What is Potato Bread?
Potato bread is essentially wheat bread with a mashed potato worked into the dough. It has the most wonderful crust. And the light, but firm, structure with generous craggly holes make for the most fantastic toast. (All those nooks and crannies? Perfect butter and jam receptacles.) With all of the artisan breads available at the markets these days it’s a wonder anyone makes their own bread anymore. But I have yet to find freshly baked potato bread at the market, and making it at home is easy, especially if you have a mixer or bread machine. I recently came across a basic recipe for potato bread (called Hot Loaf) in MK Fisher’s classic How to Cook a Wolf, written during WWII with essays on keeping the wolves of hunger at bay when food and money are scarce. The recipe gave some basic guidelines, but left some things completely open to interpretation, like the amount of dough, “sift in enough flour to make the dough soft and workable…” and the baking temperature, “bake in a moderate oven until a fine golden crust is formed.” So, I’ve gathered advice from other recipes (here’s a good one from the fine folks at King Arthur) to come up with more specific instructions. That said, bread making really is an art that improves with practice. This recipe is flexible and forgiving, so it’s a good one to try if you are just starting your home breadmaking adventures.
Leftover mashed potatoes Potato flakes: they should be rehydrated, enough to yield 3/4 to one cup of mashed potatoesPrepared ready-to-heat mashed potatoes from the storeOther types of potatoes besides russet, such as Yukon Golds; since other potatoes are waxier than russets, you may need to add a bit more flour to the dough
Can This Recipe Be Kneaded by Hand?
Yes! If you don’t have a stand mixer or bread machine, you can certainly knead the dough by hand. But remember, the dough should still be a bit tacky but not too sticky. So, be careful not to add too much flour.
Other Flours for Potato Bread
Potato bread is usually made with regular all-purpose white flour. This bread relies on gluten; unfortunately, this recipe will not work with gluten-free flours. Some other flours you may try (we suggest a 50/50 blend with all-purpose or bread flour):
Whole wheat flour or white whole wheat flourEikorn flourSpelt
How to Store and Freeze Potato Bread
To store baked bread, double wrap the cooled loaves in plastic film or aluminum foil. Then, place in freezer-safe, zip-top bags. Frozen bread will keep for about 6 months. Remove from the freezer and let thaw to room temperature while still wrapped. It’s best to not store bread in the refrigerator, since the fridge tends to dry out bread loaves.
More Easy Homemade Bread Recipes
No Knead Bread Homemade Pizza Irish Soda Bread Whole Wheat Bread Banana Bread
This recipe calls for 8 x 4-inch baking pans. If you bake the loaves in standard 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch pans, your loaves will likely take less time to bake. The easiest way to cook the potato is to poke it all over with the tines of a fork and microwave it on high, 4 minutes on one side, and 4 minutes on the other side. Let it cool. Then, peel and mash it with a fork. Or, you can boil the potato. Peel the potato, cut it into large chunks, cover it with water in a pot, bring to a simmer, and cook for 10 minutes or so until a fork easily goes through the potato, drain, cool, and mash. (You can save the water the potato was cooked in and use it for part or all of the liquid in the recipe.) Pour into the mixing bowl of a stand mixer (or just a large bowl if you don’t have a mixer), and let cool until it is still warm, but not too hot to touch. (If the mixture is too hot—over 130°F—it will kill the yeast in the next step.) (If you are using a bread machine, put the milk potato mixture, the yeast, and all of the flour into the bread machine and knead for 8 minutes. Skip the next step and proceed to Step 5.) Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a dampened towel (to prevent the dough from drying out). Place in a warm spot for 2 hours or in the refrigerator overnight. The dough should at least double in size. You’ll know when it has risen sufficiently when you press into the top with your fingertip and the indentation remains for awhile. Rub a little olive oil inside of two 8- x 4-inch loaf pans. Place a dough half in each and press the dough into the bottom of the pans. TIP: Our tester, Bryce, likes to remove the warm, just-baked loaves from the pans and put them back in the hot oven for 5 minutes to firm up the sides with direct heat.
