Martin's Potato Rolls (Recreating Supermarket Bread)

Hey guys,

Some of you will probably hate me for this, but I would like to gain some insight into creating store bought, commercial bread (specifically Martin's Potato Rolls).

I have made various artisan breads in the past, and I absolutely love artisan-style baking. I actually kind of despise store bought bread, and the chemicals they use, but I want to recreate Martin's Potato Rolls specifically for burgers. An artisan bun seems to overwhelm the burger itself, and most people in the world agree that a Martin's Potato Roll is the best burger bun.

I could go to the store and buy it myself, but I live in the UK, which means I cannot obtain it. All the other supermarket buns here are also terrible, so my last resort is attempting to make it myself.

Hopefully someone here could give me an insight into how commercial/supermarket bread is made, especially in the US. I know they use dough conditioners and special ingredients to create the soft texture, but I've experimented with these ingredients and I cannot seem to get the right squidgy texture, there must be something I'm missing.

Literally any help at all would be appreciated!

(Just want to iterate again that I PREFER artisan bread, I just want to recreate the supermarket bread for burgers only).

Thanks guys,

Hi, ckrhodes!

Use the search feature for Wonder Bread. It's a very widely available supermarket brand in the states (and oft derided). It has everything you're looking for... soft, chewy, squishy... reminds you of when you were a kid making ketchup (catsup?) sandwiches.

Murph

Here are the ingredients according to a Google search:

Ingredients

Unbleached Enriched Wheat Flour (Flour, Ferrous Sulfate, Niacin, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Nonfat Milk, Reconstituted Potatoes (from Potato Flour), Yeast, Sugar, Wheat Gluten, Sunflower Oil, Contains 2 Percent or Less of Each of the Following: Salt, Butter, Sunflower Lecithin, Dough Conditioners (Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Monoglycerides and Diglycerides and Ethoxylated Monoglycerides and Diglycerides), Monocalcium Phosphate, Calcium Propionate (a Preservative), Guar Gum, Ascorbic Acid, DATEM, Calcium Sulfate, Enzymes, Turmeric Color, Annatto Color, Sesame Seeds.

Good luck re-creating that!

You can make these by using milk and butter (or traditionally lard). Potato starch will soften the crumb even more, but I never use it. Soy flour acts as a fat too and will soften the crumb. You don't need much (I'm told - never used it)

My "go-to" recipe for "Brioche" burger buns also has a little bit of sugar in it & sesame on-top - see Bertinets book for Pain Viennoise but with 10th the sugar. (plain old yeast, not sourdough)

-Gordon

I've been interested in recreating something similar to a Martin's Potato Roll as well, BBQ season and it's time to get some Burger's and Dogs on some nice bread. I'm also in the UK and if you'd like we could work together to recreate something with UK products. Looks like Serious Eats did a fairly exhaustive breakdown of burger buns that could be a wealth of information about desired characteristics: http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2011/04/the-burger-lab-whats-the-best-bun-for-my-burger-taste-test.html

So far I've made about 5 different batches testing different things and still not close. If you want to share expertise and help each other to try and recreate a recipe I'm all up for that!

Sent you a PM. :)

For some reason I can't view or send messages on here.

EDIT: I've got it sorted now.

Can i join the secret society? would very much like to make something similar aswell :)

Hi, create the martins potato roll? I search this

What have you got for recreating it? I did not try yet but will try Mark Sinclair's Potato Roll Recipe (excerpt from Bread Magazine, Issue 17, Page 18), full magazine also available.

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/32954/potato-rolls-video

Mark makes great videos. I learn a lot from just watching how he handles things.

The trick to making soft rolls is to develop the starch with adequate hydration and kneading. You want a good windowpane. You do NOT need extra gluten from bread flour or VWG-that will make them tough. Using a tangzhong method would work very well. Just enter it into the search box if you are not familiar. Also search "fluffy bread". Hokkaido Milk bread with tang zhong would be excellent, as would Lazy Man's Brioche but those are pretty rich compared to the potato roll.

Have delicious fun!

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/32954/potato-rolls-video

Try this.

I'm not re-typing the post. This hasn't happened in a while.

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/slider-buns

there's a hawaiian bun recipe there too.

You will find all kinds of potato rolls baked by Fresh Lofians with the recipes and critiques.

Generally speaking you want to use a good AP flour, some sugar butter and milk (I use NFDMP so I don't have to scald fresh milk) Norally they aren't SD but I like SD enriched rolls better.

These rolls are easy to make just remember they require intensive mixing in order to produce the crumb you want - soft moist and shreddible.

Happy baking

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXhSEOEVKOc

Here is a link to Mark Sinclair's Potato Rolls Video. I have used his recipe, it is at the end of the video to make outstanding potato bread and rolls. I love it for hamburger buns. It turns out this that this recipe is very similar to a potato bread recipe from a Betty Crocker Cookbook from the 1960's.

This is one of my "standard" breads.