Feeling Kneady

I was doing a little planning ahead today, making some rolls in advance of a meal delivery for Son of Matt and Air In later in the week (3M was born on Christmas Eve), and went back to the November Daring Baker Challenge: potato bread. I love this recipe, in case you couldn’t tell. I’ve already made it a couple of times since the challenge, making more focaccia.

Back in November, though, I saw Glenna’s soft, little buns and was envious. (Be nice!) I made mine larger than hers, my first pan quite a bit larger, but I’m happy to report they had that same wonderful soft texture. Whoohoo! What beats soft buns? 😉 Next time I’ll probably stick to smaller ones.

I’m learning a little here as I make this recipe over and over. I’ve used Fleischmann’s yeast in a jar generally in the past, but my most recent batch before this one used little packets from Hodgson Mill and I liked the smell/flavor better. Everything seems so variable with yeast bread — different temps, humidity, etc affect the results, but I think I need to learn more about the little yeasty beasties themselves. I used to think there was just one variety of beasties for bread and different types for brewing, etc, but it seems like there must be some differences in sources for baking and, apparently, how they go about their impolite business burping in the dough. I welcome information! 🙂