Lunch & Dinner

Irish Potato Farls

4-6 servings
Irish potato farls - wedges of mashed-potato-laden dough, browned and toasty. Black plate and black table. Chopped parsley garnish.

Potatoes can play a role in your rolls, or other bready goodies like biscuits.

This simple recipe takes you from start to finish, and it’s also a great way to use up leftover mashed potatoes. Flavor-wise, a blank slate for you to get creative with, or use ’em as a vehicle for other things. Swap out some of the potatoes for sweet potatoes if you’d like. 

Ingredients

  • 4 medium potatoes, peeled/quartered 
  • ¼ – ½ cup all-purpose flour plus more for dusting 
  • ¼ tsp baking powder 
  • 2 Tbsp buttermilk 
  • 1 Tbsp melted unsalted butter (veganized ok too!), plus more butter for cooking/serving
  • Pinches of salt 
  • Olive oil, for cooking 

Directions

  1. Add potatoes to a large pot of cold water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a hard simmer. Cook until tender, cooked through, about 20 minutes. Put potatoes in a colander to drain and cool.  
  2. Once potatoes are cool enough to handle, use a potato ricer or masher to get lump-free taters. 
  3. Put potatoes and other ingredients in a mixing bowl. Mix using a spoon until everything comes together and it’s difficult to keep mixing. Continue mixing with your hands, adding a more flour if dough is too sticky to handle. 
  4. Remove dough from bowl and knead briefly on a floured surface until smooth. Add more flour if dough is still tacky. This dough is on the sticky side but should be ok to handle with floured hands. 
  5. Divide dough into four equal balls. One at a time, place a ball on a lightly floured surface and roll out with a lightly-floured rolling pin until about ¼ inch thick. 
  6. Cut rolled dough into quarters., or cook as a whole piece if you have a pan big enough. 
  7. To an iron skillet or non-stick pan over medium heat, add a little butter and olive oil and once melted, add a piece of dough to the pan. Fry on one side until golden and bread feels firm and set, then turn over. This can take several minutes. Once other side is golden and bread cooked through, remove from pan. Place cooked bread on a tray in the oven set at low heat, to keep warm. Cover with foil to keep from drying out. Repeat. 
  8. Serve with butter.