If you’re making regular loaves, you can
first sprinkle a little cornmeal on a bak-
ing sheet and drag the loaves through it to
lightly coat the bottom. Place the loaves
into greased or well-seasoned loaf pans.
(For a crackly crust, lightly beat an egg
white with 1 teaspoon water and brush
the crust before baking. Sprinkle on a few
more caraway seeds if desired.)Cover your bread with a proof cover or
greased plastic wrap. Allow it plenty of
time to rise to almost doubled.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 50 min-
utes until a thermometer inserted through
the side registers 190 degrees. Remove the
bread from the pan or baking sheet and
place on a wire rack until it’s completely
cooled before wrapping or cutting.Basic White Potato Bread
My grandmother taught me that when making mashed potatoes,
you should cook one potato per person and one more “for the
pot” — but I usually add more. Sometimes when I see potatoes
starting to sprout in the bin, I’ll go ahead and cook those up and
mash them. Waste not, want not; potatoes make good bread.
Any leftovers go into baggies, approximately 1 cup into each,
and I tuck these into zip-close bags. The night before I plan to
bake, I get out as many baggies of mashed potatoes as the num-
ber of batches of bread I intend to bake. By morning, they’ll be at
room temperature. Yield: 2 loaves in standard 9-by-5-inch pans.
Directions: Set up a mixer with a dough hook. Put 4 cups of the
flour, the salt, and the yeast into the bowl. Always put the salt on
one side and the yeast on the other. Give it a quick stir.
Add the hot water, potatoes, and honey, if using, and stir the
mixture with a spatula to begin incorporating the flour. Turn on
your mixer to the stir setting or #1 for a minute, and then turn it
up to #4 or the knead setting. Machine-knead the dough for 10
to 15 minutes. You’ll see some strands, indicating
the formation of gluten.
Stop the mixer and add the remaining 2 cups of
flour. Again run the mixer on the stir setting as the
flour mixes in, and then run on #4 or the knead
setting for a couple of minutes. The dough should
be coming together. You want a firm but moist
dough. Depending on the humidity, you may need
to add more flour, a tablespoon at a time.
If it seems the dough needs a little help clearing
the side of the bowl, drizzle just a tablespoon or
so of oil down the inside of the bowl. The dough
will then quickly clear the sides of the bowl, and
conveniently, you’ll also have a greased bowl so the dough dumps
out easily.
After it all comes together, transfer the dough into a rising bucket
or bowl. Allow the dough to rise until it’s nicely doubled and puffy.
This could take from^1 ⁄ 2 hour to an hour, or even longer, depending
on the room temperature.
Turn the dough out onto a floured kneading board. Knead several
turns, adding a bit of flour if needed, until the dough is smooth, sat-
iny, and doesn’t stick.
With a bench knife, cut the dough in half, as evenly as you can.
Pat each half out into an oval, about 8 by 10 inches, and then
tightly, stretching it a bit, roll it up into a nice, fat loaf.Pick up a little flour from the board and sprinkle
it on top, if you wish, for a rustic appearance. Put
each loaf into a greased or well-seasoned loaf pan.
Cover the loaves with greased plastic wrap or a
proof cover and allow them to rise until doubled.
While the loaves rise, check them a time or two.
If you see a big bubble on the top, pinch it care-
fully so you won’t have a burned blister on the top
of your bread.
Just before the rise is complete, make a slash or
two with a lame or very sharp knife or razor blade.
Heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake
your loaves for about 50 minutes, until they’re a nice dark-gold
color, and a thermometer inserted through the side reads 190 de-
grees. Turn out the loaves immediately onto a wire rack. Never cut
a loaf until it’s completely cool.
Wrap the loaves well to freeze. I put each loaf or half loaf into a
cheap plastic bag, and then group two loaves into a 2-gallon zip-
close bag. You can reuse zip-close bags several times.
For white-whole-wheat bread: Following the recipe above, substi-
tute 6 cups white-whole-wheat flour for the bread flour, and add(^1) ⁄ 4 cup vital wheat gluten to the ingredients list. Add in the vital
wheat gluten along with the salt and yeast, then proceed with the
recipe directions.
Wendy Akin lives in Terrell, Texas, and
blogs for MOTHER EARTH NEWS about
her state-fair-award-winning pickles,
relishes, preserves, condiments, and
breads. She’s grown and saved crops
on her organic farm and has made and
sold aromatherapy soaps for 25 years.
WWW.MOTHEREARTHNEWS.COM 35
Ingredients
- 6 cups bread flour,
divided, plus more in
reserve - 1 tbsp fine sea salt
- 2 tbsp instant yeast
- 2 cups very hot water
- 1 cup mashed potato
- 1 tbsp honey (optional)
- 1 tbsp oil (optional)
Potato bread: Fotolia/sonyakamoz
ISTOCK/NANCY KENNEDY; PAGE 35: FOTOLIA/SONYAKAMOZ
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