My bread experiments have been leaning decidedly toward the cozy variety lately. I call them comfort bread. Sticky cinnamon rolls and soft rolls all seem to be a hit during these cold days; not so good, the crispy baguettes of summer picnics. One of the most important characteristics of a good comfort bread is how soft it is and how long it stays that way. If you want an easy way to add some extra squish to your bread, reach for your instant potato flakes.

Just as gluten is responsible for the elasticity and toughness of bread, starch can be responsible for a soft, tender loaf. Increasing the starch content can improve the hydration of dough without weighing it down. I recently wrote about the extraordinary gelatinization benefits that tangzhong can bring to bread recipes. This is a technique that increases starch and captures water via gelatinization when a small mixture of water and flour is cooked on the stovetop. Instant potato flakes are a step in this direction of increasing starch (in this case, potato starch) without the need for pre-cooking anything. It’s like a fake tangzhong.

Normally, if you want a soft roll, you don’t use a recipe for a chewy, lean loaf. Adding potato flakes to that is like putting a scarf on your bathing suit—you’re not really getting what you want. Instead, add instant potato flakes to any basic or soft bread dough that you want to add a little extra softness to. Think sandwich bread, rolls, or doughs enriched with eggs, butter, and sugar.

You can start your experiment with a recipe that already has the ingredient, like my no-knead dinner rolls , or add it to an existing recipe that doesn’t use it. For bread recipes that call for about three cups of flour, add a quarter cup of instant potato flakes. Since the purpose of the starch is to hold extra water and increase the overall hydration of your dough, add three tablespoons of water to the recipe’s liquid measure as well. Add the potato flakes to the liquid after the yeast has first bloomed.