread with potatoes and 1 cup of honey tasted good or not. I got the honey from someone who’s father in law has bees and you will never get anything fresher than this honey. But I really do have a lot to use so I’m looking for new recipes.
The first thing that I did was to buy the ‘other’ kind of yeast. When I was in the grocery store buying the first packets of yeast I noticed that there was two different kinds. My theory was that the one that said ‘Quick Rise’ would be so much better because it would get done faster and I cut my time in the kitchen down. But now I’m thinking that might just not be the case. So into my grocery basket it went along with a brand new roll of plastic wrap.
And was I successful this time?
Below is the recipe that I used:
INGREDIENTS
2 pkg of Active Dry Yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 to 115 degrees)
1 cup mashed potatoes (no milk or butter added)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter,softened
2 eggs
2 tsp salt
6 to 6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
TOPPING
1/4 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup honey
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped nuts
FILLING
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 Tbsp butter, melted
In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. In a large bowl, combine mashed potatoes, sugar, butter, eggs, salt, yeast mixture and 2 cups of flour; beat on medium speed until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough
Turn dough onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6 to 8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
For topping, in a small saucepan, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar, honey and cinnamon. Divide mixture into 3 greased 9-in round baking pans. (I used 1 9×13 and 1 round pan) Sprinkle with nuts
For filling, in a small bowl, mix sugar and cinnamon. Punch down dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface;divide in half. Roll one portion into an 8×12-in rectangle. Brush with 1 Tbsp melted butter to within 1/2 in of edges; sprinkle with 1/2 of sugar mixture.
Roll up jelly-roll style, starting with a long side; pinch seam to seal. Cut into 12 slices. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. Please slices in pan. Cover with kitchen towels and let rise until doubled. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Bake 30 – 35 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately invert onto serving plates. Or I used parchment paper to put them when they came out of the oven and them put them back into clean pans.
Check them out!
Now what was the lessons that I learned? First of all there must be a difference between Quick Rise Yeast and Active Dry Yeast. Now do I know what it is? I have no clue. But I must have used the right one this time. 
Another thing that I learned is that when you open your plastic wrap (or any other type of wrap) punch the side panels in to hold your wrap in place. I’ve wasted so many feet of plastic wrap and tin foil trying to get some tore off. I usually ended up just ripping a huge piece and half way tearing it with my hands. And believe me, it wasn’t pretty. Now I’m so much smarter. Well, anyway when it comes to plastic wrap that is.
And that usually leftover rolls don’t taste so good warmed up and get thrown away. But I took the first pan to work and we had some left overs with our pan at home. And even though they sat on the counter for over a day, they even tasted better than when they first made! Weird right?
But the final thing that I learned is that I’m not so scared of the whole ‘baking bread’ thing anymore. As long as I get the right yeast! 🙂