Potatoes have been used in bakery for many decades. Probably even centuries. One of my strongest, and earliest, memories of such a use of the potato was back when I was about 9 years old, and we were studying the world war 2 diet. The whole class was made to try scones (which, by the way, were delicious), and then were made to guess the ingredients. And, you guessed it, they contained potatoes.
This, of course, inspired me to invent the following recipe. Of course, by invent, I do not mean to say that this idea has not been thought of by others, but merely to say that I have come up with the idea using my own experimentation in the kitchen.
These are fantastic in a stew, or as bread rolls in their own right. In fact, these may even work as a pizza base if you put enough flour in! For extra flavour, add some chopped fresh parsley. For even more, add a small pinch of thyme and a crushed juniper berry.
So, Vicky's Potato Dumplings.
2 - 3 medium sized potatoes. (alternatively, 1 large potato, or 5-6 small potatoes.) Any variety will do, but I use tesco value 'tats, which do the job perfectly well.
1 knob of butter
Roughly 1/3 of a 500g bag of self raising flour. This varies entirely on how much mashed potato you use. You may find that you need less, or more. Use your intuition.
Boil up the potatoes until they are very soft. Drain them.
Mash them with a knob of butter. Add a pinch of salt.
Scrape the mashed potato into a mixing bowl and gradually stir in the flour, until you can no longer stir it. At this point knead in more flour until you get a nice tough dough that doesn't stick to your fingers.
At this point the cooking of this dough is entirely subjective. If added to a stew, just roll them up, chuck them in and leave them there until the stew is cooked.
If you want to make your bread roll type things, roll pieces of it into balls, put them on a tray and stick them in the oven at 200 C for half an hour. If they're not ready, leave them in for 10 more minutes. If they're still not ready, see the sentence before. Any more, and you can pretty much guarantee they're done!
Serve the potato dumpling rolls hot with a small amount of butter - delicious!
Warning, these are filling, but delicous. If you find yourself polishing off too many, I would certainly advise a trip to the gym the following day! :-)
