Refrigerator Dough

I am surprised that you can’t find a recipe for this easy way to have fresh bread anymore in modern cookbooks. It used to be a staple for just about every kitchen. My recipe comes from my old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook which belonged to my mother. I think it was printed sometime in the 1940’s.

Anyway, refrigerator dough is a great way to use up a bit of leftover mashed potatoes. They make the dough moist. You make up the dough in the evening and it’s ready to go by morning. You can store it your fridge for up to 7 days. The bread comes out fluffy and slightly sweet, and the dough is versatile to make dinner rolls, pizza crust, cinnamon rolls, croissants and even donuts.

I’ve been known to make extra mashed potatoes for supper just so I’ll have some of this wonderful dough for the next day.

REFRIGERATOR DOUGH

1 cup of scalded milk

1 cup hot mashed potatoes

1/2 cup of butter or shortening

1/4 cup of sugar

2 tsp salt

1 tbsp. dry yeast (or one package)

1/2 cup lukewarm water

2 beaten eggs

5 - 6 cups of flour

Mix yeast, water and eggs together in a 2 cup measuring cup.

Mix the milk, potato, sugar, salt and butter (or shortening) in a large mixing bowl and then let stand until lukewarm. Add yeast mixture and 1 1/2 cups of the flour and beat well.

Cover and let stand in a warm place for one hour or until it’s full of bubbles.

Stir in 3 1/4 to 4 1/2 cups of flour until you have a stiff dough. Knead until smooth on a lightly floured surface or knead with a dough hook for 2 minutes. 

Put into greased mixing bowl, grease top of dough, cover and put in the fridge for at least 8 hours (overnight).

To make dinner rolls, shape into buns and place on greased cookie sheet. Let rise for an hour or until doubled in size. Bake in hot oven 425F for 15 - 20 minutes. This recipe makes about 3 dozen dinner rolls. (If you don’t want to use all your dough at the same time, punch your unused dough back down and return it to the fridge.)

To make cinnamon rolls, roll out the dough to a rectangle shape butter the top well. Then spread a mixture of brown sugar, cinnamon and raisins and roll up the dough . Cut the rolled dough into 1” slices and lay out on a greased cookie sheet. Let rise for one hour and then bake.

To make croissants, roll the dough into a circle, then cut into 16 wedges. Starting from the large side of the wedge, roll up and place on greased cookie sheet. Brush tops with melted butter and let rise for one hour, then bake.

To make donuts, roll out the dough, then cut out circles with a cookie cutter. Let rise for one hour, then fry in hot oil until golden brown. Shake each donut in a brown paper bag filled with sugar (and cinnamon if you prefer)