For these brown sugar yeast rolls, I adapted the filling recipe from the Nazook I made a couple of years ago, replacing the white sugar with dark brown sugar for a rich, molasses flavour. I swear, this batch of 16 scrolls were gone in a matter of hours. I think I found the key to M’s sweet tooth with these 😉  Soooooo much brown sugar, and the tops become crisp for a fantastic textural contrast. I am well and truly convinced that adding mashed potato to a yeast dough makes a huge impact on texture – the rolls turn out so fluffy soft and shreddy. I really dislike that thing where you bite into a sweet roll and it ends up chewy and hard in your mouth as you chew – it should melt. These melt 🙂

Makes 16

Dough

500g (4 scant cups) all-purpose (plain) flour
1 x 7g sachet (2 1/4 tsp) instant dry yeast
60g (1/4 cup, packed) dark brown (muscovado) sugar
1 tsp salt
100g (7 tbsp) unsalted butter, room temperature
125ml (1/2 cup + 1 tsp) milk, room temperature
200g (1 cup) mashed potato, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature

Filling

125g (1 scant cup) all-purpose (plain) flour, sifted
325g (1 1/2 cups, packed) dark brown (muscovado) sugar
170g (3/4 cup, 1 1/2 sticks)) butter, room temperature

1 egg, lightly beaten together with 1 tsp water for wash

Dough

In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together flour, yeast, sugar and salt, then rub in butter with your fingertips until it has the texture of soft breadcrumbs.

In a small bowl, whisk the milk, mashed potato and eggs together and add to the dry mixture, stirring to combine.

Either fit the mixer with a dough hook or turn dough out onto a clean work surface and knead until soft and elastic.

Transfer dough to a large buttered bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise until doubled in size, about an hour, up to two, depending on ambient temperature.

Filling and baking

Put the flour, brown sugar and butter in a medium bowl and mix with a fork until it looks like wet sand.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll it out to a rectangle about 30 x 50cm (12 x 20″).

Sprinkle the dough evenly with the filling.

Roll the dough from the long edge into a tight log, seam-side down, then cut crosswise into 16 equal pieces.

Arrange the rolls cut-side-up on the baking sheet, leaving about 2cm (about 1”) between them.

Cover rolls loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rise for about one hour, or until puffed and jostling for space in the pan.

Preheat the oven to 180°C (360°F).

Brush rolls with egg wash and bake in centre of oven for about 30 minutes, until deep golden brown.

Remove rolls to a wire rack to cool.