Taters, Precious: Potato Bread is a tasty, soft loaf

I have had potato bread before, but mostly in the form of bagged rolls at a pot luck dinner. They're soft and taste slightly of tater flakes.

This morning, I made a couple of loaves from scratch. Let me tell y'all, those bagged rolls have absolutely nothing on the bread you can make at home. 

Fresh from the oven and slathered in butter, it tastes almost like mashed potatoes. When it has cooled, you can still taste the potatoes strongly with each bite.

The potato starch gives the bread an added softness you won't find in plain wheat flour breads. It's like biting into a cloud formed by the chemical interactions between the wheat starches and the potato starches. (Or, if you don't believe in science, at least you can understand the baking magic that makes it all possible!)

Potato starch is also works with the yeast so that the rising time is sped up. (In my last experiment with this bread, it was quite warm in my house. The already rapid rise time was sped up by the summery conditions. The 2 hour rising time was cut down to half an hour!) Keep an eye on your rising loaves lest they overtop the rising bowl.

I've also found that the potato starches keep the bread fresh and soft for longer than other breads.

Potato Bread

Makes 2 loaves

• 1 large white potato (a little less than a pound is best)
• 2 cups of milk
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 1teaspoon of sugar
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 1/4 teaspoons of instant yeast
• 5 cups of all purpose flour

1. Peel the potato, cut it into chunks and put the chunks into a pot of water.
2. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Check for doneness by poking with a fork. When the fork goes through easily, they are done.
3. Drain, the potatoes. Cool and mash them.
4. Put the milk into a pot with the sugar and salt and heat until bubbles begin to form around the edge.
5. Remove it from the heat and stir to make sure the salt and sugar are desolved. Add in the oil and the mashed potatoes.
6. Pour it into the bowl of a mixer and let it cool. It should still be warm for the next step. If it's too hot, the yeast will not work as well.
7. Add in the yeast and 2 cups of flour. Mix at medium speed for 4 minutes. It should be pretty smooth at this point.
8. Add the remaining 3 cups of flour and mix at medium speed for another 8 minutes. Now it will be very smooth.
9. Put the dough in a large bowl that has been coated with a bit of olive oil. Rub a little olive oil on the top of the dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap (I use a clear shower cap that can be washed and used again and again).
10. Let it rise in a warm spot until doubled in size (30 minutes to 2 hours). You'll know it's ready when you can poke at it and the indent remains.
11. Punch down the dough and knead it a few times on a lightly-floured work surface.
12. Cut the dough in half and put the halves in a pair of oiled 8" by 4" loaf pans.
13. Put some more oil on the top of each loaf and voer the pans with plastic wrap. 
14. Put the pans in a warm spot to rise for another hour or so - until the loaves have doubled again.
15. While the loaves are rising, put the oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350°F.
16. Bake the bread for 35 minutes or until the loaves are a golden brown.
17. When the loaves are done, take them out of the oven and let them sit for about 10 minutes before turning them out onto a cooling rack.
18. Wait until they have cooled completely before you slice them.

Watch that ball of dough...

It can rise quickly