Potato Bread

Good good good good bread.



300g cold or warm boiled potatoes
700-800g strong white flour
1tbsp salt
7g (1 sachet) easy blend yeast, or 15g fresh yeast
1tbsp Greek yogurt
300ml tepid potato water

Press the potatoes through a ricer, or mash them in the bowl, and add 600g of the flour together with the salt and the yeast. Mix together, adding the yogurt and then the water slowly. When it’s almost dough, tip it out onto a floured surface, begin kneading and add more flour as you need it.
This may need to be kneaded for longer then a regular bread. When it’s ready make it into a ball and put it in a buttered bowl, turning it over once to coat it. Cover with cling film and leave in a cold place over night, or in a warm place for an hour or so.
When it has doubled, punch it down, knead it for a minute, form it into a loaf and sit it on a baking sheet, loosely covered for 30 minutes, while preheating the oven to 220c.
When it’s puffy and almost doubled in size bake for 20 minutes, turn the temperature down to 190c and bake for another 10 minutes. Test by tapping on the bottom, it should sound hollow.

This was another Nigella Lawson bread from "How to be a Domestic Gddess".

Potato bread has a really aggressive dough. It fought me the whole way through. I had to knead it longer, and even though it was white flour, the kneading was tough, muscle building type work. In the end though, it was absolutely and completely worth it. Potato bread has such a wonderful texture. It's beautifully soft and light, while at the same time being kind of chewy. Seriously, unless there is another potato famine, I don't see the need to ever make a regular loaf of white bread again.