I’m not sure how this happens, butevery single Taste & Create event ends up with me baking. This month I was paired with the truthfully-titled Heaven is Chocolate, Cheese, and Carbs, a relatively new food blog featuring a bunch of baked breads and treats. I was really close to making the awesome-sounding Double Chocolate Caramel Brownie Tart that was featured for Pi(e) Day, but decided instead to make something I’d never attempted, a hot, fresh loaf of bread. This particular loaf is a potato bread, one of two (so far) featured on HICCAC. We had a bunch of wheat flour on hand, so we used that instead of regular bread flour. For a first attempt, this was a homerun — the bread was delicious! The recipe makes enough for two loaves, and for my second I made a long free-form loaf, adding freshly chopped rosemary to the dough and sprinkled sea-salt on the outside before baking. Wonderful!

Lisa says:

Whoa, you made bread!

Chris says:

I know, what’s up with that?

Lisa says:

I’m all for it — wow, this is good. Is there anything better than a freshly baked loaf of bread?

Chris says:

The act of eating said loaf?

Lisa says:

True! I like these T&C events, you make things you never would have tried otherwise.

Chris says:

That’s certainly true — wow, that second loaf with the rosemary is awesome.

Lisa says:

I’m taking the pieces with the most salt on the crust. I love it.

Whole Wheat Potato Bread
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2 cups water*
5 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons instant yeast
8 ounces mashed potatoes (8 ounces by weight — about 1 1/4 cup mashed)
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon salt

*You’ll use the water from boiling the potatoes for this.

Peel and cut potatoes and boil for approximately 30 minutes, or until soft enough to mash. Measure out 8 ounces of potatoes, and two cups of water, plus a little more on the side in case you need it. Mash the potatoes in the potato water and allow to cool until approximately 100F. Add the wheat flour and yeast to the potato/water mixture. Add the butter and mix until well combined. Mix in the salt.
Spread the all-purpose flour onto your work surface and begin to knead the dough, adding more flour and water as needed. Work that dough, baby!
Grease a large bowl and put the dough in, greasing the top of the dough. Cover the bowl and let rest for approximately an hour, or until doubled in size. Punch down, cut the dough in half and let rest for a few minutes. Form two loafs and put them in greased loaf pans. Cover and let rise another hour, or until doubled in size.
Preheat oven to 375F.
Cut two or three slits in the top, lightly flour the tops and bake bread approximately 20 minutes. Turn and bake for another 15 minutes* or until tops are golden brown and a thermometer inserted inside reads 200F.

* Note that the loaf in the breadpan actually took about 10 minutes longer than my freeform loaf. If the top of the loaf starts to get too brown and the inside isn’t done, you can make a foil “tent” to cover the top of your loaf while it cooks through.

Makes 2 Loaves