Rustic Potato Loaves

These rustic potato loaves is made from a dough that is half flour and half potatoes. When they are baking, your house will smell like baked potatoes.

The dough for this bread is so unusual and interesting to work with. First, the dough seems to come together pretty quickly, and then it seems to fall apart in your mixer before it comes back together into a a cohesive dough.

How to make this dough:

Take equal parts mashed potatoes and flour, mix them together with some yeast, a little water, and a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Then beat the heck out of the dough for 11 (not 10, not 12) minutes.

Don't pay attention to how the dough feels. Don't worry about the weather, the room temperature, or the humidity. Forget everything you thought you knew about baking bread and the "feel" of the dough.

This all goes against my bread baking intuition. Except... it works.

The first time I made this bread, I used all russet potatoes. This time, because I had a lot of small Dutch baby potatoes, I used two-thirds russets and one-third Dutch babies. The Dutch babies (which are like Yukon Golds) added a slightly yellow color to the bread.

The dough gets most of its moisture from the potatoes, plus 1/2 cup of the water from boiling the potatoes. It's important to let the potatoes dry a bit before mashing them and adding them to the flour. After draining the potatoes, I return them to the pot and turn on the heat to cook off extra moisture before mashing them, peel and all.

This dough only requires a 20 to 30 minute first rise, and a 20 minute second rise after shaping. Don't worry about the dough doubling. Just go with the time stated in the recipe.

To shape this dough, you flatten it, roll it up, and place it seam side down on a floured tea towel. To bake it, you flip it over, seam side up, so that the bread can open naturally into its rustic shape.

Because the slices are a bit oddly shaped, they aren't the best for sandwiches, but they sure make excellent garlic cheese bread. They are also delicious dipped in sauces and gravies.

How to store this bread:

This bread can be stored at room temperature for about two days. After that, you can slice and freeze the bread, taking out slices as you need them. You can also tightly wrap and freeze whole loaves, and then let them thaw, still wrapped, at room temperature.

These are crusty rustic loaves with a super soft interior. The recipe involves a baking stone, steam, and all of that business, which is how you get such a crunch crust. If you don't have a baking stone, you can easily use a baking sheet.

For the steam, I used a few ice cubes in broiler pan, along with a spray bottle to spray the walls of the oven. I once took a sourdough class, and the baker actually used a Super Soaker for steam!

This week, the From Our Dinner Table theme is positively perfect potatoes. Check out everyone's recipes using potatoes.

Positively Perfect Potatoes

• Cajun Potato Salad by That Recipe
• Dutch Farm Salad by Art of Natural Living
• Greek Potatoes by Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes by Palatable Pastime
• JoJo Potato Wedges by Making Miracles
• Oven Roasted Breakfast Potatoes by Blogghetti
• Pizza Style Baked Potatoes by Cindy's Recipes and Writings
• Twice Baked Potatoes by Family Around the Table

We share Recipes From Our Dinner Table! Join our group and share your recipes, too! While you're at it, follow our Pinterest board, too!

This is an update (new instructions, recipe card, and photos) of a post I originally wrote in April, 2013 along with the Tuesdays with Dorie group. We baked our way through the book, Baking with Julia: Savor the Joys of Baking with America's Best Bakers - In Classic Julia Style, by Dorie Greenspan. The photo from the original bake is featured first.

Rustic Potato Loaves

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Yield: 32 servings

Author: Karen Kerr

These rustic potato loaves is made from a dough that is half flour and half potatoes. When they are baking, your house will smell like baked potatoes.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes
• 4 teaspoons salt, divided
• 1/2 cup reserved potato water, about 80 to 90 degrees F.
• 1 tablespoon instant or active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 23.75 ounces (675 grams/4 3/4 cups) unbleached all purpose flour. 

Instructions:

1. Wash the potatoes and cut them into 2 inch chunks. Cover them with water in a 3-quart sauce pan along with 2 teaspoons of salt. Bring to a boil and then simmer until the potatoes are fork tender. 
2. Collect 1/2 cup of the potato water, and then drain the potatoes in a colander. Return the potatoes to the hot pan and cook for a minute or two to cook off extra moisture. Spread the potatoes on a sheet pan to cool for about 20 minutes. 
3. Stir the yeast into the reserved potato water and let it sit for 5 minutes. 
4. Put the cooked potatoes into the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and mix the potatoes on low speed until they are mashed. 
5. Add the yeasted potato water and the olive oil and mix on low until incorporated. 
6. Switch to the dough hook and add the flour and 2 teaspoons of salt. Mix on low for 2 to 3 minutes. Increase the speed to medium and mix for an additional 11 minutes. The dough will at first look dry, then it will look wet, and then it will finally come together. 
7. Cover the bowl and let rise for 20 to 30 minutes. It will be pretty puffy but not necessarily doubled. 
8. While the dough rises, equip your oven with a baking stone on the middle rack and a steam pan on the bottom rack. Heat the oven to 375 degrees F. 
9. Rub a linen/tea towel or baker's couche with flour. 
10. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it in half. Shape each piece into a ball and then flatten into about an 9 inch disk. Roll the dough from edge farthest from you to create a torpedo, gently stretching the dough as you go. Dust the edge closest to you with flour and then rock the dough back and forth to narrow the ends. 
11. Place the shaped loaves, seam side down, on the floured linen/tea towel. Cover with another towel or oiled plastic wrap and let proof for 20 minutes. 
12. When you are ready to bake, add a cup of ice to the broiler/steam pan and shut the oven door. Line a pizza peel with parchment and sprinkle with polenta or coarse corn flour. Move the risen dough to the parchment, seam side up, side-by-side. It should be fairly easy to transfer gently with your hands and a bench knife. 
13. Transfer the dough, parchment and all, to the baking stone, and spray the walls of the oven with water. Shut the oven door. After 5 minutes, respray the oven walls. Bake the loaves for an additional 40 to 45 minutes, until they reach and interior temperature of 200 degrees F (using an instant read thermometer). 
14. Cool on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes before slicing. 

Calories
108.30

Fat (grams)
1.11

Sat. Fat (grams)
0.16

Carbs (grams)
21.32

Fiber (grams)
1.22

Net carbs
20.10

Sugar (grams)
0.32

Protein (grams)
2.95

Sodium (milligrams)
268.52

Cholesterol (grams)
0.00

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2013/04/rustic-potato-loaves-tuesdays-with-dorie.html

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